NNSA awards more than US$20 million in grants to researchers, universities across America

Monday, Aug 17, 2009

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced today that it has awarded more than $20 million in grants to 28 researchers in 18 states.  The awards, which are for three years, were made through NNSA’s Stewardship Science Academic Alliances (SSAA) program and the program in High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas (HEDLP), a joint program with grants funded by NNSA and the Department of Energy Office of Science.  The current grants are funded by NNSA.

“NNSA is committed to funding research that will increase the safety, security and reliability of our nuclear stockpile and further President Obama’s commitment to securing nuclear material around the world,” said NNSA Administrator Thomas D’Agostino. “These grant recipients are working on cutting-edge research that is the bedrock of our future as a nuclear security enterprise.  The money we invest today will advance scientific and national security goals, and I want to personally congratulate the recipients of these awards for their involvement in our mission.”

One of the Stewardship Science Academic Alliances’ objectives is to be a long-term recruiting tool to help the national laboratories attract the next generation of nuclear security professionals. Approximately 70 SSAA-supported students have been hired at the labs since the program’s inception in 2002. 

The HEDLP program combines projects funded by NNSA’s SSAA Program in the research area of high energy density physics and by DOE's Office of Science HEDLP Program and Innovative Confinement Concepts Program.

The award recipients and amounts are listed by state. For more information, please check our website at NNSA

Stewardship Science Academic Alliances

CALIFORNIA

Nigel Browning, University of California, Davis ($600,000)

Enhanced Functionality for Materials Analysis in the DTEM

Richard Scalettar, University of California, Davis ($450,000)

Magnetic and Structural Properties of f-electron Systems at High Pressure:  Experiments and Theory

Brian Maple, University of California, San Diego ($720,000)

Novel d-and f-electron Materials Under Extreme Conditions of Pressure, Temperature, and Magnetic Field

ILLINOIS

David Ceperley, University of Illinois ($460,000)

Quantum Simulations for Dense Matter

Ian Robertson, University of Illinois ($675,000)

Dynamic Response of Nanostructured Single and Multilayer Metals

MASSACHUSETTS

Stein Jacobsen, Harvard University ($570,000)

Soft X-Ray Shock Loading and Momentum Coupling in Meteorite and Planetary Material

NEW YORK

Baosheng Li, Stony Brook University ($675,000)

Thermoelasticity of SSP Materials:  An Integrated Acoustic and Diffraction Study at High-P and High-T           

Yaron Danon, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ($645,000)

Experiments with a Lead Slowing-Down Spectrometer and Fission Neutrons

NORTH CAROLINA

Anton Tonchev, Duke University ($900,000)

Precision Photo-Induced Cross-Section Measurements Using the Monoenergetic and Polarized Gamma Beams at HIGS

Werner Tornow, Duke University ($620,000)

Neutron Induced Reaction on Specific Nuclei

Gary Mitchell, North Carolina State University ($800,000)

Cross Sections, Level Densities and Strength Functions

OHIO

Carl Brune, Ohio University ($800,000)

Studies in Low Energy Nuclear Science

TENNESSEE

Witold Nazarewicz, University of Tennessee ($365,866)

Microscopic Description of the Fission Process

TEXAS

Devesh Ranjan, Texas A&M University ($360,000)

Detailed Measurements of Turbulent Rayleigh-Taylor Mixing at Large and Small Atwood Numbers

Robert Tribble, Texas A&M University ($642,370)

Development of New Techniques to Determine Neutron Induced Reaction Rates

VIRGINIA

Con Beausang, University of Richmond ($510,000)

Nuclear Stewardship Research at the University of Richmond   

WASHINGTON

Evan Abramson, University of Washington ($480,000)

Viscosities of Highly Compressed Fluids

High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas NNSA Joint Program

CALIFORNIA

Hoanh Vu, University of California, San Diego ($510,000)

Study of Laser Plasma Instabilities Generation of Hot Electrons That Adversely Affect Fusion Target Compression

Warren Mori, University of California, Los Angeles ($690,000)   

Continuation of the Application of Parallel PIC Simulations to Laser and Electron Transport Through Plasmas Under Conditions Relevant to ICF and HEDS

Bedros Afeyan, Polymath Research Inc. ($900,000)

Optical Mixing Techniques for Taming Laser Plasma Instabilities in High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas (ii)

COLORADO

Henry Kapteyn, University of Colorado ($697,902)

Coherent Imaging Studies of High Density Femtosecond Laser Plasmas

MASSACHUSETTS

Stein Jacobsen, Harvard University ($870,000)

Planetary Science and Astrophysical Applications of Experimental Studies With the SNL Z Facilities

Richard Petrasso, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ($2,250,000)

Studying Fields and Matter in HED Plasmas, Hohlraums and ICF Implosions, Using Monoenergetic Proton and Alpha Radiography and Fusion-Product Spectrometry           

MICHIGAN

Richard Paul Drake, University of Michigan ($2,250,000)

Center for Laser Experimental Astrophysics Research (CLEAR)

NEVADA

Yasuhiko Sentoku, University of Nevada, Reno ($133,695)

Enabling Numerical Modeling of Extreme-Intensity Laser-Produced Hot Dense Plasma

Roberto Mancini, University of Nevada, Reno ($690,000)

Experiments and Modeling of Photoionized Plasmas at Z

OHIO

Anil Pradhan, Ohio State University ($396,000)

Laboratory Tests of Stellar Interior Opacity Models

TEXAS

Todd Ditmire, University of Texas at Austin ($900,000)

Experimental Study of the Equation of State in Dense, Strongly-Coupled Plasma

Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science in the nation’s national security enterprise. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability, and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; reduces the global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the U.S. and abroad. Visit

Source: NNSA