Research
The Fundamental & Computational Sciences Directorate is the steward for discovery and use-inspired research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Our work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Offices of Biological and Environmental Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Fusion Energy Sciences and Nuclear Physics. Fundamental & Computational Sciences capabilities also provide key expertise to the National Institutes of Health.
Divisions
The Fundamental & Computational Sciences Directorate is organized into four divisions.
- Atmospheric Sciences & Global Change Division
The Atmospheric Sciences & Global Change Division provides diverse scientific and policy issue capabilities needed to understand and mitigate the effects of the production and use of energy on the atmospheric environment. Areas of emphasis include: atmospheric chemistry, transport and diffusion, regional climate modeling, integrated assessment and policy analysis, and climate physics. For more information contact Charlette Geffen. - Chemical & Materials Sciences Division
The Chemical & Materials Sciences Division provides basic and applied research in the chemical and physical sciences, as well as nanoscience and nanotechnology. Key areas of focus include: condensed phase and interfacial chemical physics, oxide surface science, catalysis and chemical transformation, mass spectrometry and ionic processes, defects and corrosion in materials, photonic and molecularly organized nanostructural materials, and low temperature geochemical processes. For more information contact
Bruce Garrett. - Biological Sciences Division
The Biological Sciences Division provides basic and applied research solutions to complex national problems. Areas of scientific emphasis and expertise include applied math, computational sciences, microbiology, mass spectrometry-based proteomics, surface chemistry, and spectroscopy. This division is establishing signature capabilities and scientific leadership in the fundamental study of specific biological systems aimed at clean energy, carbon sequestration, and environmental cleanup. For more information contact Harvey Bolton, Jr. - Computational Sciences & Mathematics Division
The continued exponential growth of computational power presents a constantly shifting set of opportunities as new areas of inquiry become technically feasible for the first time. With simulation now considered one of the foundations of modern research, along with experiment and theory, computational science has become a critical capability in nearly every science domain. For more information contact Moe Khaleel.
Initiatives
The Fundamental & Computational Sciences leads several major Pacific Northwest National Laboratory science and technology initiatives that involve investments of discretionary resources. Science initiatives strengthen and expand FCSD capabilities to meet the needs of our clients:
- The Aerosol Climate Initiative addresses critical scientific questions related to the effects of aerosols on cloud properties—a major source of uncertainty in climate models—and the formation, aging, transport, and lifecycle of aerosols. In support of Department of Energy Office of Science missions, these advancements will accelerate the Laboratory's programs related to global climate change and the effects of energy use on the environment, and will enable more effective scientific investigations and policy decisions. For more information, contact Charlette Geffen.
- The Climate Modeling and Integrated Assessment at Regional Scales Initiative is developing a new generation of high-resolution, regional integrated models that deliver a better understanding of climate change impacts and timing, and their decision-making implications. Research focuses on understanding and modeling the dynamic interactions among climate, ecosystems and energy/economics over a range of temporal and spatial scales, resulting in more accurate predictions of regional climate change and its impacts for decision-makers.
- The Data Intensive Computing Initiative develops capabilities for capturing, managing, analyzing, and understanding data at volumes and rates that push the frontiers of current technologies. The initiative is working in three key research areas: hybrid hardware architectures, software architectures, and analytic algorithms.
- The eXtreme Scale Computing Initiative (XSCI) is building the capabilities needed to enable scientific advancements and breakthroughs in selected domain sciences through computational modeling and simulation on next-generation, extreme-scale computers.
- The Microbial Communities Initiative focuses on integrating biological/ecological experimentation, analytical chemistry, and simulation modeling to create transforming technologies, elucidate mechanistic forces, and develop theoretical frameworks for the analysis and predictive understanding of microbial communities. The initiative will develop understanding of microbial community interactions at the at the microscale (<100 microns), and will focus on making measurements at or near the scale of single cells to determine how these microscale processes impact macroscale ecosystem properties.
- The Transformational Materials Science Initiative focuses on the synthesis and assembly of the multifunctional nanomaterials with well-controlled defect chemistry and architectures that can be used to control and optimize the transport and storage of charged species.