Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Going with the flow 🌊 The first tidal turbine operated in the Pacific Northwest spins no matter what direction the water flows. Learn more about the turbine deployed and tested at PNNL-Sequim in partnership with the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab: https://bit.ly/48t8HKV

Science Halloween costumes for the whole family 🎃

One of the coolest things about joining our national lab is the mentorship available to everyone from interns up through full-time staff members. These opportunities for professional development strengthen the ability of PNNL'ers to address the world's toughest energy and security challenges. 👩🎓 Full-time staff members mentor interns as part of our Office of STEM Education Gold Experience. 👩🔬 Full-time employees, research associates, postdocs, and more work together across disciplines throughout the lab. This #NationalMentoringDay, we thank every person who makes these programs possible! 🎉

Who ya gonna call? GNOMEVIEW 👻 Developed at PNNL in 1993, GnomeView was a computer-based, graphics-oriented system for interfacing among major databases and constructing genetic “pictures” in an effort to map the human genome.

"When your values are clear, your choices are easy." PNNL staff gathered this week to demonstrate a collective commitment to safety and heard Capt. Sully Sullenberger, world-renowned airline captain and safety expert, share the tenet above. Sullenberger received it not long after the January 2009 "Miracle on the Hudson" emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549, during which his quick decision-making and expert piloting saved the lives of all 155 passengers and crew members—a powerful example of leadership, resilience, and composure in the face of extreme crisis. A special thanks goes out to Captain Sullenberger and all staff members at our U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory for coming together to both acknowledge PNNL's longtime culture of safe work performance and discuss how we can do even better.

Meet John Shilling, a PNNL chemist who built a custom chamber that simulates the Earth’s atmosphere. Inside the Environmental Chamber Laboratory—the only large-scale atmospheric reactions chamber in the DOE national laboratory system—Shilling works to create clarity around one of climate science’s most baffling sources of complexity: the influence of aerosols on clouds. Learn more about Shilling and the discoveries that are unfolding in the Environmental Chamber Laboratory: https://bit.ly/4hw55fF

We don't need a weighted blanket. We need to be squeezed by 200,000 pounds of force to become a metal tube. With PNNL's patented Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE) technology, no external heat source is needed to recycle scrap metal. ShAPE can help the manufacturing industry lower its energy use by 50 percent.

We’re working to democratize access to emerging cloud computing resources that are helping us accelerate the pace of scientific discovery. Our partnership with Microsoft, other national labs, and academic partners addresses urgent energy and environmental remediation challenges. Learn more:

While browsing for souvenirs at a Colorado Rockies game, staff members Mario Sanchez, a pipefitter, and John Stephenson, an aerial facility operations specialist, found themselves racing toward the checkout counter after hearing a faint cry for help. There they found a young woman on the floor, with a head wound, suffering from a seizure. "When I saw [her] lying on the ground, all the years of training I received at PNNL just kicked in," Mario says. 🆘🏃 Mario quickly assessed the situation: the woman had seemingly struck her head while falling and the intensity of her convulsions was increasing. He cushioned her head, held her neck, and worked to turn her onto her side to prevent her from choking on blood filling her mouth. "I could see the fear in her eyes and that she needed help but couldn't talk," he says, "so I just kept talking to her, telling her my name, and reassuring her she would be okay." 📱🚑 Meanwhile, John called 911, kept bystanders back, and made Mario aware that help was coming. After paramedics arrived and took over, one commended Mario on his good work and asked if he was an emergency medical technician himself. "No, I'm a pipefitter," he said. ⛑️🦺 PNNL provides lifesaving training to staff, such as Medic First Aid, CPR, and working with automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Regarding this safety education, John says, "It equips us with the skills to act beyond the workplace, like an extension of community service in emergency situations." As embodied in PNNL's WE Culture, we believe that everyone's contributions—and every person—matter, at both our lab and throughout the communities in which our staff live. "Looking back on it now, if we didn't help that young woman, she would have died," Mario says. "I'm thankful that John and I were prepared to step in when it mattered most."

Sunrises at PNNL-Sequim 😍 📸: Phil Parisi