
Two ORNL researchers, alumna of “Innovation Crossroads” recognized by the Department of Energy
The awards recognized their contributions to manufacturing innovation for the nation’s energy sector.
Two scientists and an “Innovation Crossroads” (IC) alumna affiliated with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have been recognized by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office for their contributions to manufacturing innovation for the nation’s energy sector.
The awardees are:
- Santa Jansone-Popova, an Organic Chemist at ORNL’s Chemical Sciences Division, who received AMMTO’s Innovation Award. The award recognizes Jansone-Popova’s role as three-time co-chair of a special symposium, “Innovations in Rare Earths and Critical Minerals,” at the annual “TechConnect World Innovation Conference and Expo.” The event joins top applied researchers and early stage innovators from universities, labs, and start-ups with industry end users and scouts.
- Bill Peter, Program Manager for Advanced Manufacturing at ORNL, who received AMMTO’s Visionary Award. Peter currently manages a research portfolio of more than 90 projects. He was one of the founding creators of the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) and served as its Director for six years. Under Peter’s direction, the MDF generated more than $1 billion in follow-on private funding for its partners based on manufacturing and materials research and developed more than a dozen new manufacturing systems. Peter has collaborated with hundreds of companies to help transfer MDF innovation to the marketplace to benefit the nation’s industrial competitiveness.
- Megan O’Connor, a 2018 Fellow in the second cohort of the IC program, who received AMMTO’s Commercialization Award. O’Connor is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nth Cycle, a metal refining company working with scrap recyclers, manufacturers, and miners to recover production-grade critical metals from industrial scrap, low-grade ore, and refining waste. The company uses a patented electro-extraction technology that enables customizable, clean, and consistent recovery of the critical metals for energy transition. The technology is designed to reduce the cost, footprint, and environmental impact of producing recycled metals that have the same composition and performance as newly mined minerals, with one-tenth the energy input.
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