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Ensuring the nation’s electrical power grid can function with limited disruptions in the event of a natural disaster, catastrophic weather or a manmade attack is a key national security challenge. Compounding the challenge of grid management is the increasing amount of renewable energy

renewable energy

Renewable energy comes from unlimited, naturally replenished resources, such as the sun, tides, and wind. Renewable energy can be used for electricity generation, space and water heating and cooling, and transportation.

Source: U.S Department of Energy Source

sources such as solar and wind that are continually added to the grid.

At one of the many science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educational programs run by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory over the summer, attendees tackled a variety of data exercises, including investigating London’s 19th century cholera crisis.

Scientific American recently published a story about extreme weather that featured the research of Naresh Devineni and Niloufar Nouri of the City University of New York. This work is the result of the FY2017 Early Career Research Program award titled, “Multi-scale Modeling of Extreme Events and Impact Information” affiliated with the RGMA program area in EESM.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program is now accepting applications for the 2023 Solicitation 2 cycle. Applications are due by 5 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, November 8. SCGSR application assistance workshops will be held on Thursday, September 14 and Tuesday, October 10.

James “Jim” Smith, a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine, was just a boy when his father, a summertime park ranger, brought him into the wilderness for weeks at a time. He and his brothers jumped into creeks, got scuffed up, and watched clouds scud overhead. “I always knew, wherever I ended up, it would have to do with being out in the natural world.”

In early June 2023, Daniel Feldman and Allison Aiken hiked along a mountain trail in a region of Colorado where distant peaks jutted into the sky and stands of forests seemed to rise out of a landscape painting. Undistracted by the scenery, the two atmospheric scientists talked about the last days of observations—and the next steps—for an epically comprehensive, 21-month investigation.

An important international climate workshop in spring 2023 brought together observationalists and modelers to look at how ground-based data, satellite observations, and modeling could be better integrated to inform the study of land-atmosphere processes. The Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) Integrated Product Workshop took place from April 11–13 in Toledo, Spain.

Through SULI and CCI, undergraduate students discover science and technology careers at the DOE national laboratories and gain the experience needed to transition from internship to employment. Interns work directly with national laboratory scientists and engineers, assisting them on research or technology projects that support the DOE mission.

Selected projects cover a range of atmospheric science topics, including process-level scientific understanding of how atmospheric particles invigorate storms; processes that govern rain, snow, and snowpack in the Rocky Mountains; processes affecting low-level clouds; and impacts of atmospheric particles, heat, and moisture on clouds in the Southeastern United States.

Colloids can transport nutrients, contaminants, and organic matter throughout watersheds.

watershed

An area of land that channels rainfall and snowmelt to creeks, streams, and rivers, and eventually flows to the lowest point in a basin.

Source: USGS Source

Their persistence, reactivity, and heterogeneous compositions render them key contributors to biogeochemical reactions. A multi-institutional team of researchers detected iron (Fe)-rich colloids in anoxic groundwater

groundwater

Water that occurs below Earth's surface. When rain falls to the ground, a portion percolates (sinks) into the ground and collects in spaces in the underground rocks.

Source: A student's guide to Global Climate Change Source

of a redox-active floodplain

floodplain

The nearly flat portion of a river valley built by sediment deposited during previous floods.

Source: NASA earth observatory Source

of the Slate River, CO.

Actionable research on urban adaptation should incorporate social, ecological, physical, and technological systems while recognizing that cities are social networks embedded in built and natural environments. This study unites many academic disciplines to comprehensively understand urban adaptation to climate change

climate change

A change in the average conditions — such as temperature and rainfall — in a region over a long period of time.

Source: NASA Climate Kids Source

and build knowledge that can inform policymaking and enable action.

There's still time to apply for the 2023 ZEDD cohort. In 2022, Nea Maloo, assistant professor in the Howard University Architecture Department, led a group of Howard students to participate in the Solar Decathlon Design Challenge for the first time in the university's history. The experience was a positive one for the students, and Maloo wanted to offer similar opportunities to more students.