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DOE OSTI2024

CORE-CM in The Greater Green River and Wind River Basins: Transforming and Advancing a National Coal Asset (Final Report)

The following document summarizes project results from “CORE-CM in the Greater Green River and Wind River Basins: Transforming and Advancing a National Coal Asset”. This project is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (“DOE”) National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (“NETL”) Carbon Ore, Rare Earth Elements, and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Initiative. This report concludes that the Greater Green River and Wind River Basins (GGRB-WRB) Area-of-Interest (AOI 9) is the ideal region for continued research and development in progressing the broader CORE-CM goals outlined by the DOE. Based upon the extensive analyses of technical, social, and community criteria, this report illustrates that the GGRB-WRB hosts numerous potential CORE-CM feedstocks (both coal- and non-coal based), diverse opportunities for utilizing existing industrial waste streams, ample infrastructure and industry to support new CORE-CM-focused technologies, and a highly motivated, well educated, and adaptable workforce to further develop the regional and national CORE-CM supply chain. Additionally, some potential solutions for technological gaps suggest that the GGRB-WRB's diverse resources can play a significant role in achieving the national goal of critical materials independence. With full community participation, meaningful involvement of regional Tribal Nations, and building upon the stakeholder engagement demonstrated here, the GGRB-WRB region presents a unique opportunity for advancing the CORE-CM Initiative. This project was designed to bring together coal-based communities and stakeholders from across the GGRB-WRB to advance new industries for CORE-CM resources. The University of Wyoming (UWyo) School of Energy Resources (SER) led a project team of experts from the Colorado Geological Survey (CGS), Colorado School of Mines (CSM), Los Alamos National Lab (LANL), and local community colleges. Input from basinal, regional, and national experts bolstered the coalition in order to advance the mission of DOE’s CORE-CM initiative and develop the domestic CORE-CM supply chain. Phase I of this project was designed to address the goal of developing and catalyzing economic growth, job creation, and technology innovation in the GGRB-WRB of Wyoming and Colorado, by increasing the supply of CORE-CM to manufacturers of non-fuel Carbon Based Products (CBP) and products reliant upon CM. The GGRB-WRB CORE-CM project worked toward providing benefit through several avenues of performance and research. • Develop a coalition team to achieve project objectives • Complete detailed assessments, including State-of-the-Art (SOTA) Data acquisition of potential CORE-CM materials across the AOI, and meaningfully contributes to DOE’s CORE-CM goals nationally. • Strategic planning for regional economic growth, job creation, and associated technology innovation around coal materials, including plans to maximize the development of potential CORE-CM resources and technology by creating regional public-private partnerships. • Define regional economic growth potential around existing strengths, energy infrastructure, business and industry, including planning for the leveraging of highly trained workforces, existing and novel coal technologies, and energy infrastructure in development of CORE-CM supply chains. • Develop a preliminary strategic plan for increasing the supply of CORE-CM materials to manufacturers of non-fuel Carbon Based Products (CBP) and products reliant upon CM, focusing on regional strengths that result in an emerging diversified CORE-CM economy. • Assemble a committed network of stakeholders and communities that learn about, accept, and grow new energy technologies within coal regions. Additionally, the project team significantly contributed to the CORE-CM Initiative’s national goals, through cross-regional scoping, collaborating with CORE-CM projects in other AOIs, and including parallel regional project experts. In addition to active inclusion and meaningful engagement and contribution to DOE-led working groups, the project team focused on engaging with regional communities including Tribal Nations, economic development groups, and regional government organizations. The project’s CORE-CM development and commercialization plan identified diverse CORECM feedstocks, potential routes towards integration with existing industries, methods for supply-chain development that leverage existing infrastructure and businesses considering the regional economy, identified entry barriers for incorporating traditional and new technologies in those supply chains, recognized opportunities for public-private partnerships to develop technology innovation centers, identified diverse workforces, and conducted stakeholder outreach and education to build a community of understanding on CORE-CM potential in the GGRB-WRB region. Detailed task descriptions can be found in each chapter.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

DOE OSTI2024

Quantum for Energy Systems and Technologies

Quantum Information Science (QIS) is expected to profoundly change the practice of science and engineering in the coming decades. QIS technology exploits quantum phenomena for performing tasks that are impossible to do today and is a rapidly progressing field, fueled by large investments from the private sector and governments. Its importance to the U.S. economy and national security is underscored by the National Quantum Initiative Act (NQIA) passed in December 2018, which creates a coordinated multiagency program to support research and training in QIS. After the NIQA signed into law, NETL has launched an initiative to apply QIS to problems encountered in energy technology development. In Jan. 2020, an Quantum for Energy Systems & Technologies (QUEST) working group was formed to establish a workforce capable of developing, reviewing, managing, and advising on QIS-related technologies for NETL and FECM. Since then, the QUEST team have been working on developing quantum sensing technology and performing quantum computing to solve energy-related problems. This poster summarized the QUEST team’s activities & accomplishments on QIS targeting energy-related applications.

Paudel, Hari P.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Workforce planning: a review of methodologies

Workforce planning deals with determining the number of employees and associated skills necessary to meet the future operational needs of an organization. A workforce system consists of six elements: recruitment, attrition, promotion, training, retention, and scheduling. Historically, several workforce modeling and analysis methodologies have been developed to capture these elements. This paper reviews the results of workforce and manpower models published within peer-reviewed literature between 1959 and 2021 to provide an in-depth analysis of current models. The focus of this review is on analytical, simulation, and empirical models found in literature that were collected based on a citation requirement and keyword search criteria. Results demonstrate the trends in workforce modeling research and discuss the common uses of each model type and the advantages/disadvantages related to each model. Based on the common attributes of workforce systems, the discussion focuses on the most frequently used model type for each element and the best use for each model. Lastly, recommendations are made for the development of workforce models that allow the most comprehensive view of the workforce systems of the future.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2025

Development of a Western U.S. Fusion Energy Commercialization Hub

Fusion energy, if successfully commercialized and globally adopted, could substantially increase U.S. energy dominance and provide essentially unlimited baseload power for the national grid. It also stands to provide the U.S. with a strong source of economic growth through the 2030s and 2040s, giving the U.S. a new and highly internationally competitive industry for export. Fusion can also provide the increased electrical power generation capacity required to power current and future artificial intelligence (AI) activities. In October 2024, the CleanTech Alliance held a fusion energy commercialization regional hub workshop alongside its annual Seattle Fusion Week conference. The event brought together fusion companies, researchers, economic development experts, federal and state government representatives, and power utilities from the western states of Washington, California, Colorado and Nevada. Attendees discussed the potential of regionally focused commercialization of fusion energy in three pillars: technology, workforce, and economic development. Mel Clark, President & CEO, CleanTech Alliance, and Dr. Javier Garay, Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and Founding Director of the UCSD Fusion Engineering institute, are co-PIs for this project. The project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) through a Field Work Proposal to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with Karl Mueller as point-of-contact. Chris Ajemian (Principal, Ajemian Consulting, LLC) and Dr. Christopher Keane (Professor of Physics and former Vice-President for Research, Washington State University) co-organized the workshop and were the editors for this report. This report details the current state of the work of the four western states to develop industry-led collaboration with national laboratories, universities, and government at all levels to hasten the commercialization of fusion energy. It provides a summary of fusion energy R&D needs, presents the ideas the attendees at the workshop identified for deepening regional collaboration, and makes findings and recommendations for next steps.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Experiments and Project-Based Enhancements for STEM Learning

Motivating K-12 students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an effort that requires consistent engagement. Throughout the K-12 student timeline, STEM educators need to continuously pivot their teaching and update their educational materials to motivate the next generation of students. Once students begin their undergraduate education, university professors need to encourage them to consider pursuing graduate studies to ensure that a qualified future workforce can be developed for research and teaching. In this paper, we present our work on developing STEM materials for K-12 student engagement. Our K-12 materials target the grid integration of hydrogen assets that are suitable to engage students in the classroom. Our undergraduate materials target hands-on projects and collaboration with industry to connect classroom learning with real-world applications and needs in renewable energy. Our work leverages available open-source models and tools to create projects for undergraduate students and motivate their interest in pursuing research topics in graduate-level education.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2026

Final DOE-ASR Report for the Project “Using LASSO to bridge the gap between model and observations and to learn about atmospheric convection”

Atmospheric convection spans a wide range of spatial and temporal scales and involves complex interactions with the surrounding dynamic and thermodynamic environment, particularly over tropical continental regions. These processes remain a major source of uncertainty in weather and climate models, including persistent biases in the diurnal cycle of convective precipitation that directly affect estimates of climate sensitivity. Addressing these challenges requires the combined use of high-resolution observations and cloud-resolving modeling frameworks. In this context, the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program’s Large-Eddy Simulation ARM Symbiotic Simulation and Observation (LASSO) activity provides a powerful platform that pairs comprehensive observations with numerical simulations to enable process-level understanding of atmospheric convection. Within this context, this Research and Development Partnership Pilot (RDPP) project was designed to initiate and expand DOE ARM/ASR research capacity at minority-serving institutions, while advancing scientific understanding of convective processes over the Amazon rainforest. Consistent with the RDPP mission, the project emphasized partnership development, training, and workforce capacity building alongside exploratory research activities. On the scientific side, the project produced two peer-reviewed journal articles, and one manuscript currently under review (see list in section 3.1). Together, these studies combine long-term ARM observations and cloud-resolving and convection-permitting modeling to investigate the environmental controls on the shallow-to-deep convective transition during the Amazon wet season. The results demonstrate the central role of early-day moisture preconditioning and large-scale dynamical forcing in regulating isolated deep convection, provide mechanistic insight into convective evolution, and establish physically informed modeling frameworks for future sensitivity experiments. These scientific outcomes are described in sections 2.1 to 2.3 and were disseminated in 8 conference presentations (see section 3.2) and 5 invited talks (see section 3.3), reflecting broad engagement with our community. Equally important, the project achieved its RDPP capacity-building objectives (see section 2.4). A sustained research partnership was established among the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Morgan State University (MSU), and Howard University (HU), and extended to include collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The project organized multiple multi-day training events focused on ARM data, LASSO simulations, and quantitative analysis methods, directly engaging students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty across institutions. These activities broadened participation in ASR research and led to independent adoption of LASSO workflows by students beyond the immediate project team. Finally, the project successfully positioned the participating institutions to pursue future DOE research. Preliminary scientific results, coupled with strengthened partnerships and technical capacity, enabled the submission of follow-on proposals to DOE ASR funding opportunities. In this way, the project fulfilled the RDPP goal of seeding durable research capacity and laying the foundation for larger-scale, sustained engagement with DOE ARM and ASR programs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2026

Data-Driven Modeling and Control of Systems with Plasma-Surface Interactions (Final Technical Report)

This final technical report summarizes the activities and accomplishments in the period from February 2023 thru January 2026. The objective of the proposed research is to investigate the physical mechanisms and processes underlying the formation of structures and patterns in systems with plasma-surface interactions. In the past decades, there have been extensive studies on the interaction of glow discharges, dielectric barrier discharges, and arc discharges with confining or intervening surfaces. The advancement of the understanding of these phenomena is not only of fundamental scientific interest and relevance to the knowledge of the plasma state, but also with profound implications in various technological applications. The research will integrate theoretical, computational, and experimental work within an innovative framework of data assimilation, i.e., optimally combining model predictions with measurements. The scientific merit of this research has three aspects. Firstly, it extends the studies of plasma-surface interactions to systems with insulator surfaces and multi-layer systems, while existing studies are predominantly on electrode surfaces. Secondly, it expects to develop a novel data-driven modeling approach based on data assimilation to enhance the predictive and control capabilities, which could make transformative contributions to basic plasma research. Thirdly, it will shed new light on outstanding problems related to formation of patterns interfacing plasmas. This project also aims to launch an education and outreach initiative at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, a non-R1, minority-serving institution in South Texas. The initiative is structured as a four-tier pyramid. Tier one will be a webinar series for culture and capacity building to inform broader audience in the region about the research fields of plasma science and engineering. Tier two will be the creation and offering of an upper-level undergraduate course on introductory plasma physics, which will help with the recruitment for the upper tiers. On tier three, we will engage and mentor senior design students to conduct work toward the research goal of this project. There will also be a certificate program on general plasma science for undergrad and graduate students, part of which will be lab training at Princeton University. Tier four will be the supervision and mentoring of Ph.D. students. Therefore, this project will systematically expand the talent pipeline, broaden participation from communities historically and geographically underrepresented in DOE SC research portfolio, significantly improve the research and education capacity at the PI’s institution, and contribute to developing a diverse workforce in plasma science and engineering.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

NASA NTRS2019

Building a Field: The Future of Astronomy with Gravitational Waves

Harnessing the sheer discovery potential of GW Astronomy will require bold, deliberate,and sustained efforts to train and develop the requisite workforce. The next decaderequires a strategic plan to build - from the ground up - a robust, open, andwell-connected GW Astronomy community with deep participation from traditionalastronomers, physicists, data scientists, and instrumentalists. This basic infrastructure issorely needed as an enabling foundation for research. We outline a set ofrecommendations for funding agencies, universities, and professional societies to helpbuild a thriving, diverse, and inclusive new field.

Holley-Bockelman, Kelly↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Value of Diversity in the Renewable Energy Industry and Research Community

Part of creating a successful solar industry is developing a capable workforce. It has been repeatedly shown that organizations and companies are more productive when they have diverse and inclusive cultures. The solar industry in the U.S. performs well in some aspects (non-white workforce, positive work environment) but drastically under-performs in many others. We discuss these metrics and how this impacts the renewable energy industry and the solar research community. We highlight some initial actions which are necessary to begin to remediate these deficiencies, such as demographic tracking, recruiting strategies, and mentoring. We also present the historical and ongoing efforts to improve the diversity and inclusion of the Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, particularly through the work of this year’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) oversight committee. This year’s D&I committee is implementing diversity tracking, a women’s lunch, a diversity lunch, childcare resources, pronouns on badges, gender-neutral restrooms, addressing accessibility issues, and publishing a diversity statement and code of conduct to the PVSC website.

workforce↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Value of Diversity in the Renewable Energy Industry and Research Community

Emily Warren↗

NASA NTRS1997

The Employee Assistance Program Collaborates on the Development of an Internal Web Page for the GSFC Workforce

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) continuously seeks more effective methods of promoting the wellness message of the Occupational Health Program. This year the opportunity presented itself to assist in the development of an internal Web page which could be accessed by GSFC employees from their desktop stations. The contributors to this effort were the Career Counselor, the EAP Counselor, and the GSFC Workforce Project Coordinator. The goal was to create a central location from which employees could obtain relevant information related to the changing needs of the Goddard mission. Another aspect of this effort was an attempt to integrate as much information as possible on the issues related to change and its impact on the workforce in a central location. The method selected was the use of hyperlinks to other Federal and private Web pages. The EAP of course, focused on materials relevant to mental health, balancing work and family, and stress management.

Marian T Humphrey↗

DOE OSTI2026

PowerAmerica (Final Technical Report)

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office (predecessor to AMMTO) established PowerAmerica in December 2014 to develop and accelerate the adoption of wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor chips and power electronics in manufacturing. The objective was to spark early commercialization of energy efficient products; educate and train the workforce; create high-tech jobs; and nurture the growth of the U.S. WBG semiconductor manufacturing industry. PowerAmerica isled by North Carolina State University by way of a five-year, $140M cooperative agreement with DoE. This private-public partnership with DoE includes member companies ranging from startups and small-medium enterprises to large system integrators, world-class universities, and national labs. The WBG power electronic ecosystem formed by our diverse membership is focused on using advanced manufacturing to 1) lower the cost of silicon carbide and gallium nitride semiconductor devices to be comparable to silicon devices; 2) demonstrate the system benefits and energy efficiency advantages of WBG semiconductor power electronics through system demonstrations that validate their effectiveness; and 3) build an education pipeline for a skilled workforce to meet the future demand for emerging WBG semiconductor markets — and enhance U.S. economic competitiveness globally. PowerAmerica was initially funded in six budget periods, each lasting 12 to 18 months. By the end of Budget Period 6 (August 2023), PowerAmerica had achieved its major objectives in technology development, semiconductor device cost reduction, ecosystem growth and engagement, and education and workforce development. Through strategic foundry investments, we helped to establish the first U.S. SiC foundry (X-FAB) and supported a lab (Microchip) to start SiC volume production. We’ve helped bring together companies from different parts of the supply chain, resulting in several successful new partnerships and business relationships. Through projects with some of the largest manufacturers of energy-intensive equipment in the U.S. — John Deere, GE, United Technologies, Raytheon, Carrier, Toshiba, and others — we have successfully demonstrated the energy and system benefits of WBG technology. We have also harnessed the unique capabilities and facilities of national labs — the Naval Research Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory — to help solve challenging technical problems for industry. Thanks to our many webinars, tutorials, annual events, and presence at major energy and electronics conferences around the world, the PowerAmerica name has become synonymous with WBG technology advancement. The commercial interest in WBG technology is higher than ever; companies and governments around the world have announced hundreds of millions of dollarsin future investment to build capacity — and compete with silicon in many markets and applications. We have trained hundreds of engineering students, from universities across the U.S., through hands-on projects and WBG coursework. Working professionals have also benefited through the years from our many targeted short courses, tutorials, and technical webinars. In short, PowerAmerica has made great strides in each of our key objectives, and the organization has been operating without government or NC State

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2026

Lessons Learned from Open-Source Software Training Toward Expanding the Fusion Workforce

Within the United States (U.S.), the Fusion Innovation Research Engine (FIRE) Collaboratives seek to accelerate fusion technology development through wide-ranging community-driven research activities that bring together industry, laboratories, research institutes, and academia. Increasing the maturity of key components and systems for future fusion power plants (FPPs) toward commercialization, will, by necessity, increase the need for knowledgeable engineers, designers, and researchers in industry capable of integrating and further improving these technologies within industry FPP concepts. Further, various modeling and simulation packages support these programs and are under-development within them to drive design iteration and the development of FPP digital twins. To derive the greatest benefit from model output and capabilities, training these same specialists will be vital. Thus, the development of effective and accessible software onboarding and professional development opportunities focused on fusion will be key to keeping the pace of growth high in the coming decade and beyond. A similar need exists within the advanced fission reactor community, driven by an ever-growing need for carbon-free baseload power for industrial and data center applications. Within the U.S. and around the world, several open-source packages and frameworks exist to support this endeavor, and two we will highlight here are the Multiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) framework and OpenMC. These packages, notably, are also being utilized in the FIRE Collaboratives program. In this presentation, we will highlight the lessons learned from over 30 years of combined software development and training experience, focused on developing strong technical software foundations within the nuclear workforce, from students to professional engineers & scientists. We will connect this experience to present and emerging needs in the fusion energy community, and, finally, will outline possible paths forward to develop a large, robust, global fusion workforce.

70 - PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Economic and Jobs Impacts of Point-Source Carbon Capture in Cement Industry – Case Study

The cement industry accounts for an estimated 8% of global CO2 emissions, which surpasses that of the entire aviation sector. In contrast with other industries, where CO2 emissions can be drastically reduced via electrification or fuels substitution, cement production releases CO2 as part of its process, during the calcination of carbonates to yield oxides. Thus, point-source carbon capture has become a key technology in the cement industry’s decarbonization. Apart from the expected environmental benefits, point-source carbon capture in the cement industry can yield important economic benefits and create jobs. The objective of this study was to perform a preliminary assessment of the economic and workforce impacts associated with the construction and operation of a point-source carbon capture retrofit of an existing cement production facility, using as a basis the data from a front-end engineering design (FEED) study to install a 3.9 million metric tons per year (Mtpy) CO2 capture facility at Holcim Ste Genevieve cement plant in Missouri, United States of America. The advanced carbon capture technology used in this FEED study was Air Liquide’s Cryocap™ FG carbon capture technology. The study evaluated the direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts of the construction, operation, and maintenance activities of the project over its lifespan. It also covered how the project will generate new jobs, their nature, and quantity, along with strategies to prepare the workforce. To perform this study, construction, operation, and maintenance cost estimates, as well as construction and operation staffing plans from the FEED study were input into IMPLAN version 7.5 software, licensed by IMPLAN Group LLC (Huntersville, VC), to predict the direct, indirect and induced economic impacts of the project using industry multipliers from the software. Additionally, recruitment strategies were developed for hiring individuals who belong to groups that are historically underserved or underrepresented, as well as anticipated recruitment of workers from the local community (whether training will be required or if the skills are associated with an existing labor force). The analysis estimated that the construction and operation of the carbon capture at Holcim Ste. Genevive will result in over 24 thousand work-years of job opportunities, close to USD 10 billion of economic impacts, including over USD 460 million of tax revenue. These results encompass the direct, indirect, and induced effects. A strategy to maximize hiring from the project and neighboring counties was developed, leveraging training agreements with local trade groups and universities. The result of this study can be used for a strategic preliminary assessment of the potential regional economic and job impacts of retrofitting existing cement plants with point source carbon systems, and its methodology can be replicated to individual projects to aid in planning and workforce development.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

DOE OSTI2026

Oakland University Cybersecurity Center (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

This report summarizes the outcomes of Award DE-CR0000023, “Oakland University Cybersecurity Center,” a 31-month project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER). The project addressed cybersecurity risks facing small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) transitioning to Industry 4.0. The project integrated customer discovery, applied research, and cybersecurity training development. A total of 51 cybersecurity assessments identified significant gaps in baseline practices, incident response, and workforce capability. Research efforts produced a scalable mitigation framework tailored to SMM environments, and workforce analysis identified persistent talent gaps. Eight cybersecurity training modules were developed and deployed via Oakland University’s Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) platform. All objectives were completed, with 98.93% federal budget utilization and cost share exceeding requirements. The project establishes a scalable model for strengthening cybersecurity resilience and workforce capacity across U.S. manufacturing supply chains.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2026

Hydrogen Education for a Decarbonized Global Economy (H 2 EDGE) (Final Technical Report)

The energy sector is undergoing rapid growth and transformation, creating urgent demand for a skilled workforce to support emerging technologies and resilient systems. Hydrogen is an emerging solution for “hard to abate” sectors, including heavy industry and transportation that also provides optionality for the electric system and enables long‑duration energy storage. As hydrogen scales from traditional industrial uses to new applications, success depends on knowledgeable engineers, technicians, planners, and operators safely deploying hydrogen technologies across the full value chain: production, delivery, storage, and end use. The H 2 EDGE initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office from 2020 to 2025, was launched to prepare people for careers hydrogen and related technologies. Through its interactive approach, H 2 EDGE equipped stakeholders with knowledge and tools to build a reliable and sustainable energy future together. H 2 EDGE built a national network of academic and industry partners to deliver modular training, share open-access curricula, and engage diverse talent pipelines. The program leveraged EPRI’s extensive industry membership and expanded on the train-the-trainer model of the GridEd program to connect educators, employers, and community organizations across all regions of the U.S. New methods were introduced to more systematically map hydrogen competencies and assess curricula using traditional and AI-assisted approaches. Outcomes included delivery of professional short courses, developing university curriculum, sponsoring faculty and student projects, and engaging stakeholders through workshops, site tours, and webinars.

08 HYDROGEN↗

NASA NTRS2019

Bringing Single-Event Effects Down to Earth

In the 47 years since single-event effects were first observed in spacecraft electronics, radiation experts have developed an effective methodology supported by a nationwide infrastructure. A highly skilled workforce of radiation engineers has developed test facilities and methods, modeling and simulation techniques, and mitigation and design strategies to ensure space missions meet their performance and reliability requirements even in the harsh radiation environments of space. Now, increasing performance demands of space missions, the continued disruptive evolution of microcircuit technologies and growth and changes of the space industry have combined with an aging infrastructure are placing increasing strain on the radiation effects community, and the community is responding.

Single-event effects↗

DOE OSTI2026

The Hydropower Game: An Interactive Learning Tool for the Future Hydropower Workforce

This report documents a Seedling project supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO), conducted by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR). The Seedling and Sapling Program provides small grants over short duration to enable early-stage research at national laboratories. This funding mechanism is intended to cultivate innovative ideas and expand research road maps in hydropower and marine energy technologies. Under this Seedling award, the project team developed an educational outreach tool, or “serious game”, built in Python and powered by the Pygame library, aimed at teaching fundamental hydropower concepts through an engaging, interactive learning experience. The game features multiple lessons covering several hydropower topics while allowing for expansion and customization in the instance of future funding availability: • Hydropower Plant Types: Players explore and compare the mechanics and applications of run-of-river, dam hydropower, and pumped-storage hydropower. • Flow Dynamics and Power Generation: Interactive tasks demonstrate how release rate and hydraulic head combine to determine power output. • Grid Operations and Load Following: Simulations illustrate how hydropower facilities respond to fluctuating electricity demand to balance the grid. • Market Integration: Levels scaffold understanding of how hydropower interfaces with the broader energy market, including operational and economic considerations. The tool was showcased at several science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach events, where it was demoed to students, educators, and the general public. These events provided valuable opportunities to collect feedback on the gameplay, storyline, and educational objectives from a wide audience. The game was presented at STEMapalooza, Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, STEMCON, and Clean Currents 2025. Insights gathered during these demonstrations informed refinements to the game’s user experience and strengthened its effectiveness as an educational tool for teaching hydropower concepts. This report outlines the game’s design philosophy, educational objectives, technical implementation, user experience insights, and potential for broader deployment within educational and workforce development contexts. It emphasizes how gamified learning can demystify complex hydropower science and inspire interest in water-power technologies. The project’s success demonstrates the value of Seedling funding in fostering creative, lowcost educational tools that support DOE’s mission to advance energy literacy and innovation. The report concludes with recommendations for expanding the tool by adding new levels, integrating assessment metrics, and exploring commercialization or deployment pathways through future Sapling funding. The official webpage of the Hydropower Game, which includes a link to the educational tool, can be accessed at www.anl.gov/hydropower/hydropower-game.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗