From the Associate Laboratory Director’s Desk

Dear colleagues,

I write to you today from Washington, D.C., where Laboratory Director Paul Kearns and I are talking with leadership for a number of our sponsors, including the offices of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Electricity, Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, Clean Energy Demonstrations, Grid Deployment, International Affairs, and Science, as well as multiple EERE offices. Listening to our partners, as well as reminding them of our capabilities, facilities, and achievements, is important as they assess how best to continue advancing their science and technology agendas.

Last week, we finalized the TAPS and ESIA division director searches. Today and later this week, you will see the announcements. I believe the future is bright for both divisions as they seize strategic opportunities and historic sponsor investments.

This week, Pride Month kicks off with the We Are Argonne Unity Mile. Please consider joining me for this celebration of Argonne’s diverse, inclusive culture.

I would like to end my note with applause for the Sustainable Transportation Education & Partnerships (STEP) Department within TAPS, for capping another successful year of Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions. Argonne has managed the competitions for DOE for 35 years, with the latest, the EcoCAR EV Challenge, running from 2022 through 2026. Paul and I had the privilege of joining last week's EcoCAR EV awards ceremony, where a team from The Ohio State and Wilberforce universities took top honors for their year one accomplishments. DOE and other Laboratory partners regard EcoCAR as one of the best DOE programs and a steady and reliable source of high quality students and talent for the next-generation workforce. Please congratulate STEP Department Manager Kristen Wahl and her team for a job well done.

Best regards,

Claus

__________________________

Claus Daniel
Associate Laboratory Director
Advanced Energy Technologies

AET Directorate Picnic

Tuesday, June 13 at 11:30 a.m.

Location: Building 362 Front Lawn 

Join your fellow coworkers for the AET picnic. No-cost lunch will be catered by Portillo's. There will be games and a 50/50 raffle. To purchase 50/50 raffle tickets, please see:

• Lauren Martin, Building 362, C285
• Denise Moores, Building 212, D225
• Susan Podoba and Denise Voss, Building 202

In case of inclement weather, picnic will be moved to Room F108.

RSVP by COB Wednesday, June 7.

RSVP

Due Tuesday, June 6

Argonne is committed to continuous improvement in all our operations. We also strive to offer competitive benefits and to ensure that our partners deliver the high-quality service we expect. That’s why we are asking for feedback about your experience with our medical and prescription benefit partners since Jan. 1, 2023. You can help us understand utilization, gather valuable insights, identify strengths and weaknesses, and improve the employee experience.

Please take this brief, anonymous survey by Tuesday, June 6, 2023.

SURVEY

Join AET's ALD Daniel on the "We Are Argonne Unity Mile"

Thursday, June 1 at 12 p.m.

All are invited to join together for the Unity Mile on Thursday, June 1. Celebrate Argonne’s diverse, inclusive culture and the start of Pride Month. The event will begin outside Building 213 and participants will gather at the progress flag afterward for bottled water, trail mix (nut-free options will be available), and an opportunity to mingle with one another. 

This event is organized by Spectrum ERG, Argonne African American ERG, and Women in Science and Technology. 

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Our science and technology leadership relies heavily on computing and our researchers make use of a full spectrum of machines from small local clusters to mid-range high performance computing (HPC) in the Laboratory Computing Resource Center (LCRC), and ultimately the high-performance hybrid machines (CPU/GPU) such as POLARIS and Aurora. These latter machines are revolutionizing research reliant on large scale simulations, big-data analysis and analytics, or machine learning to train increasingly complex and large models. Have you considered how your research will be impacted by advanced high performance computing?

Argonne is developing an institutional computing strategy that aims to provide a world class computing ecosystem with capabilities for all Argonne research staff. Join Kirsten Laurin-Kovitz, Associate Laboratory Director for Nuclear Technologies and National Security, and Laurent Chapon, Associate Laboratory Director for Photon Sciences, for upcoming hybrid Institutional Computing town hall meetings.

All interested members of the Argonne community are invited to attend and are asked to register online. Lunch will be provided for those attending in person and will be served 30 minutes prior to each session.

• Register to attend June 5 here (deadline to register for lunch is Today, May 30)

REGISTER

AET/NTNS Hybrid Security Briefing

Tuesday, June 20 at 11:15 am

Location: Building 203, Auditorium or Zoom

Speakers: Bill Nichols and Kim Pattison from the Foreign National Access Program (FNAP)

AET/NTNS Information Assurance Representatives (IAR’s) will hold a hybrid security awareness briefing. The Foreign National Access Program (FNAP) office will discuss the Foreign Assignment/Visit Online Report (FAVOR) System and ANL-593 requirements for foreign national access to DOE sites, programs, information, and technology.

ZOOM LINK

The Ohio State University & Wilberforce University Team Claims Top Spot in Year One of the EcoCAR EV Challenge

The EcoCAR EV Challenge is a four-year collegiate engineering program that builds on the successful 34-year history of Department of Energy Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions (AVTC) that exemplify the power of government/industry partnerships in addressing our nation’s toughest energy and mobility challenges and providing invaluable practical skills of promising young minds ready to enter the workforce. 

The Challenge is managed by Argonne National Laboratory and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors, and MathWorks as the headlining sponsors.

The EcoCAR EV Challenge Year 1 Competition was held May 21-26, 2023, in Orlando, Florida.

EcoCAR teams gathered in Orlando to showcase their effort from Year 1 to industry sponsors and were judged across each of the key the areas of the program: Engineering, Project Management, Communications, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Paul Kearns, Director of Argonne, and Claus Daniel, Associate Laboratory Director for AET, attended the Year 1 Competition. See pictures from the event on Box.  

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Visit InsideAET (VPN needed to access offsite) or join the AET Teams Channel for updates and more information within AET. If you have any questions, email aetinfo@anl.gov.