Three PNNL Researchers Receive DOE Early Career Research Awards

Newswise — The Department of Energy (DOE) selected Gavin Cornwell, Sneha Couvillion, and Bo Peng of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to receive 2024 Early Career Research Program awards. The three researchers work in fields that represent major areas of focus for PNNL: Earth science, biology, and chemistry.

This year, DOE selected 91 researchers for this competitive award, which provides five years of continuous funding to recipient scientists in disciplines across the DOE Office of Science research programs.

“Scientists recognized with this prestigious award represent some of the brightest minds in the nation,” said Steven Ashby, PNNL director. “We are fortunate to have Gavin, Sneha, and Bo share their talents with us at PNNL on behalf of their respective Office of Science programs.”

Understanding ice nucleating particles

The clouds in the sky rely on small particles in the air to form. Certain particles, known as ice nucleating particles, cause cloud droplets to freeze at warmer temperatures. While ice nucleating particles are rare, they have an outsized effect on the climate by influencing the reflection of sunlight from clouds and precipitation. Ice nucleating particles come from many different sources, including living things. 

The contribution of biologically derived materials to ice nucleating particles has been understudied, in part because of their low concentrations in the atmosphere. However, bioparticles are very active at high temperatures. This ice nucleation activity at warm temperatures makes them both influential and unique. Bioparticles are thought to play a major role in cloud freezing in some regions. Despite their known activity, the factors controlling the emissions of bioparticles are not well understood and generally not represented in atmospheric models.

“Predicting the concentration of ice nucleating particles is essential to accurately modeling the climate,” said Cornwell. “There is a complicated interplay between the environment, particles, and the atmosphere that we’re currently missing.”

Cornwell’s project, supported by the Biological and Environmental Research program, will take a three-part approach to understanding bioparticle emissions. He will combine laboratory and field measurements with machine learning tools to generate datasets that describe the type and concentrations of bioparticles in the atmosphere as well as ice nucleating particle concentrations. These datasets will allow researchers to identify the factors controlling particle emissions, leading to better representations of ice nucleating particles in models.

Connecting molecular processes to ecosystem-level impacts

Research scientist Couvillion is seeking to understand how soil microbes affect the carbon cycle. Plants take in carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, converting it into more complex compounds. The eventual fate of these compounds is tied to microbes in the soil that break down plant matter.

These microbes either release the carbon back into the air or transform it into their own cells, which become soil organic matter. Within the broader category of soil organic matter, Couvillion’s research will focus on lipids—versatile, carbon-rich molecules essential to living cells that play important roles in soil health and carbon storage.

“Lipids are important molecules in microbial cells, essential for their metabolism,” said Couvillion. “Lipids are exchanged between plants, fungi, and bacteria, facilitating essential interactions in soil ecosystems. They represent a significant way carbon gets stored in soil, but are the least understood biomolecules in soil” said Couvillion. “By studying how plants and microbes interact to shape the makeup and stability of soil carbon, we hope to find ways to keep more carbon in the ground.”

Supported by the Biological and Environmental Research program, Couvillion’s project will focus on understanding where these lipids come from, how they are exchanged and transformed, and what makes them stick around in the deep soils associated with bioenergy crops. Her work will combine field research with advanced laboratory techniques, and she will create a publicly accessible database of soil lipids. This resource—the first of its kind—could help scientists everywhere dig deeper into the role of lipids in soil carbon cycling. 

“My goal is to understand how small molecule processes drive ecosystem-level impacts, enabling climate resilient bioenergy cropping systems that restore soil carbon with low emissions and sustainable yields for a strong bioeconomy.” said Couvillion.

Deciphering quantum phenomena

Computational scientist Peng will build on PNNL’s expertise in both classical and quantum computational approaches. In particular, understanding quantum properties from computational work is necessary for scientists to effectively manipulate the transport of information and energy. 

Peng’s Basic Energy Sciences-funded project centers on designing a computational suite of classical and quantum approaches focused on the study and simulation of the properties and behavior of many interacting quantum particles, or many-body theories. 

Many-particle calculations are harder to perform than conventional single-particle calculations. They require significantly more computing power and more intense simulation design, but better represent complex molecular systems.

“There is a clear gap in our ability to accurately simulate quantum processes of many-particle systems,” said Peng. “We need to bring together fundamental knowledge in chemistry, mathematics, and physics with computing technologies to create effective simulation methods.”

The project will develop a specialized computational framework to enable the simulation of quantum phenomena on both classical and quantum computing devices. This simulation flexibility will provide important benchmarking and understanding for the planned molecular system modeling. One model system is water. While simple, water is ubiquitous. Water’s quantum behavior is important for understanding its structure and response to radiation. This affects fields ranging from space travel to radioactive waste processing.

The three projects represent the breadth of PNNL’s research and will begin later this year. “Investing in cutting edge research and science is a cornerstone of DOE's mission and essential to maintaining America’s role as a global innovation leader,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.