The 2000s
The symbiotic relationship of a national laboratory and a major research-oriented university allows Ames Laboratory to continue
developing far more comprehensive research programs than might be expected from a national lab alone. The mission-oriented,
interdisciplinary, collaborative research provides unique opportunities for both the Lab and Iowa State to broaden their research
endeavors and maintain positions of international excellence as the two organizations move into the 21st century.
Darleane Hoffman
John Corbett
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2000 • The annual Ames Lab/ISU Regional High School Science Bowl celebrates its 10th anniversary in January 2000. • Researchers develop a composite material consisting of cobalt ferrite and small amounts of nickel and silver that holds potential as a lightweight replacement for the heavy hydraulic pumps currently used in automobile steering systems, reduces vehicle weight and improves fuel efficiency. • In March 2000, former Ames Laboratory student and ISU alumnus Darleane Hoffman receives the 2000 Priestley Medal from the American Chemical Society in recognition of her pioneering work in nuclear science. • Ames Lab senior chemist John Corbett receives the American Chemical Society’s 2000 award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry. • Scientists at Ames Lab and IPRT host a workshop for forensic scientists from eight Midwestern states, a joint effort to establish a regional forensics research and support facility. • After 10 years of efforts to develop a sector at Argonne National Lab’s Advanced Photon Source, Ames Lab researchers are able to access the facility’s brilliant, highly focused X-ray beams to investigate the molecular makeup of materials. • An Ames Lab project to gain a better fundamental understanding of a unique class of alloys that responds powerfully to changes in temperature and magnetic field receives DOE funding over four years. • The Materials Preparation Center launches the Process Science Initiative, a DOE-funded effort to probe the methods by which materials are synthesized in order to give them specific properties. • Ames Lab expands its research on cluster computers thanks to a $300,000 Major Research Instrument grant. |
| 2001 • In 2001, Ames Laboratory research is recognized on the DOE Energy 100 Awards list three times. Number 24 on the top-100 list is photonic bandgap structures; number 36 is lead-free solder; and number 59 is magnetic refrigeration. • Ames Laboratory receives a 2001 R&D 100 Award for a remarkable advance in chemical separation technology – multiplexed capillary electrophoresis using absorption detection. • Ames Lab physicists are the first to describe the mechanism of superconductivity in magnesium diboride, map its properties and develop wire segments from the material. • The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks stun the world and forever change our way of life. At Ames Laboratory, emergency response procedures go into operation. Director Tom Barton informs employees of the situation and asks that all nonessential personnel halt activities and vacate the Lab’s buildings. • Ed Yeung wins the 2001 American Chemical Society Award in Chromatography for his impressive volume of research in the area of chemical separations. • Klaus Ruedenberg wins the 2001 American Chemical Society Award in Theoretical Chemistry for innovative research in the field characterized by depth, originality and scientific significance.
• Using materials developed at Ames Laboratory, researchers successfully demonstrate the world’s first room-temperature, permanent magnet refrigerator. • Ames Laboratory receives $1.3 million in funds over a three-year period through the DOE’s Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing, SciDAC, initiative to improve software for high-performance computing systems. |
(left) The world's first room temperature rotary magnetic refrigerator, built using a gadolinium-silicon-germainium alloy developed at Ames Laboratory. |
2003 • In January 2002, U.S. Rep. Tom Latham visits Ames Laboratory and announces $5 million in federal funding for two Lab initiatives – biorenewable energy and forensic research. • Ames Laboratory research on the photophysics of luminescent organic thin films and organic light emitting devices, OLEDs, leads to the development of a novel, integrated OLED/optical chemical sensor. (2002) • Ames Lab’s research on magnetic refrigeration is selected by the DOE’s Office of Science to be featured at the 2002 G-8 Energy Ministers Conference in Detroit. • In 2002, Ames Lab celebrates 20 years of quasicrystal research. Ames Lab is internationally known for its basic research on quasicrystals, which includes the science of growth. |
Blue OLED Array |
Tom Barton (right) accepts the FLC Lab Director of the Year award
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2003 • Ames Laboratory research results in a breakthrough technique using microscale channels cut in an ultrathin, biodegradable polymer to regrow nerve cells. • In 2003, R. Bruce Thompson is elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his outstanding contributions to nondestructive evaluation. • The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer recognizes Ames Laboratory Director Tom Barton with its 2003 Laboratory Director of the Year Award. • Ames Lab researchers discover a number of intermetallic compounds that are ductile at room temperature making them potentially promising materials for such applications as heat- and corrosion-resistant coatings, flexible superconducting wires and powerful magnets. • In 2003, Ames Laboratory inaugurates the Middle School Science Bowl.
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2004 • Ames Lab researchers discover an unusual growth mode for lead on a silicon film that may prove critical in developing atomic structures for nanotechnology applications. • Ames Laboratory physicists design and test a photonic crystal metamaterial to demonstrate negative refraction and superlensing in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum. • Ames Lab physicists add carbon to a superconducting compound, magnesium diboride, doubling the magnetic field the material can withstand. • Ed Yeung, director of the Lab’s Chemical and Biological Sciences program, is named the 2004 Iowa Inventor of the Year by the Iowa Intellectual Property Law Association. |
Ames Lab physicist Costas Soukoulis holds up a model of a photonic crystal metamaterial |
R&D 100 award-winning thermal barrier coatings • Ames Laboratory receives $1.6 million over a three-year period to study complex hydrides as part of the DOE’s Hydrogen Fuel Initiative. • Ames Laboratory wins a 2005 R&D 100 Award for innovative platinum-modified nickel- aluminide bond coats for thermal barrier coatings.
Costas Soukoulis receiving the Descartes Prize |
2005 • Iowa Senator Tom Harkin announces $1.5 million in federal funding for Ames Laboratory’s Midwest Forensics Resource Center. • John Corbett, Ames Lab senior chemist, receives the 2005 Spedding Award, the top honor for researchers in the field of rare-earth science and named for Frank Spedding, the first director of Ames Laboratory. • Ames Laboratory physicists and ISU materials science engineers begin designing and fabricating 3-D photonic crystal microstructures in the open air, something that has not been done previously. • Ames Laboratory and ISU host the 9th International Conference on Quasicrystals in May 2005.
• Ames Lab receives $1 million in funding from the DOE for research in plant metabolomics. • Costas Soukoulis, an Ames Laboratory senior physicist and an ISU Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, wins the 2005 Descartes Prize for Excellence in Scientific Collaboration Research, the European Union’s highest honor in the field of science. He and his collaborators created a novel class of artificial metamaterials, called left-handed materials, or LHMs, which exhibit fascinating properties not found in naturally occurring materials.
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2006-2007 • Ames Laboratory wins a 2006 R&D 100 Award for Texture-Based Engineering Tools, TBET, that allows engineers to interact with large 3-D data sets to tackle complex engineering problems. • Robert Angelici, an Ames Laboratory senior chemist and an ISU Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, receives the 2006 American Chemical Society Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry. • The Iowa Intellectual Property Law Association names senior metallurgist Iver Anderson its 2006 Iowa Inventor of the Year.
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ISU and DOE officials sign the Ames Laboratory contract. • On Dec. 4, 2006, the U.S. Department of Energy announces that Iowa State University is the winner of the bid to manage and operate the $150 million Ames Laboratory contract over the next five years. • Tom Barton steps down as the director of Ames Laboratory and IPRT on Feb. 28, 2007. • Alan Goldman, Ames Laboratory division director of Science and Technology, becomes the Lab’s interim director, effective March 1, 2007. • Karl Gschneidner, Jr., an Ames Laboratory senior metallurgist and an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor of Engineering, is named a member of the National Academy of Engineers in 2007. • Ames Laboratory turned 60 on May 17, 2007.
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