Ideas expresso Elbio Dagotto aims to join in the Lab's neutron, nano, computational buzz The espresso maker is Elbio Dagotto's
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
U.S. Department of Energy Number 81, September 2006
Ideas expresso
Elbio Dagotto aims to join in the Lab’s neutron, nano, computational buzz
T he espresso maker is Elbio Dagotto’s
most trusted piece of equipment when it
comes to creating sparks for scientific theory.
“It is not necessarily at
conferences or flying all over
the world to talks that the
Now, Elbio and Adriana work
with ORNL’s Condensed
Matter Theory group.
The condensed matter physicist swears by the top experts get together and Elbio says his work, in
coffee machine so much that he bought sev- discuss ideas,” Elbio says, very simple terms, centers
eral when he moved to Tennessee. “it is usually mere informal on simulating what electrons
He needed one for home, one for the Spall- face to face discussions that are doing inside different
ation Neutron Source, one for his office at the help, and the SNS brings the materials, but because these
University of Tennessee. He just needed one experts to you.” particles act so exotically at
wherever he was going to be. In addition to sparking the atomic level, that expla-
“You never know where you are going to intellectual discussions, the nation is basic. He works
get good ideas. You could be at home, in a neutron source will provide on computer simulations to
plane or in your office,” Elbio, who is part of the most powerful flux of mimic how materials self-
the Materials Science and Technology Divi- neutrons so that scientists organize, or arrange electrons
sion, says. “But a lot of good ideas come can explore the crystal lat- in unusual patterns; why at
from talking with researchers from around the tice structure of the minutest lower temperatures materials
world, usually informally over a cup of coffee materials. That can lead to a act as superconductors; and
or something.” better knowledge of materi- why some materials are sensi-
The future espresso breaks at the SNS als’ structure and particle Condensed matter physicist tive to magnetic fields.
excite Elbio because he says that at least interactions at that level, Elbio Dagotto prefers to Most recently, Elbio
place himself where ideas
a fraction of the 2,000 users that the facil- which will help Elbio and accepted an invitation to sit
are flowing.
ity expects to host each year will share his other theorists explain more on the National Academy of
research interests. As a condensed matter definitively what is happen- Sciences’ Solid State Sciences
theorist, Elbio finds himself trying to under- ing at that small scale. Committee, which steers national materials
stand the properties of high-temperature The SNS was one of the facilities that research. The committee reports to the Board
superconductors, colossal magnetic resistance attracted Elbio and his wife, Adriana Moreo, on Physics and Astronomy about the needs of
materials and nanomaterials. He says the new to Oak Ridge in 2004. Two other Lab facili- materials research and the development and
facility will bring not only beneficial collabo- ties also interested the couple—the Center application of those findings to the commu-
ration for science and technology, but also for Nanophase Materials Sciences and the nity, and it guides federal agencies regarding
intellectual expansion. National Center for Computational Sciences.
(See Dagotto, back page)
In Washington, Muhs helped shape science initiatives
I n the past six years, ORNL’s research bud-
get has been mostly flat. For fiscal-year
2007, however, the Department of Energy
the Oval Office on Dec. 15, 2005. That
was Jeff’s last day in Washington. The
document, titled “Keeping America On
budget request for science is up 14 percent. Top,” spelled out a pathway for America
“Most Lab researchers don’t realize they to maintain its competitive edge while
have Sen. Alexander, in part, to thank for this solving the energy challenge.
increase,” says Jeff Muhs, who spent a year Starting in February 2005, the ORNL
in Washington as the science aide to Tennes- engineer helped the senator during the
see Sen. Lamar Alexander. Jeff, who pio- formulation and debate of an energy bill
neered vehicle weigh-in-motion and hybrid that later became the Energy Policy Act
solar lighting technologies, witnessed several of 2005. “Because Sen.Alexander is an
events in 2005 that may lead to America’s emerging leader on the Senate Commit-
energy independence and increased competi- tee on Energy and Natural Resources, I
ORNL’s Jeff Muhs (right) helped Senator Lamar
tiveness in science and technology. had the unique opportunity to help on a Alexander shape the U.S. science competitiveness and
The memory Jeff most treasures is the major piece of legislation,” Jeff says. energy initiatives.
privilege he had to draft a one-page sum- After expressing concern that “Amer-
mary document that Senator Alexander ica’s brainpower edge over China and
polished and handed to President Bush in India is eroding,” the senator asked Jeff’s (See D.C., page 2)D.C.
Continued from page 1
: Jeff Muhs
help in developing a competitiveness agenda. Halls of power
t) is flanked by
Jeff’s job was to find experts on the subject (second from lef rs Kathryn
staffe
and invite them to meet with the senator. fellow Senate
enici), Jonathan
On May 11, the senator, with Jeff’s notes Clay (Sen. Dom aman) and
. Bi ng
in hand, delivered an invited talk on competi- Epstein (Sen
rry H in kle (S en. Dorgan)
Je
tiveness to the National Academies (National nate Energy
outside the Se ter
Academy of Sciences, National Academy of ee he aring room af
Committ in g th at
Engineering and the Institute of Medicine). the Oct. 17th he ar
There he posed the question, “What are the the President’s
helped launch d
top 10 things we can do for America to keep ican C om petitiveness an
Amer initiatives.
its competitive edge in science and technol- d En er gy
Advance
ogy?” The upshot was that the Academies
asked Sen. Alexander to write a formal letter
commissioning the Academies to prepare
a report that addressed his question. After
receiving a bipartisan letter co-signed by
Senators Alexander and Jeff Bingaman, the
Alexander called for the report’s recommen-
dations to be a central focus of the President’s ORNL People
Academies appointed a 20-person committee State of the Union address and domestic
chaired by Norman Augustine, retired chair- agenda.
The Materials S&T Division’s Ted Bes-
man of Lockheed Martin. The former governor, university president
mann has been appointed a science advisor to
Jeff challenged the Academies to seek and cabinet-level secretary elevated the
the U.S.-Israel Bi-national Science Founda-
fresh ideas from young researchers and report further by handing it to Vice President
tion. The foundation was established in 1972
teachers. One researcher selected was Cheney on Air Force II and spearheading
by the governments of the United States and
ORNL’s Craig Blue, who attended an all-day “homework” sessions attended by other sena-
Israel to promote and support cooperative sci-
brainstorming session at the Academies in tors, science policy makers and advisors at
entific and technological research for peaceful
August 2005. the Administration’s highest levels, as well as
purposes and for the benefit of both countries.
On October 5, Augustine briefed Sen. outside experts like former ORNL Director
Bob Hawsey has been named director of
Alexander on the report, titled “Rising Bill Madia.
ORNL’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable
above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and On December 15, Senators Alexander,
Energy programs. For the past several years
Employing America for a Brighter Economic Domenici and Bingaman met with President
Bob has managed the Lab’s Electric Trans-
Future.” The report called for increased fund- Bush in the White House to push the competi-
mission and Distribution program.
ing for basic research. tiveness and energy agendas. They handed the
Jeremy Busby of the Materials S&T
“To get more American students excited president the Academies’ report summarized
Division has received the American Nuclear
about studying science and technology, the by Jeff.
Society’s 2006 Landis Young Member Engi-
report recommended mobilizing our vast In his State of the Union address on Janu-
neering Achievement Award. Past ORNL
scientific resources to solve America’s energy ary 31, 2006, the president announced the
winners include Tim Valentine, Yousry Azmy,
challenge,” Jeff says. “Just as Americans American Competitiveness Initiative and the
Ted Besmann and Everett Bloom.
rallied around President Kennedy’s goal of Advanced Energy Initiative for reducing U.S.
The Chemical Sciences Division’s Parans
sending a man to the moon during the Cold addiction to foreign oil. To show appreciation
Paranthaman was invited to write an
War, the challenge today—as America com- for Sen. Alexander’s hard work in developing
article on superconductor wires for the 2006
petes with China and India in an emerging the two initiatives, the president touted them
McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science & Tech-
jobs war—is to motivate ingenious Ameri- in Nashville the next day.
nology. The yearbook “...provides a broad
cans to develop a clean, reliable and afford- “I was invited to Nashville to hear the
overview of important recent developments
able energy supply.” president promote the two initiatives I worked
in science, technology, and engineering, as
The senator made the Academies’ report on,” Jeff recalls with excitement, adding he
selected by a distinguished board of consult-
the subject of an October 17 hearing before knew whom to thank.—Carolyn Krause
ing editors.”
the Energy and Natural Resources commit-
The Nuclear & Radiological Protection
tee chaired by Senator Pete Domenici. Sen.
Division’s Steve Sims has been elected a
fellow of the Health Physics Society, one of
only three ORNL staff members to receive
the honor.
is published for employees and retirees of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which The Environmental Sciences Division’s
is managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy. Virginia Dale and the Engineering S&T
Division’s Kathy Johnson were honored by
Bill Cabage, editor, 865/574-4399 or cabagewh@ornl.gov the Knoxville YWCA’s Tribute to Women.
Virginia won in the science and technology
Deborah Barnes, associate editor, 865/576-0470 or barnesds@ornl.gov category; Kathy won in the administrative-
clerical professional category.
On the Web: www.ornl.gov/reporter Retired ORNL environmental toxicologist
Faye Martin received the lifetime achieve-
DOE Inspector General Hotline: 1-800-541-1625 ment award at this year’s Oak Ridge YWCA
banquet.
2 September 2006ized system that allows McDonald and Alon Savidor, a doctoral
them to communicate candidate with the University of Tennes-
with authorities and see-ORNL Genome Science and Technology
each other. Part of Program and assigned to the Life Sciences
ORNL’s SensorNet Division, were among a number of authors
program is to make that of a recent paper, published in Science, that
network possible. describes sequencing the genomes of Phy-
“Our goal is to do tophthora sojae and Phytophthora ramorum,
for sensors what the the soybean and oak diseases, respectively.
Internet did for comput- UT, ORNL and a number of universities and
ers,” Bryan Gorman labs worked with DOE’s Joint Genome Insti-
of the Computational tute and the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute
Sciences and Engineering on the four-year project.
Division says. Crop losses to P. sojae already exceed
The first step in establish- $1 billion annually. Although the oak disease
ing a sensor network is to agree has been confined to the west coast,
upon technical standards. However, P. ramorum has been detected in nurseries in
Bryan and others observed a lack of clar- the east, and foresters are worried about yet
Imaging project monitors the grid ity within industry about which standards to another woodland blight. Researchers hope
ORNL’s role in the Hurricane Katrina adopt. the genome sequencing will provide clues on
recovery was documented in Reporter last fall Together with the National Institute of how to combat the pathogens.—B.C.
(No. 72), describing the Geographic Informa- Standards and Technology and Department of
tion S&T group’s work for DOE’s Office of Defense, ORNL hosted a conference August It pays to teach in East Tennessee
Electrity Delivery and Energy Reliability in 2-3 to harmonize the fundamental standards. Students in Union and Morgan counties
assessing the storm season’s impact on popu- “We wanted to bring in people with a com- have new math and science teachers this
lations, railways and ports. mon interest in sensor networks but from dif- fall, in some instances where they had none,
The Lab’s role has continued and grown. ferent groups to help them understand where thanks in part to a UT-Battelle effort to draw
A program that originated as a Lab-Directed the state of the art is,” he says. “Hopefully teachers to the rural school systems. The
R&D project to visualize, in real time, the it will lead to cooperative and collaborative ORNL contractor offered a $10,000 “signing
health of the electricity grid was recently cited efforts.” bonus” in return for a three-year commitment
by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman as one Bryan wants that collaboration to lead to a to teach school in the communities.
of the ways DOE has enhanced its prepared- dynamic framework that will define how sen- As a result, three teachers have signed on,
ness for the 2006 storm season. sors communicate and give sensor developers two in Union County and one in Morgan
The project is a collaboration between the guidelines for how to develop sensors that County. Barbara Roark is teaching math at
Computational Sciences & Engineering Divi- work with the network. Union County High School.
sion, the Engineering S&T Division and the He says lessons learned “This is a great recruiting
Tennessee Valley Authority, which is a major about networking and stan- tool for schools and a terrific
player in the national power grid. dards implementation from career incentive for the teach-
“The LDRD was to do wide-area visualiza- the Internet’s development ers,” says Roark, who will
tion and state estimation of the electric grid,” process should allow the sen- teach math under the program
explains CSED’s Arjun Shankar. “The project sor community to get to a at Union County High School.
got momentum after the 2003 blackout. What global sensor network sooner.
became clear was if there is a wider-area Commercial vendors have
awareness of what’s happening in the grid, readily adopted standards at
individual operators can react better and get a SensorNet test-beds in places
predictive sense of what’s happening. like Fort Bragg, demonstrat-
“We’re helping DOE get visualization info ing that standards adoption is
of grid status on their displays for situational commercially viable.
awareness—live information—of the electric Now all that Bryan and
Manuel Gillispie
grid,” he says. (From left) Jennifer Wilson,
his colleagues need to do is
“The first thrust of the OEDER program Barbara Roark and Rocky
convince the rest of the world Warren are filling science and
was to do hurricane-time visualization before, to agree on those standards. math teaching positions this fall.
during and after a storm to give responders —C.S.
a sense of what is happening with the grid. “This program is one of the main reasons I’m
DOE is an important source of information. Sequencers target plant maladies here.”
The visualizations would help support the ORNL researchers have joined the fight Jennifer Wilson also arrived in Union
response to problems,” Arjun says. against two plant pathogens, soybean root rot County for her first teaching job. Rocky War-
Arjun says the work shows the often disease and sudden oak death. The plant mal- ren, who did postdoctoral work at ORNL, will
maligned U.S. power grid actually does its job adies are as potentially bad as they sound— teach chemistry, physics and biology in Mor-
pretty well. one threatens a vital food crop, the other has gan County.
“The grid works so well that we take it for the potential to devastate eastern woodlands. UT-Battelle, which has also invested
granted,” he says.—B.C. Both diseases are of the Phytophthora, or approximately $350,000 in equipping school
“plant destroyer,” species, a fungus-like group science labs in the region, says it is prepared
Standard language for threat detection responsible for, among other catastrophes, the to offer five signing bonuses a year and hopes
Sensors can detect threats like nuclear or nineteenth-century Irish Potato Famine. the idea catches on with other companies.
biological weapons, but there is no standard- The Chemical Sciences Division’s Hayes Reported by Bill Cabage and Charlie Smith
ORNL Reporter 3Marketable skill
CCS intern’s ambition uncovers another application for EVEREST lab’s capabilities
ter participants learn through the visualiza- with her over the summer and watch her
N ekkion Crowder came to Oak Ridge
National Laboratory’s Computer Sci-
ences Division as an intern, set to write code
tion techniques she’s been practicing. Most
important, Nekkion says Pat’s enthusiasm for
grow.”
Sean says Nekkion’s internship didn’t pro-
that would detect bugs in visualization soft- the project gave her confidence to pursue her duce the intended results, but that the project
ware that runs on the EVEREST theater. goal. proved valuable in exploring and demonstrat-
One week after her arrival, the rising Fisk “When I first came I was very very con- ing yet another use for EVEREST.
University computer science major—intern- fused about what I wanted to do,” she said. “I could have stuck to my guns and said,
ing through ORNL’s Research Alliance in “Now I’m really excited about the youth cen- ‘You’re going to do the project I assigned,’”
Math and Science program—realized she ters. Pat made me believe I could do it.” he says. “But I don’t want people going away
wasn’t having much fun. “What a thrill to see Nekkion’s market- from Oak Ridge saying, ‘What a terrible
“I just felt like I was doing what I was ing data displayed on EVEREST for the first place to work.’ An internship ought to be ben-
doing in the classroom,” Nekkion says she time,” Pat says. “It’s been really fun to work eficial to both sides.”—Larisa Brass
told her mentor, Sean Ahern, with ORNL’s
Center for Computational Sciences. “He
asked me what my passion was and what I
would like to do.” Center for
The result was a project that for the first Computational
time used computer visualization to map Sciences intern
out market research—a potential tool for the Nekkion
Laboratory’s technology transfer program Crowder
and other business-oriented applications. plots market
With a double major in computer science research data
and psychology, the Milwaukee native’s using ORNL’s
EVEREST
dream is to open youth centers that would visualization
target young men and women—ages 12 to laboratory.
21—with an emphasis on technology as well
as traditional education and recreational pro-
grams.
Sean tapped Pat Richardson, who oversees
marketing research in ORNL’s Technology
Transfer and Economic Development Divi-
Interns pay tribute to their mentors
sion, to see if there was a way to explore
Nekkion’s idea using his business expertise.
Pat was enthusiastic, proposing that Nek-
R esearchers who spent time with this summer’s interns were honored on August 29 in a cer-
emony sponsored by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, which administers
most of the Lab’s internships. Following are excerpts of some of the testimonials from the stu-
kion could do market research on her con- dents about their mentors.
cept, pinpointing the locations of current cen- “Through the time I’ve spent with him and advice given by him, I now know that I can truly
ters and using geographic information system do anything I set my mind to.” Mentor: Auroop Ganguly, Computational Sciences & Engineer-
data to map out the best prospective sites. ing Division
“We basically struck gold,” Sean says. “At the end of every discussion, he would leave with a ‘Thanks,’ making me feel my time was
“Then the challenge was one of, how do we valuable.” Mentor: George Fann, Computer Science & Mathematics Division
keep this rooted in computer science using “When one of our experiments failed, I thought there was nothing to gain from the results.
EVEREST?” He helped me to realize that the data that we obtained were important.” Mentor: Joe Birdwell,
Nekkion accomplished this by tying the Nuclear S&T Division
data she uncovered into visualization soft- “After spending two years of doing nothing but studying ‘boring’ textbooks and taking tests,
ware that allowed her to display the informa- I had sort of lost a bit of desire to learn physics. My experiences working with my mentor have
tion on EVEREST, mapping out the location changed that.” Mentor: Steve Allison, Engineering S&T Division
of current centers and, county-by-county, the “He threw me into the deep waters of scientific research and showed me how to swim!” Men-
density of child populations across the coun- tor: Michael Simpson, Materials S&T Division
try. Part of the project included identifying “I was a guest in her house on several occasions for wonderful dinners where I was exposed to sci-
the longitude and latitude for each center that entists from many different countries and cultures.” Mentor: Sara Pozzi, Nuclear S&T Division
fit the category Nekkion had established and “My mentor never treated me as if I was any less educated, continually valuing my input and
creating a database that could be displayed respecting my opinions.” Mentor: Justin Baba, Engineering S&T Division
on the 30-foot by 8-foot projector wall. In “He always made us feel a part of the “team” and never like interns.” Mark Bevelhimer, Envi-
addition, Nekkion waded through many ronmental Sciences Division
categories of demographic data to determine “He gives me insights on graduate study schedules, fellowships and, most of all, ‘How not to
the best way to visualize the most promising go crazy while ‘limbo-ing’ your dissertation work!’” Derek Austin, Materials S&T Division
sites. Other mentors honored were J.T. Simpson, T.J. Blasing, Joanna McFarlane, Mariappan
“I wanted to see where things were visu- Paranthaman, Bruce Pint, Kelly Roy, Ian Gross and Brad Weil. Outstanding educators honored
ally, because I’m a visual learner,” she says, included Debbie McCoy, Elias Greenbaum, Marty Schweitzer, Johney Boyd Green Jr. and Say-
adding that her experience with EVEREST lor Hummel, Edgar Lara-Curzio and Karen Simonson, Michael Smith, April McMillan, Nancy
has given her tools to help future youth cen- Gray and Lee Riedinger, as well as the Nuclear S&T Division’s educational program.—B.C.
4 September 2006Cellulose-producing bacteria may
hold key to advanced bone repair treatments
A fter biting into a piece of Nata de Coco,
it is hard to imagine that bacteria, not
humans, synthesize the bulk of this sweet
biomedical engineering student had to figure
how to produce a bone-like structure to infuse
into the bacterial gel. She became especially
“It really reminded me of bone itself,” she
says.
Her findings appeared in Biomaterials in
treat. We can thank Gluconacetobacter, a interested in bone replacement after a family April. Stacy is preparing the required paper
nonpathogenic, cellulose-producing bacte- member required the use of bone grafts to work to conduct a biological study in which
rium, for the popular Filipino dessert. And reinforce a jaw
if dessert is not enough to bolster the little bone prior to
creature’s resumé, add to it the fact that the dental implanta- Bone gel might be the answer to short supplies
bacterium’s by-product has the potential to tion surgery.
save our bones and our body. Submerging
of cadaver tissue that surgeons use when treating
Gluconacetobacter bacteria secrete a the pellicle in severely damaged bone tissue or performing recon-
polysaccharide layer, called a pellicle, as calcium and
their cloak of protection against ultraviolet then phosphate structive surgery.
radiation and drying. Requiring oxygen for solutions, Stacy
survival, these aerobic bacteria primarily live was able to she will implant her bone-like gel into an ani-
at the surface of their liquid home, which form calcium-deficient hydroxyapatite, which mal model. That test will determine whether
consists of yeast, glucose, protein and water. is the main mineral component for bone the bone gel can attract developing bone cells,
Each bacterium exudes a strand of cel- and stimulates bone growth and regenera- or osteoblasts, to an injured area and elicit
lulose that bonds to other strands, forming tion when implanted, she says. Placing that bone regeneration. The calcium-deficient
a ribbon that is about hydroxyapatite crystallizes into a
three nanometers thick, layer that would allow real bone tissue
70 nanometers wide to rapidly bond with it, Stacy says.
and between one and Since bone is the second most
nine micrometers long. implanted tissue next to blood, Stacy’s
Braiding and overlap- bone gel might be the answer to the
ping the ribbons, the short supply of cadaver tissue that
bacteria then twist the surgeons use when treating severely
cellulose into crystal damaged bone tissue or performing
lattice layers that lie on reconstructive surgery. Hugh O’Neill,
top of each other, giving one of Stacy’s mentors at ORNL, says
depth to the pellicle. that the bone gel is ideal because it is
“We just lift off that clean and it is not immunogenic.
layer, clean it, and then “There are a lot of safety issues
we are ready to use it. with cadaver bone,” adds Barbara
It is similar to tissue,” Evans, Stacy’s second advisor who
works with Hugh in the Chemical Sci-
ences Division. “There might be some
disease or problem that the family was
not aware of and that can be really
Scanning electron microscope images of the bacterial cellulose and bacterial
dangerous for transplants.”
cellulose-bone mineral composites. The cellulose was infused with, from top left to Stacy’s bone gel would solve the
lower right, zero, 53, 75 and 90 percent of the synthetic bone mineral respectively. sanitary issues that complicate tissue
The petri dish at left has samples of bacterial cellulose with and without the transplants because cellulose is a pure
synthetic bone minerals. hypoallergenic material. Stacy steril-
izes the bone gel through autoclaving.
Stacy Hutchens says. compound in the cellulose allows the mineral Since the demand for human bone tissue is
Stacy, a University of Tennessee gradu- composite to maintain its structure. hard to supply, Stacy’s synthetic material
ate student, began working with the bacteria In the last two years, Stacy has analyzed would ease a surgeon’s need to find bone
four years ago. When she heard of an initial the material properties of her bone gel with donors or subject patients to multiple opera-
experiment showing that Nata de Coco cel- Dr. Roberto Benson in the Materials Science tions.
lulose cubes soaked in calcium and phosphate and Engineering Department at UTK, which There is still a lot to learn, Stacy says. Only
solutions formed a white mineral, Stacy was she says has really kick-started her research. time and testing will tell whether the cellulose
eager to start a research project in which she Using scanning electron microscopy and produced by Gluconacetobacter will be as
would synthesize a bone replacement material x-ray diffraction, Stacy found that the sweet an addition to bone tissue engineering
using a similar method. Citing ORNL chemi- hydroxyapatite structures in her material were as it has been as to the dessert market.—Ash-
cal scientist Barbara Evans’ work as a starting not that different from the hydroxyapatite in ley Yeager
point, Stacy ran with the idea of infusing the bone. Even the specific geometric symmetry
mineral found in bone into bacterial cellulose found in real bone appeared in her calcium- Ashley Yeager and Charlie Smith (page 3)
for her masters and now doctoral work. phosphate-cellulose composite—strong evi- were this summer’s interns from the Univer-
She first learned how to culture Gluconace- dence that her synthetic bone mimics living sity of Tennessee’s science writing program.
tobacter and its cellulose byproduct. Then the bone tissue.
ORNL Reporter 5How much do I need to retire?
Take time now to ensure that your retirement savings are enough
By KATHRYN COGAR However, a little over 11
Estimated retirement cost
T he question sounds simple and straight-
forward. And in fact, the basics are
easier than you might think. Consider this:
$50,000 x 20 years = $1,000,000
percent do not contribute
enough and miss out on
the full company match.
What’s the most expensive purchase you’ll UT-Battelle is currently
ever make? It’s not your house or your kid’s Estimated payments contributing $11 million
college education. It’s your retirement! How Pension $14,000 x 20 years - 280,000 annually to employee
much will your retirement cost? Social Security $16,800 x 20 years -336,000 accounts in matching con-
An exercise in fifth grade math will give tributions, but 367 of us
you a good ballpark estimate. Of course, are not taking full advan-
inflation and your level of investment earn- Estimated additional need $ 384,000 tage of this free money.
ings ultimately need to be considered, but Assets and account bal-
for now, let’s keep things simple: If suddenly ances follow a predictable
According to a recent study by the
tomorrow you were age 65 and it was your pattern based on our demographics, with the
Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)
last day of work and things cost the same as oldest age group holding the largest average
and the Investment Company Institute (ICI),
they do today, how much would you want to balance. But the balances themselves may
the average 401(k) account balance at year
spend each year? How close is that to what be of concern. Although our average balance
end 2005 was $102,000. The ORNL average
you spend today—is it the same, or more, is above the national trend, it is significantly
is around $160,000. Depending on which
or less? How many years do you think your below the amount needed in our example
number you use, in our example, there is a
retirement will last? If you’re going to live to above. When broken down by age groups,
gap of $282,000 or $224,000, substantial in
age 85, that would be 20 years. Now simply even those in the age 60 and older group have
either case.
multiply how much you’ll spend each year balances below the amount needed. Do you
Now the issues get a little more compli-
by the number of years and you have your have additional personal savings to fill the
cated. How much should you be contributing
personal retirement estimate. gap or do you need to save more?
today to fill that gap and meet your goal?
Let’s say you dream of a lifestyle of Our investments also follow a trend toward
How should you be investing your contribu-
$50,000 a year, retiring at age 65 and expect- taking less risk as we get older. We invest
tions? The answers depend on how much
ing to live to age 85. You’ll need 20 years of very heavily in our most conservative, short
you’ve already saved and how much time
income x $50,000 = $1 million. That’s your term or Stable Value fund. We have 12 dif-
you have until you retire. Obviously, the
retirement price tag. Is it what you expected ferent funds in our plan, yet over one-fourth
longer your time horizon, the more time you
or are you in sticker shock? Just like with of us invest in only one fund, predominately
have to save and to let your contributions
buying a house, a car, a refrigerator or any the Stable Value fund. Will such a conser-
grow. You can take advantage of the com-
other consumer item, there are things you vative investment strategy earn the rate of
pounding effect where the money you invest
can do now to buy the future that you want. return you need to meet your retirement
earns interest which then earns more inter-
In fact, you probably have some of that cost goals?
est, and so on. By saving as soon as you can
already covered. As you can see, the answer to how much
and as much as you can, you are much more
The first step is to understand how much you need for retirement is as unique as each
likely to reach your goal.
you already have toward meeting your retire- individual and his or her retirement dreams.
Conventional wisdom says that as you get
ment price tag and how much additional Yet the basic questions are the same for all
closer to retirement, your investments should
money you need to purchase your retirement of us: How much do you need? Have you
become more conservative. After all, you
dream. For most of us at ORNL, our retire- taken inflation and rising health care costs
don’t have as much time to recover from
ment income will come from four sources: into account? How much do you have? Are
any losses in the market. But, you may live
• Pension you saving enough? Are you investing prop-
another 20 years in retirement. If you are
• Social Security erly? Determining the answers is the first step
currently 10 years from retirement, that’s a
• 401(k) Savings Plan toward achieving your retirement dreams.
30-year time horizon. You need to think
• Personal Savings
about what level of risk is right for you to
reach your goal and ensure that your income Benefits fair Oct. 12
To continue with our example, let’s cal-
after your career ends will last as long as you
culate a pension based on $50,000 earnings
and 20 years of service, using the regular
formula—that’s $14,000/yr or $280,000 over
live.
O RNL’s Benefits & Wellness Fair is set
for Thursday, Oct. 12, from 10 a.m. to 3
p.m., in the Main Street and Conference Cen-
20 years.
Social Security comes to about $16,800/yr
S o how are we doing? Are ORNL employ-
ees getting the maximum value from
the 401(k) to meet retirement goals? The
ter areas with a theme of “Take Action! Live
Well!” Exhibits will feature
or $336,000 over 20 years. (Refer to Your • Health Screenings & Education
latest report from CitiStreet, our 401(k)
2006 Benefits Report or “Silver Bullet” for
recordkeeper, is mixed. As of June 30, 2006, • Benefits Providers
your own information or request a pension
participation is 89.4 percent, well above the • Fitness & Nutrition
calculation from the OneCall Center, 574-
national average. Our average contribution
1500). • University Programs
rate is 8.76 percent although our plan allows
That’s a good start toward meeting your • Safety
for contributions as high as 60 percent (16
retirement goal, but you’ll need an additional
percent for highly compensated employees). • Financial Planning
$384,000 from your 401(k) and/or personal
The company adds another 4 percent as a
savings (see the chart above). • Work-life Balance
matching contribution to your first 6 percent.
6 September 2006Vols vs. LSU Service
highlight fall Club Club Anniversaries
ORNL slate ORNL September 2006
O RNL retirees can now see upcoming Club ORNL
events and information on the Web. Go to http://www.ornl.
gov/adm/clubornl_signup.shtml and follow the instructions to create an
35 years: Beverly V. Abele, Business &
Information Services Dir.; Philip A. Jallouk,
account. Once your account has been approved, you’ll be able to keep up with Club ORNL Engineering Science & Technology; Ronald
on-line. Nancy Gray (576-9479, graynl@ornl.gov) is the club’s point of contact for retirees. Dain Poor, Research Reactors; Carl A. Burtis
Lab employees can check out the club’s Website at home.ornl.gov/general/clubornl/. Jr., Health Services
September 23: Atlanta Day Trip. Registration is closed. For further details, contact
Nancy Gray (graynl@ornl.gov or 576-9479). 30 years: J. Edward (Eddie) Sutherland,
October 21: Bike the Virginia Creeper Trail. Registration is closed. For further Chemical Sciences; Barry B. Spencer,
details, contact Dana Green (greendc@ornl.gov; 574-4322) or Ross Toedte (toedterj@ornl. Charles S. Webster, and W. Scott Aaron,
gov; 574-1912). Nuclear Science & Technology; George
October 26: ORNL’s Fall Festival and Craft Show. This event will be held 11 a.m.-1 Farquharson, SNS Experimental Facilities;
p.m. in and around the Conference Center with a special lunch offering for all who attend. Ronald L. Graves and W. S. Key, Engineering
Starting September 25, crafters may sign up online at https://www.ornl.gov/adm/clubornl/ Science & Technology; Julia Diana Malone,
fall_festival_form.cfm to exhibit their items in the craft show (display only; no sales on day Business & Information Services Dir.; Vic-
of show). The number of exhibit spaces is limited, so sign up promptly if you are inter- toria H. Rodgers, Craft Resources; Larry C.
ested. For further details, contact Vickie McGinty (574-3564, mcgintyvc@ornl.gov). All Combs, Fabrication; Catherine K. McKeown,
retirees interested in attending the Fall Festival must register in advance by no later than Life Sciences; Fred W. Meyer, Physics; Glenn
Oct. 13 by contacting Nancy Gray (576-9479, graynl@ornl.gov). O. Allgood, Computational Sciences & Engi-
November 4: Vols vs. LSU. Club ORNL will have 500 football tickets to see the neering
Volunteers play LSU, $50 per person, with a limit of two tickets per employee/retiree.
From September 11-22, those interested in attending must sign up for the ticket lot- 25 years: Terry R. Sharp and Brian Damiano,
tery at https://www.ornl.gov/adm/clubornl/vols_tickets_form.cfm. Any retirees without Engineering Science & Technology; Davis
XCAMS accounts who are interested in attending may contact Nancy Gray (576-9479 or Allan Reed, Nuclear & Radiological Protec-
graynl@ornl.gov.) to sign up. Once the sign-up period is over, there will be a random com- tion; Linda L. Horton, Center for Nanophase
puter drawing to select who gets the tickets from all those who have submitted their names. Materials Sciences; David Lee Angel, Craft
For further details, contact Bonnie Hebert (hebertb@ornl.gov). Resources
December 17: Clayton Christmas Concert. A 3 p.m. matinee performance of the
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Clayton Christmas Concert, plus special treats, is planned 20 years: Robert (Bob) L. Hettich, Chemical
for ORNL employees and retirees. Tickets go on sale in November. Sciences; Garfield W. Hedgecoth III, Craft
Resources; Susan B. Lambert, Nuclear &
Radiological Protection; David L. Wilson,
New Staff Troy Allen Jensen, Research Reactors
Richard Michael Lusk, Computational Sci-
Engineering Science & Technology; Stephen
C. Rose, Fabrication
ences & Engineering
Members Robyn Jeanette Rose, US ITER Project
Suresh Kumar Santhana-Vannan, Environ-
Douglas Allen Bunch, Kevin Boyd Hamby, mental Sciences
Jamie John Molaison, Ian Walter Evans,
George Michael Herron, Wanda Elane
George Alexander Barclay, Research Reac-
tors
Retirements
Streets, Rocky Allen Armstrong, Candice Victor Gene Hazlewood, Ofc. of Chief Infor-
Elizabeth Halbert and Timothy Paul Rus- mation Officer
sell, SNS Experimental Facilities Kathy A. Huczko, Quality Systems & Ser- Peggy Emmett has
Sydney Nail Murray III, Ekaterina Niko- vices retired with 46 years of
layevna Danilova and Jeffrey Darrel Bryan, Michael Alan McGuire, Materials Science & service. She worked in the
SNS Accelerator Systems Technology Nuclear S&T Division’s
Warren Chappelle Edwards and Shirley Hul- Edoardo Aprà, Computer Science & Math- Criticality Safety group;
ing McKamey, National Security ematics before that she was a
Timothy Wayne Guilliams, Brandon Dale Beverly Gonzales, Engineering Sciences & member of the former
Henderson, William Blake Housley, Technology Computational Engineer-
Antoine Joubert Johnson, Chad Derek Loy, Ava Yvonne Hamby, Business & Information ing and Physics Division.
Debbie J. Robinson, Stephen Calvin Rose Services Emmett During her career at
Jr. and Stephanie Michelle Layden, Craft Lisa Roberts, Nuclear Technology Programs ORNL she was a member
Resources Marion Donald Frederick, Feiyi Wang and of Dr. Alton Household-
Kathryn Parke Bugbee, Facilities Develop- John Clay England III, Center for Compu- er’s “mathematics panel,” where she did neu-
ment tational Sciences tron physics programming. Peggy, an award-
Marc E. Hampton, Nuclear Science & Tech- Kevin Lee Shuford, Chemical Sciences winning ballroom dancer, lives in Oak Ridge.
nology Sara Kathryn Hornbeck, Human Resources
ORNL Reporter 7Dagotto form into superconductors.
Elbio says, however, it is impossible to
he says.
“Science was very natural for me, and I was
Continued from page 1 study all the atoms in a particular material interested in nature from a young age.”
and develop a macroscopic theory of why While he was in school, scientists were
their materials science research. Every few
that material acts as a superconductor. making major developments in quantum
months Elbio will head to Washington, D.C.,
“You can never simulate an entire material. mechanics and astrophysics, fields entertain-
to exchange ideas and information about
You must break it down to a few hundreds of ing the most challenging questions about
materials research with other solid-state sci-
atoms and hope you still have the properties nature, he says, which enticed Elbio to study
entists, politicians and federal agency repre-
of the materials.” physics, specifically high-energy physics.
sentatives.
Working at that small scale pushes Elbio’s After getting his doctoral degree at the
Elbio’s home base, at least half his time,
studies into the realm of nanoscience. The Balseiro Institute in Argentina, the South
is here at the Lab, though, and he has asked
physicist’s ability to develop a theory and American equivalent of MIT, Elbio moved to
for an office that sits at the corner of the SNS
simulation of the particle interactions at that the University of Illinois to complete his post-
and Nanophase Center. Putting himself at
level can help nanospecialists overcome doctoral work. It was not until he accepted
that juncture, the physicist will be able to
the challenge in establishing how materials an associate research position at the Institute
mesh the data that scientists in each facil-
should behave. for Theoretical Physics in California that the
ity produce and develop his theories about
Scientists can-
nanointeractions.
not use Newtonian “You cannot sit down and invest a certain amount
“You cannot sit down and invest a certain
physics when ana-
amount of hours and then magically make a
theory,” he says. “Sometimes I will sit in my
lyzing a few hun- of hours and then magically make a theory.”
dred atoms, how-
office and just think; put things together in
ever. Elbio says
my mind.”
they must use quantum mechanics, where physicists flipped, in his words, to condensed-
Often things do not work, the condensed-
electrons—infinitely small points, in Elbio’s matter physics. That was about the time that
matter physicist says, but every now and then
words—act like waves, not particles. Nano- high-temperature superconducting burst onto
he gets a few sparks that lead to a good idea
scientists want to understand how that wave the scientific scene.
of how a given phenomenon works. Having
motion affects the material and how it acts. “Materials science influenced the whole
those sparks leads to the next challenge: “You
“If we can understand how something like world. It was more down to Earth,” he says.
must prove it,” he says.
a high-temperature superconductor works on “Condensed matter can be exotic, but you are
Working with experimentalists, Elbio can
the small-scale level, it can lead to applica- working with real materials that you can study
gain an idea of what the tests are showing to
tions where we can raise the temperature in the lab.”
happen as electrons move or do not move in
to room temperature,” Elbio says. “So you Jointly appointed at Oak Ridge and the
a particular material. That gives him a bet-
could have wires that transmit current but University of Tennessee, Elbio has access to
ter idea of how to explain those movements
don’t heat up.” many labs and scientists to satisfy his intellec-
and their relationship to the materials’ char-
That is the big picture. Mainly the fun- tual curiosity, as he attempts to understand the
acteristics. Transition metal oxides are one
damentals intrigue Elbio. He also wants to nature of materials. And, of course, he has his
example. Elbio wants to know why, at room
know why these natural phenomena happen, espresso makers too.—Ashley Yeager
temperature, these compounds often resemble
a curiosity he has had since he was a child,
ceramic bricks, but when cooled, they trans-
P.O. Box 2008
PRSRT STD
U.S. Postage
INSIDE . . .
PAID
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6266 Permit # 37
No. 81 September 2006
Powell, TN
Elbio Dagotto, page 1
Capital experience, page 1
Lab Notes: Visualizing the
grid, plant pathogens, sensor
communication, teachers,
page 3
Interns and mentors, page 4
Bone gel, page 5
Saving for retirement, page 6
Club ORNL slate, page 7You can also read
