Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Department of Energy

Penn State

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:12:09 -0400

Penn State has many DOE connections: three Penn State-led projects have received more than $1.6 million in combined research and development grants from the DOE Nuclear Energy University Programs; Penn State was recently awarded $1.2 million by DOE for a project on offshore wind power; a Penn State research team will lead a lithium-sulfur cell technology project funded by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; and Energy Secretary Steven Chu was the commencement speaker at Penn State's Eberly College of Science 2012 spring graduation ceremony. Read about these and more research opportunities at Penn State and find more colleges and universities highlighted at the OSTI .EDUconnections website, which spotlights educational institutions with connections to DOE scientific research programs

Secretary Chu issues policy statement on scientific integrity and the importance of transparent access to scientific information

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:48:55 -0400

In response to the White House memorandum asking all federal agencies to establish a scientific integrity policy, Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently issued the Secretarial Policy Statement on Scientific Integrity. In it, Secretary Chu emphasizes the importance of the "free flow of scientific and technical information, consistent with standards for treatment of classified, sensitive, private, and proprietary information." The policy statement says, "Transparency and accessibility of scientific and technical information support the continued advancement of a sound science and technology base to help guide and inform the nation" critical public policy decisions; advance the national, economic, and energy security of the U.S.; facilitate the accomplishment of mission objectives; and maximize the public value of such efforts. To foster access, the Secretary's statement notes that "consistent with the Administration's Open Government Initiative, the Department will use its website and the resources of its Office of Scientific and Technical Information to help make research findings more widely available to the public."

Owen Chamberlain, the Antiproton, and Polarized Targets

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:48:47 -0400

Owen Chamberlain, winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize in physics, shared in the discovery of the antiproton in 1955. But his scientific interests were broad, and by 1960, he had embarked on developing polarized proton targets for use in high-energy physics scattering experiments; and in the 1970s he turned to the emerging subject of high-energy heavy-ion collisions. Get resources with additional information, view the patents and find out more about Chamberlain at the OSTI DOE R&D Accomplishments website.DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central forum for information about significant outcomes of past DOE R&D widely recognized as remarkable advancements in science.

OSTI's ScienceCinema one of six new initiatives in DOE Open Government Plan 2.0

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:29:28 -0400

The U.S. Department of Energy Open Government Plan 2.0, released April 9, features OSTI's ScienceCinema as one of six new DOE initiatives for making the federal government more transparent, participatory and collaborative. ScienceCinema allows users to quickly find videos produced by the DOE National Laboratories and other DOE research facilities, as well as CERN. In addition to highlighting the ScienceCinema initiative, the OpenGov Plan provides a progress report which covers OSTI products and services including Green Energy Portal, ScienceEducation.gov, Science Accelerator, the OSTI data sets initiatives, the National Library of Energy, Multilingual WorldwideScience.org, and Science.gov.

What's playing now at ScienceCinema? See the latest feature.

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:22:51 -0400

Currently playing at ScienceCinema: the U.S. ITER Project Moving Forward. See the latest featured video, rotated every few weeks, viewed directly from the ScienceCinema homepage. Then search the database for related videos. ScienceCinema was developed by OSTI and provides precise and time-saving search of the spoken words of video recordings from DOE and CERN. It uses the Microsoft Research Audio Video Indexing System (MAVIS), a speech recognition technology developed by partner Microsoft Research. And it makes some of the DOE's - and now CERN's - most exciting research more visible to researchers and the public.

OSTI Salutes Librarians (including its own!), National Librarian Week (April 8-14)

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:09:09 -0400

Thanks to librarians across the nation for their commitment to ensuring access to information. OSTI, with its own cadre of Masters-level librarians, connects with university research departments and libraries to increase awareness of the U.S. Department of Energy's valuable scientific and technical information (see the OSTIblog).

OSTI has a number of Library Tools that are provided as a free service to librarians and the library community to expand access to and use of DOE scientific research results:

DOE MARC Records System provides Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) records for full-text research reports for downloading directly into library catalogs.
Open Archives Initiative (OAI) Server allows harvesting of XML format metadata for DOE's full-text research reports.
XML Data Services are available to search several of OSTI's collections.

OSTI contribution to President's "Big Data Research and Development Initiative"

Mon, 2 Apr 2012 09:21:44 -0400

In the age of Big Data, OSTI is playing a key role to ensure the impact of DOE research is tracked and that a scholarly structure is in place to reward data producers. On Thursday, the White House released its Big Data Research and Development Initiative, and OSTI, the U.S. federal agency member of DataCite (a global consortium of leading scientific and technical information organizations), was recognized as playing a "key role" in shaping the policies and technical implementation of the practice of data citation. Data citation enables efficient reuse and verification of data, and OSTI recently implemented its Data Identification Service across the DOE complex. Through the OSTI Data ID Service, Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are assigned to research datasets, and then registered with DataCite to establish persistence. This initiative makes DOE datasets findable in commercial search engines (e.g. Google) and through federated search portals for science such as the DOE portal ScienceAccelerator.gov, the U.S. gateway Science.gov and the global search engine WorldWideScience.org. The importance of this undertaking is conveyed in the Administration's initiative, which states "By improving our ability to extract knowledge and insights from large and complex collections of digital data, the initiative promises to help solve some the Nation's most pressing challenges."

Jordan Receives CENDI Award for Service

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:01:10 -0400

Sharon Jordan, former Assistant Director for Program Integration at the Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), recently received the 2011 CENDI Meritorious Service Award. Jordan was recognized for her long-standing history of service and support of CENDI and, in particular, for her leadership in supporting the development of and promoting CENDI's premier flagship project, Science.gov. CENDI is an interagency consortium of senior scientific and technical information (STI) managers from 12 U.S. federal agencies which represents over 97% of the federal research and development budget. Science.gov is a search engine for science, covering over 50 databases and more than 2,100 selected websites from 12 federal agencies. The CENDI Meritorious Service Award recognizes an individual or team for making "a noteworthy contribution to CENDI and to federal interagency cooperation through its events, publications, administration, or outreach." Until her retirement in December 2011, Jordan had served for 18 months as the Deputy Chair of CENDI, providing a depth of knowledge of CENDI and STI (scientific and technical information) operations as well as her expertise in information policy. The Committee unanimously decided that Sharon's tireless and exemplary support of CENDI and Science.gov interests met the spirit of the award and chose her as the nominee most deserving of this special recognition of her peers.

Charles Townes--the Maser and the Laser

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:10:26 -0400

Charles Townes foresaw the microwave spectroscope as a power tool for studying the structure of atoms and molecules and for the control of electromagnetic waves. His insights let to the Nobel Prize in 1964 "for fundamental work in quantum electronics which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle." Find resources with additional information including many of his awards and honors at the OSTI DOE R&D Accomplishments website. DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central forum for information about significant outcomes of past DOE R&D widely recognized as remarkable advancements in science.

OSTI Kicks Off 70th Anniversary Year for Manhattan Project

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:07:12 -0400

Why did they call it the Manhattan Project? Find out about this pivotal time in our nation's history when the U.S. government conducted a secret and massive nationwide enterprise that took science from the laboratory into combat with a new, world-changing weapon. Read about the establishment of the Manhattan Project, 1942, at the DOE R&D Accomplishments website. Get information on the early Manhattan Project days, including a map of project sites, key events, renowned scientists of the day and the many contributions from various sites around the country as the nation moved toward peaceful uses of atomic energy.

DOE, University of Florida, building energy efficient homes for America

Fri, 2 Mar 2012 08:41:50 -0500

The University of Florida is a key player in the DOEBuilding America program. This multi-disciplinary research focuses on systems-engineered solutions for new and existing home energy savings and is funded by DOE. Read more at .EDUconnections, the website that spotlights educational institutions with connections to DOE scientific research programs.

Howard University and OSTI’s .EDUconnections on the Energy Blog

Fri, 2 Mar 2012 08:41:47 -0500

Students at Washington, D.C.'s Howard University are helping to solve one of the biggest challenges facing renewable energy: how to introduce renewable resource-integrated networks to the nation's electricity grid. Read more about the .EDUconnections to Howard University at the Energy Blog.

DOE Data Explorer now searches individual datasets

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 08:24:42 -0500

Now you can find individual datasets via the DOE Data Explorer. When you first enter your search term, the DOE Data Explorer retrieves collection records from the database. Then, from your results page, you can choose to have all the related individual dataset records that have been submitted to OSTI’s Energy Citations Database displayed. You can toggle back and forth between the two sets of search results, looking at the bibliographic information or linking out to the non-text collection or to the individual datasets.

Students get search access, more interaction at new version of ScienceLab

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 08:24:37 -0500

ScienceLab is still the "go-to" source for homework help, project ideas, competitions, internships, activities, and more. But now students can also search and get access to the rich science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education resources from DOE programs and national laboratories. The site provides an interactive platform, allowing students to comment and rate resources and share their views and opinions with their peers. Students can Ask a Scientist, find out how to visit a DOE lab, get answers to real-life science questions, and explore science topics by grade level and resource type.

Improved remote access to Science Accelerator

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 08:24:35 -0500

Use the Science Accelerator QR Code to access web collections made available by the U.S. Department of Energy. Collections include research reports, accomplishments, patents, project summaries, software, videos and much more. You can capture the QR Code by using designated barcode readers and/or camera phones to remotely access Science Accelerator to search for items in the collections.

Startup Stars highlighted at OSTI's Science Showcase

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 08:24:33 -0500

The America's Next Top Energy Innovator Challenge, a part of the President's Startup America initiative, made it easier for start-ups to use inventions and technology developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's 17 National Laboratories and the Y-12 National Security Complex. Read about all 14 companies that entered the challenge and the winners.

Forging the way with vision and foresight

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 08:24:30 -0500

OSTI launched the Information Bridge in 1998 as a free public access database containing full-text DOE research reports. OSTI envisioned there would be a dramatic increase in access to DOE research reports in the coming years. Sure enough ... (read more).

OSTI partnering in SciData initiative at the University of Tennessee

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:49:47 -0500

As scientific data grows in scale across all scientific disciplines, the need for professionals trained in the management and curation of scientific data is also growing. To meet this need, the University of Tennessee School of Information Sciences has developed SciData, a new master's initiative focusing on science data management. Partners include the Institute of Museum and Library Services along with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Information International Associates (IIa), the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, and the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI). For more information, see the press release.

A new way to see inside the body offers deeper understanding of the brain

Wed, 1 Feb 2012 11:15:36 -0500

A portable brain-imaging device invented by scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), a Department of Energy laboratory, is moving closer to commercial market. This new way to "see" inside the body offers promise of a deeper understanding of the brain and the diseases that affect it. The miniaturization of a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner allows for a dynamic range of new applications, including integration with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and compact scanners that can be "worn" by fully conscious, active rats (see Press Release). Read more at the DOepatents database, and view related patents to this invention. DOepatents is the central collection of DOE patent information, where research and development intersect with innovation and invention. This collection demonstrates the Department's considerable contribution to scientific progress from the 1940s to today.

Fermi Award winners featured at OSTI

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:26:08 -0500

Mildred Dresselhaus and Burton Richter are 2012 recipients of the Enrico Fermi Award, a Presidential award that is one of the oldest and most prestigious science and technology honors bestowed by the U.S. Government. Dresselhaus was honored "for her scientific leadership, her major contributions to science and energy policy, her selfless work in science education and the advancement of diversity in the scientific workplace, and her highly original and impactful research." Richter was honored "for the breadth of his influence in the multiple disciplines of accelerator physics and particle physics, his profound scientific discoveries, his visionary leadership as SLAC Director, his leadership of science, and his notable contributions in energy and public policy." Read more about these and other DOE scientific achievements at the DOE R&D Accomplishment website.

Now access WorldWideScience.org resources via SciVerse

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:54:55 -0500

The wealth of current and timely scientific and technical information from countries around the world found at WorldWideScience.org is now available as a SciVerse Hub application. By entering search terms in the free WWS application query box, users can search WWS in parallel with Elsevier's SciVerse Hub content, thereby exposing researchers to high-value content from around the world that they might not otherwise discover (see Deep Web Technologies' press release ).

"WorldWideScience.org is very excited to be part of Elsevier's Applications & Developer Network," said Lorrie Apple Johnson, Operating Agent representative for the WorldWideScience Alliance and Product Manager for WWS.org. "SciVerse users will benefit from having access to this type of information."

Invasive species info now available via Science.gov deep web search

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:23:09 -0500

The National Invasive Species Information Center (NISIC) has been added to the deep web search on Science.gov. to provide a wealth of information on aquatic species, plants, animals, and microbes. This reference gateway to invasive species information, organizations, and services from the National Agricultural Library is automatically searched on the Science.gov basic search. NISIC may also be searched individually or in conjunction with other select databases on the advanced search.

Find Perlmutter live stream now in OSTI Energy Citations Database

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:15:18 -0500

Saul Perlmutter's live stream "Supernovae, Dark Energy and the Accelerating Universe: How the Energy Department Helped to Win (yet another) Nobel Prize," available now at OSTI's Energy Citations Database. Perlmutter was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for his breakthrough research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Read more about Saul Perlmutter.

Over 100 medical journals and more added to 1-stop science search, WorldWideScience.org

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:29:12 -0500

Added recently to WorldWideScience.org: the Synapse database, provided by the Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors (KAMJE), including information from over 100 medical journals; PLEIADI, the open access platform for scientific literature in Italy, sponsored by inter-university consortia CASPUR and CILEA; AGRIS, the international information system for the agricultural sciences and technology – an initiative run by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Get scientific and technical information from over 70 countries at WorldWideScience.org.

Emilio Segrè, the Antiproton, Technetium, and Astatine

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:29:10 -0500

Emilio Segrè won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1959 for the discovery of the antiproton, an antiparticle having the same mass as a proton but opposite in electrical charge. Read about this researcher at DOE R&D Accomplishments, a central forum for information about significant outcomes of past DOE R&D widely recognized as remarkable advancements in science.

Pilot website launched to highlight federal careers

Wed, 4 Jan 2012 06:53:36 -0500

Six agencies, in collaboration with the Partnership for Public Service, have launched a pilot website to promote Science & Technology careers in the federal government.

Howard University in the Spotlight at .EDUconnections

Tue, 3 Jan 2012 11:22:14 -0500

See the EDUconnections website and read about Howard University's role in the DOE-funded Historically Black College and University/Minority Institution Environmental Technology Consortium consisting of 17 universities throughout the nation. Find Howard University's research documents in the DOE OSTI databases:

EDUconnections features U.S. community colleges and universities committed to supporting and advancing DOE scientific research programs. For more institutions in the EDUconnections spotlight, visit the archive page.

OSTI and Norwood Elementary, holiday buddies for many years

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:07:36 -0500

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) brightens the holidays for a number of area school children. Since the early 1990s, staff at OSTI have sponsored an Angel Tree Program for students from Norwood Elementary School. This year, each child in the program had three Angels on the OSTI tree. The wrapped gifts were collected and delivered to the Oliver Springs Angel Tree Ministry which distributes the gifts to the children before the winter break. Earlier in December, OSTI collected food items to be distributed to children for their weekend meals. This long-standing tradition is one way OSTI participates in the local community. OSTI, within the DOE Office of Science and located at 1 Science.gov Way in Oak Ridge, advances science and sustains technological creativity by making R&D findings available and useable to DOE researchers and to the public.

Learn more about Saul Perlmutter and dark energy at OSTI

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:06:30 -0500

Saul Perlmutter, 2011 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, has been a leader in the exploration of dark energy. Read about this DOE researcher at DOE R&D Accomplishments and explore the universe using Science Accelerator; check out the search results for big bang and supernovae.

Stanford in the Spotlight at .EDUconnections

Thu, 1 Dec 2011 14:13:19 -0500

Stanford's list of Nobel Laureates is long and distinguished, as is its research relationship with the U.S. Department of Energy. Read about Stanford's research and resource connections to DOE at the OSTI .EDUconnections website. .EDUconnections features U.S. community colleges and universities committed to supporting and advancing DOE scientific research programs. For more institutions in the .EDUconnections spotlight, visit the archive page.

Get charged!

Tue, 1 Nov 2011 10:37:30 -0400

Community Colleges across the country are revving up to educate tomorrow's scientific and technical workforce, and Pellissippi State Community College is no exception. Not only is the college in East Tennessee expanding the teaching of technology, the use of technology in instruction, and the transfer of technology to local business and industry, it?s also charging engines in a more literal sense. Through support from the U.S. Department of Energy, Pellissippi State is demonstrating its continued efforts toward sustainability and environmental stewardship with the recent addition of new electric vehicle charging stations at two of its campuses. Anyone with a vehicle compatible with the station may use it and for now there is no cost to the users. Read more Pellissippi State's diverse technology programs at http://www.osti.gov/EDUconnections/ccc/pstcc. The .EDUconnections website spotlights educational institutions with connections to DOE scientific research programs.

Science Accelerator "checks" off another enhancement

Tue, 1 Nov 2011 10:37:27 -0400

Have you ever wanted to save all the items on a search results page but found that checking each item a cumbersome process? With Science Accelerator, you now have a quick and easy option – to 'Select all displayed'. This selects all the results on the page that you are viewing. In addition, the search and retrieval capability for one of the Science Accelerator resources, DOE R&D Accomplishments, has been enhanced to provide an improved results list. Also, sharing your search results via e-mail now offers the capability to send a comment to the recipient. Explore these new capabilities via the basic search or the advanced search.

Ames Lab Associate Scientist Wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Thu, 6 Oct 2011 13:05:28 -0400

Daniel Shechtman won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the discovery of quasicrystals." Shechtman is an associate scientist at the Department of Energy Ames Laboratory (see DOE news release), an Iowa State University professor of materials science and engineering, and the Philip Tobias Professor of Materials Science at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. He is currently at the Technion in Haifa, Israel. Read more about Shechtman at the OSTI DOE R&D Accomplishments website. DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central forum for information about significant outcomes of past DOE R&D widely recognized as remarkable advancements in science.

DOE-supported researcher takes 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics

Wed, 5 Oct 2011 10:04:35 -0400

Saul Perlmutter, a physicist at the DOE Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley, won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae" (see DOE press release). Perlmutter shares the prize with Brian Schmidt of the Australian National University and Adam Riess of Johns Hopkins University and Space Telescope Science Institute. Read more about Perlmutter at the OSTI DOE R&D Accomplishments website. DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central forum for information about significant outcomes of past DOE R&D widely recognized as remarkable advancements in science.

University of Puerto Rico featured at OSTI .EDUconnections

Mon, 3 Oct 2011 15:15:59 -0400

The University of Puerto Rico provides numerous research opportunities for students, including the Mauyaquez High Energy Physics Group funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Currently this group is working in the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland. Learn more about the University at the OSTI .EDUconnections website, and find related research documents.

Introducing Mobile Science.gov

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 09:19:53 -0400

Children ask the most probing questions about the world around them -- and they want immediate answers. Health issues pop up at inopportune times. Now you can always have an authoritative response at hand using mobile Science.gov. Anywhere, anytime, you can go to m.science.gov to get science information quickly. Read more about Science.gov, the online gateway to over 45 databases and more than 2000 selected websites from 14 federal agencies.

DOE Scientific Research Data Now Easier to Find

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 10:15:03 -0400

Researchers funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) can now make their scientific research data easier to cite and easier to find from worldwide sources. The DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) is now registering publicly available scientific research datasets created by DOE-funded researchers through DataCite. OSTI, within the Office of Science, became a member of DataCite in January 2011 to facilitate access to DOE datasets. Through this membership, OSTI assigns permanent identifiers, known as Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), to the individual datasets to aid in citation, discovery, and retrieval. Creating stable pathways to these datasets makes the scientific process more accessible and the research more replicable for future discoveries.

OSTI Director Walter Warnick said, “This service yields easier access and identification of scientific research datasets produced by DOE-funded researchers so that they can be readily found and cited with confidence.”

New Semantic Search Technology Gets You Directly to Rich Green Energy R&D

Wed, 7 Sep 2011 08:46:08 -0400

When you search for green energy research information at the DOE Green Energy portal, you will now receive results that allow you to explore more narrow concepts, related concepts, or even broader concepts than your original scientific query (see press release). With its new semantic search technology, DOE Green Energy affords you the use of the familiar and simple search box -- yet still provides the benefits of an advanced search technology to help get to the information you need. In addition, the DOE Green Energy site recently deployed an auto-complete feature. This means that as you type your query, such as "ethanol," into the search box, you will immediately see a list of associated concepts, i.e., ethanol fuel, cellulosic ethanol, direct methanol fuel cell, etc. from which to choose. DOE Green Energy results come from valuable sources of DOE research and development (R&D) information. These sources include DOE databases of technical reports and patents, filtered for green energy related subjects such as solar, hydro, geothermal, and wind energy, energy storage, tidal and wave power, direct energy conversion, nuclear fuel cycle, biomass and synthetic fuels, and much more.

Salt Lake Community College: Solar partner with DOE

Fri, 2 Sep 2011 07:46:49 -0400

The DOE Rocky Mountain Solar Training Program partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy, Salt Lake Community College , and others, works to accelerate the use of solar electric technologies and training programs within a 15 state western US region. Salt Lake Community College is the largest higher education institution with the most diverse student body in Utah. Read more at community college connections about this institution's diverse science and technology programs. Community college connections is a part of the .EDUconnections website, hosted by OSTI.

High Energy Physics Owes Debt to Nobel Laureate Georges Charpak

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:55:37 -0400

He developed a host of particle detectors and won the 1992 Nobel Prize for his ground breaking multiwire proportional chamber which revolutionized particle physics. Find resources with additional information about Georges Charpak at the OSTI DOE R&D Accomplishments website. DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central forum for information about significant outcomes of past DOE R&D widely recognized as remarkable advancements in science.

More science images at Science.gov

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:14:13 -0400

Science images from the NSF Image Collection have been added to the Science.gov image search. The Science.gov image search makes it easy to find science images from a variety of federal agencies/organizations, including NASA, NOAA, USDA, USGS and USGS-NBII. Get photos and drawings of plants, weather and space images, photos of thousands of marine species, and more.

Special Summer Spotlight: Tribal Universities

Tue, 2 Aug 2011 09:34:46 -0400

Read about the unique partnership between DOE National Labs, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society bringing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics research and education funding to the Nation's Tribal Colleges and Universities. Find quick links such as:

OSTI's .EDUconnections features U.S. institutions committed to supporting and advancing DOE scientific research programs. For more institutions in the .EDUconnections spotlight, visit the archive page.

Software developed at Los Alamos National Lab touted by President Obama, available via OSTI

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:01:32 -0400

A software package developed at Los Alamos National Lab was recently touted by President Obama in his remarks at Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Center. President Obama said that a team of researchers at LANL teamed with Procter and Gamble "to adapt software developed for war … to dramatically boost the performance of diapers."

"Yes, diapers," said the President. "Folks chuckle, but those who've been parents -- (laughter) -- are always on the lookout for indestructible, military-grade diapers."

President Obama noted that "federal agencies are working with private companies to make powerful, often unaffordable modeling and simulation software easier to access." The software package, Computational Fluid Dynamics Library, is available at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Science and Technology Software Center, hosted at OSTI.

Software packages in the OSTI collection can be used for a variety of applications, and in many cases are available in multiple platforms, such as PC, workstation, or supercomputer.

Research begets research, look to 1940s for today's state-of- the-art innovation

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 10:38:35 -0400

To get exquisitely detailed imaging of the inside of the human body, today's medical practitioners turn to the MRI. To get to the roots of the MRI, researchers turn to I.I. Rabi and his ground-breaking exploration of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in the 1940s. Rabi's work led to the 1944 Nobel Prize in Physics and supported not only the development of the MRI, but the atomic clock and the laser as well. To top off his legacy, Rabi was known for his love for and ability to teach younger generations of physicists. Find resources with additional information at the OSTI DOE R&D Accomplishments website. DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central forum for information about significant outcomes of past DOE R&D widely recognized as remarkable advancements in science.

EDUconnections releases its Summer Feature: learn about the U.S. DOE Workforce Development for Teachers & Scientists

Wed, 6 Jul 2011 13:42:52 -0400

Learn about U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) fellowships, internships, competitions and more at the Workforce Development for Teachers & Scientists (WDTS), a program within the DOE Office of Science. WDTS provides a continuum of opportunities to the Nation's students and teachers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Read more about these opportunities.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory Technologies Available for Licensing; read more patents news at DOepatents

Wed, 6 Jul 2011 13:41:17 -0400

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has a multitude of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies that are available for licensing. Opportunities are available to both small and large businesses -- from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Get more DOepatents news and read about the Department's considerable contribution to scientific progress from the 1940s to today at the DOepatents website.

Virtual library of Energy-related research info revamped and ready for searchers

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:03:31 -0400

EnergyFiles has been revamped and now searches over 50 databases of science information in fields relevant to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Topics include biology and medicine, fission and nuclear technologies, geophysics, materials science, mathematics, renewable energy, and more. You can search EnergyFiles with a single query at the homepage, or utilize the advanced search for more customized results. You can also browse useful links related to each subject, including links to relevant organizations, conference information, and reference materials. Over 25% of the resources point to DOE-funded research information. EnergyFiles was the first known federal government federated search engine and was listed in 2005 as a top search portal by the Association of College and Research Libraries.

Improvements include:

A one-stop search of all EnergyFiles resources
Ranking of results based on relevance
Clustering of results by subtopics, authors, and dates
Sorting options by rank, date, title, author, and limiting by source
Daily, weekly, or monthly alerts of new information in your areas of interest
Eureka News results related to your search terms
Mark & send option for emailing results to friends and colleagues
Download capabilities

WorldWideScience.org Enhancements: Addition of Arabic Translation, Mobile Capability, and Multimedia Results

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:30:28 -0400

Arabic has been added to the suite of translated languages at WorldWideScience.org, bringing the total number of translated languages to 10. At WorldWideScience.org, your query can be translated into the languages of the search engine's 80-plus databases and the results can be translated into your preferred language. In addition, WorldWideScience.org has added a new multimedia search capability, including search of speech-indexed scientific videos from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and CERN. Speech-indexing is provided by the Microsoft Research Audio Video Indexing System (MAVIS). Also, a mobile version of WorldWideScience.org (http://m.worldwidescience.org) has been launched, which will mark another first in the field of federated search. These enhancements build on WorldWideScience.org's history of innovation in combining information and search technologies with a commitment to accelerate scientific discovery. This commitment is shared by the multilateral WorldWideScience Alliance, comprised of globally-dispersed national and international scientific and technical information organizations.

New mashup offers every-word-searchable multimedia within scientific federated search engines

Wed, 8 Jun 2011 06:44:13 -0400

OSTI now offers a "mashup" of a unique speech-recognition search capability within federated search tools to help citizens and researchers alike find scientific multimedia worldwide. This application appears in ScienceAccelerator.gov and WorldWideScience.org, thereby extending the reach of federated searching that historically had been limited to textual information. Now enhanced multimedia files within these products will be searchable by every spoken word (see press release).

Polytechnic Institute of New York University in the Spotlight at .EDUconnections

Fri, 3 Jun 2011 14:31:02 -0400

Polytechnic Institute of New York University, where Energy Secretary Steven Chu offered remarks for the 2011 graduating class, is in the Spotlight at the OSTI .EDUconnections website. .EDUconnections features U.S. community colleges and universities committed to supporting and advancing DOE scientific research programs. For more institutions in the .EDUconnections spotlight, visit the archive page.

Thin films, tunneling, and superconductivity research info at DOE R&D Accomplishments website

Wed, 1 Jun 2011 09:22:43 -0400

Ivar Giaever worked in the fields of thin films, tunneling, and superconductivity, which eventually yielded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973. He collaborated to develop Electric Cell-substrate Impedance Sensing, a technology which studies in real time the activities of cells grown in tissue culture and has many applications today in the biophysical technology market. Find resources with additional information at the OSTI DOE R&D Accomplishments website. DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central forum for information about significant outcomes of past DOE R&D widely recognized as remarkable advancements in science.

CERN Multimedia Now Playing at Energy Department ScienceCinema

Thu, 26 May 2011 09:22:52 -0400

DOE, CERN and Microsoft Research have teamed up to make CERN multimedia accessible through the ScienceCinema multimedia search engine (see the press release). CERN is one of the world's leading particle physics laboratories and has its headquarters in Geneva. Now, in addition to DOE R&D multimedia, CERN videos are every word searchable, delivering exceptionally precise and time-saving results. ScienceCinema was developed by the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) to make multimedia of some of DOE’s most exciting research more visible to researchers and the public.

Research "on the go" with OSTI mobile: http://m.osti.gov

Mon, 2 May 2011 13:39:12 -0400

OSTI mobile http://m.osti.gov/ , the mobile application that previously searched Information Bridge, has been upgraded. Now your Android, Blackberry or iPhone will give you results from a number of OSTI Databases, including Energy Citations Database, Information Bridge, ScienceCinema, DOepatents and DOE Green Energy. Narrow your search by document type including multimedia and standard options, download and email results. Get the OSTIblog, twitter, Facebook, videos, and news.

Arapahoe Community College Science and Technical Programs featured at OSTI Community College Connections

Mon, 2 May 2011 13:39:09 -0400

Energy Technology programs are offered now at Arapahoe Community College:

Solar Photovoltaic Systems Technician Certificate
Solar Thermal System Technician Certificate
Energy Analyst (Auditor) Certificate
Construction Supervision AAS Degree
LEED Exam Preparation

Read about Arapahoe Community College and other colleges and universities benefiting from Department of Energy research and development at .EDUconnections and Community College Connections.

Ting and the J/psi Particle yield Charm quark plus 1976 Nobel Prize

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 09:13:38 -0400

While conducting research in the early 1970s at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Samuel C.C. Ting concluded he had evidence of a new elementary particle three times heavier than a proton and much longer-lived than anything physics currently knew of (where "long life" is often measured in minute fractions of a second). Ting announced his discovery of the "J particle" at about the same time Burton Richter at Stanford University demonstrated the existence of the "psi particle." Richter went on to serve as Director of the DOE Stanford Linear Accelerator Center from 1984-1999. Their dual discoveries provided the first experimental evidence for a fourth quark, "charm," and earned them the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physics. Find resources with additional information at the OSTI DOE R&D Accomplishments website. DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central forum for information about significant outcomes of past DOE R&D widely recognized as remarkable advancements in science.

Improving biofuel feedstock, developing better processing technique, ensuring sustainability: UW-Madison and DOE team up

Fri, 1 Apr 2011 12:30:20 -0400

The University of Wisconsin-Madison and the U.S. Department of Energy have teamed up to ensure sustainability of the entire life cycle. Core research programs at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center span the biofuels pipeline, from creating improved biofuel feedstocks to developing improved processing techniques and catalysts. Get more information at the OSTI .EDUconnections website. .EDUconnections features U.S. institutions committed to supporting and advancing DOE scientific research programs. For more institutions in the .EDUconnections spotlight, visit the archive page.

Women's (in DOE Science) History Month info at OSTI

Wed, 9 Mar 2011 10:38:27 -0500

Do you need info for Women’s History Month? Think Women in DOE Science History. Ada Yonath, 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Barbara McClintock, 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; and Maria Goeppert-Mayer, 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics, are featured at the DOE R&D Accomplishments website. Yonath counts as a double bonus if you also need info for the International Year of Chemistry. All three researchers accomplished their award-winning discoveries through work at DOE labs. A few facts (more can be found at the DOE R&D Accomplishments site):

Yonath established the Weizmann Institute in 1970, which was for almost a decade the only protein crystallography laboratory in Israel.
Among McClintock's many honors for her discovery of mobile genetic elements is a U.S. Postal Service Stamp dedication.
Goeppert-Mayer, for development of the nuclear shell model, was the second woman to receive the Nobel Prize in physics (following Marie Curie) and the fourth American woman to win a Nobel Prize.

DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central forum for information about significant outcomes of past DOE R&D widely recognized as remarkable advancements in science.

OSTI honored with Anderson County Combined Federal Campaign Awards

Tue, 1 Mar 2011 14:53:29 -0500

At the Anderson County Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) 2010 Awards Luncheon today, OSTI was honored with two awards: a 1^st Place Gold Award "for setting the mark in employee participation to the 2010-2011 Combined Federal Campaign in Anderson County" and a 2^nd Place Silver Award "for setting the mark in per capita giving to the 2010-2011 Combined Federal Campaign in Anderson County". Several members of the OSTI staff were also recognized for their help and generous contributions. The mission of the CFC is to promote and support philanthropy through a program that is employee focused, cost-efficient, and effective in providing all federal employees the opportunity to improve the quality of life for all.

Macomb Community College featured at OSTI Community College Connections

Tue, 1 Mar 2011 10:36:13 -0500

From biological sciences to automotive engineering, Macomb Community College has a wide range of programs now featured at the Community College Connections website. Read about Macomb Community College and other colleges and universities benefiting from Department of Energy research and development at .EDUconnections and Community College Connections.

Use tag cloud & get a quick look at DOE accomplishments

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:10:49 -0500

Use this tag cloud to quickly find research results related to your scientific key words of interest in the DOE R&D Accomplishments database. There is a direct correlation between font size and quantity: the more times a term appears in the bibliographic citations, the larger the font size. DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central forum for information about significant outcomes of past DOE R&D widely recognized as remarkable advancements in science.

Just what is the J/psi Particle? Read more at OSTI

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:10:48 -0500

The J/psi is the subatomic particle that helped verify the existence of the charmed quark and bolstered the theoretical picture explaining nature's fundamental particles and how they interact. Burton Richter shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1976 for his co-discovery of J/psi. Find out more at the OSTI DOE R&D Accomplishments website.DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central forum for information about significant outcomes of past DOE R&D widely recognized as remarkable advancements in science. For a quick look at the Accomplishments database, see the new Accomplishments tagcloud.

Get scientific videos highlighting the most exciting R&D sponsored by DOE via ScienceCinema

Tue, 8 Feb 2011 08:12:29 -0500

ScienceCinema uses innovative, state-of-the-art audio indexing and speech recognition technology from Microsoft Research to allow users to quickly find video files produced by the DOE National Laboratories and other DOE research facilities. When users search for specific scientific words and phrases of interest to them, precise snippets of the video where the specific search term was spoken will appear along with a timeline. Users can then select a snippet or a segment along the timeline to begin playing the video at the exact point in the video where the words were spoken. While the launch of the video database will include an initial 1,000 hours of content, it will continue to grow as new DOE R&D-related videos are produced. See the press release.

More OSTI tools at Data.gov

Tue, 8 Feb 2011 08:11:35 -0500

Data.gov recently incorporated into its Tools Catalogue several additional search engines developed by OSTI. These include:

From the development of exotic materials to the study of flu virus shuttles, Iowa State University and DOE partnership is on the move

Tue, 1 Feb 2011 12:38:52 -0500

Iowa State University's vision is to lead the world in advancing the land-grant ideas of putting science, technology, and human creativity to work. A unique partnership with Ames Lab is proving productive. Read more at the OSTI .EDUconnections website. .EDUconnections features U.S. institutions committed to supporting and advancing DOE scientific research programs. For more institutions in the .EDUconnections spotlight, visit the archive page.