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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Postdoctoral insights on mentoring excellence: a framework for best practices at Sandia National labs

The Sandia National Laboratories Strategic Plan FY24-FY27, updated for FY25, outlines Sandia’s two Big Labs-wide Goals, Accelerate Innovation and Lead in Modern Engineering. The goal of Accelerate Innovation is that “by FY27, Sandia will be a leader in scientific, engineering and operational innovation and an employer of choice for highly innovative and creative talent.” Sandia’s postdocs are leaders in innovation, well-versed in emerging techniques and cutting-edge methods, and capable of acting as a highly agile technical force across domains at the lab. As a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), Sandia National Laboratories attracts top doctoral talent by offering a unique opportunity for postdoctoral researchers to develop at the crossroads of government, academia, and industry, working in multi-disciplinary teams and performing cutting-edge, mission-specific research that responds to immediate needs of national interest. However, this creates unique opportunities and demands of both postdoctoral appointees and the Sandia staff who act as their mentors, making mentorship key to attract talent. Since 2007 the Sandia Postdoctoral Development (SPD) Board, originally Postdoc To Professional (PD2P), a networking group at Sandia composed of a voluntary board of current postdocs and two staff liaisons, has advocated for postdoctoral development within Sandia National Labs. In this white paper, SPD board members and the Sandia Postdoctoral Development Office, organized in 2019, have come together to develop a comprehensive overview of the postdoctoral mentoring landscape at Sandia National Labs as we currently know it. By scouring various forms of data from efforts since 2018, we’ve compiled a community-derived perspective on what makes postdoctoral mentorship at Sandia unique. First, we analyze working sessions held between mentors and mentees to develop a comprehensive map of who is involved in postdoctoral mentorship at the lab and how the responsibilities are divided amongst mentors and mentees. We then combine multiple forms of data, including exit surveys, annual surveys, and community workshops, to identify the specific challenges that mentors and mentees encounter at the national lab. Finally, we use text mining and sentiment analysis to analyze mentoring award data to develop an idea of what postdocs are self-identifying as excellent mentorship within the lab. It is our goal that this white paper act as an ongoing resource to the postdoc and postdoc mentoring communities and provide a firm foundation for further conversations on the future of postdoctoral mentorship at Sandia National Labs.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2026

ARM Lead Mentor Selection Process

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program was created in 1989 with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop several highly instrumented ground stations to study cloud-formation processes and their influence on radiative transfer. This scientific infrastructure provides for fixed sites, mobile facilities, an aerial facility, and a data archive available for use by scientists worldwide through the ARM Climate Research Facility—a scientific user facility. The ARM Climate Research Facility currently operates more than 300 instrument systems that provide ground-based observations of the atmospheric column. To keep ARM at the forefront of climate observations, the ARM infrastructure depends heavily on instrument scientists and engineers, known as Mentors. Mentors must have an excellent understanding of instrumentation theory and operation for their instrument areas and have comprehensive knowledge of critical scale-dependent atmospheric processes. They must also possess the technical and analytical skills to develop new data retrievals that provide innovative approaches for creating research-quality data sets. The ARM Facility seeks the best overall qualified candidate, or team when appropriate, that can fulfill Mentor requirements in a timely manner. The roles and responsibilities of the ARM Instrument Operations Manager are provided in Appendix A. The key role and responsibilities and detailed responsibilities of ARM Lead Mentors are provided in Appendix B and Appendix C, respectively.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Multi-Semester Mentoring and GPA Trajectories in SPINS: A Longitudinal Program Evaluation of STEM Scholars

This exploratory longitudinal program evaluation examined GPA trajectories among 14 STEM scholars participating in the Scholarly Partnership in Nuclear Security (SPINS) mentoring program at an HBCU. Using de-identified administrative data (37 scholar-semester observations), the study compared baseline and latest term GPAs anchored to each scholar’s first funded semester. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to assess within-student change. Mean GPA increased modestly from 3.46 (SD = 0.30) at baseline to 3.61 (SD = 0.33) at the latest observed semester, with 12 of 14 scholars (85.7%) showing net improvement (median change = +0.12). The Wilcoxon signed-rank test indicated a statistically significant positive shift (W = 18, p = 0.030). However, scholars entered the program with a high baseline GPA, and ceiling effects were evident for several participants. Grounded in Social Cognitive Career Theory, findings suggest that multi-semester participation in SPINS is associated with GPA stability and modest improvement in an already high-performing cohort. Results should be interpreted cautiously given the small sample size and single-group design. The study highlights the value of sustained, culturally responsive mentoring at an HBCU while underscoring the need for larger evaluations with comparison cohorts and broader psychosocial outcomes. An evidence-informed mentoring framework is proposed to strengthen multi-semester support.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Tribute to Kenneth Sauer (1931–2022): a mentor, a role-model, and an inspiration to all in the field of photosynthesis

Abstract Kenneth (Ken) Sauer was a mainstay of research in photosynthesis at the University of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) for more than 50 years. Ken will be remembered by his colleagues, and other workers in the field of photosynthesis as well, for his pioneering work that introduced the physical techniques whose application have enriched our understanding of the basic reactions of oxygenic photosynthesis. His laboratory was a training ground for many students and postdocs who went on to success in the field of photosynthesis and many others. Trained as a physical chemist, he always brought that quantitative approach to research questions and used several spectroscopic methods in his research. His broad scientific interests concerned the role of manganese in oxygen evolution, electronic properties of chlorophylls, energy transport in antenna complexes, and electron transport reactions. He was also an enthusiastic teacher, an enormously successful mentor who leaves behind a legion of scientists as his abiding legacy, a lover of music and the outdoors with many interests beyond science, and a dedicated family man with a great sense of humility. In this tribute, we summarize some aspects of Ken Sauer’s life and career, illustrated with selected research achievements, and describe his approach to research and life as we perceived it, which is complemented by reminiscences of several current researchers in photosynthesis and other fields. The supporting material includes Ken Sauers’s CV and publication list, as well as a list of the graduate students and postdocs he trained and of researchers that spent a sabbatical in his lab.

Plant Sciences↗
DOE OSTI2024

Honoring Ken Nash: A Solution Chemistry Extraordinaire, Professor, Mentor, and my Friend

Back when I was a graduate student, Professor Nash told me, “The easy stuff is OK, but don’t be afraid to take on the hard research problems.” Since then, I have embraced this approach to research, and throughout the years, it has emboldened me to not shy away from, or give up on research projects with significant challenges. This is just one example of Ken’s influence on not only me, but the many graduate students who studied under his guidance. This presentation will survey some of the projects I have been involved in at Idaho National Laboratory since leaving Ken’s research group at Washington State University in 2011. It is my hope that his influence shines through.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗
DOE OSTI2024

Collaborative Research: Louis Stokes Regional Center of Excellence: Louis Stokes Midwest Regional Center of Excellence (LSMRCE) for Broadening Participation in STEM

The Louis Stokes Midwest Regional Center of Excellence (LSMRCE) for Broadening Participation in STEM, a partnership of Chicago State University (CSU), aimed to increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) students graduating with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees and matriculating into graduate STEM programs. As a member institution of the LSMRCE, Fermi Research Alliance, LLC, (Fermilab) looked to support its continued mission of increasing URM student participation in its Summer Internship in Science and Technology (SIST) internship program. The program provided URMs with access to research skills development, mentoring and professionalization activities via paid, summer research internships at Fermilab. Students received instruction and mentoring while gaining exposure to a global laboratory workforce and community with diverse academic and professional expertise. In addition, students established professional relationships and networked with senior researchers, early career scientists, technical professionals, post-docs and other undergraduate interns to help forge collaboration, innovation and mentoring opportunities at Fermilab and LSMRCE partner institutions

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2025

OPCW Twining Project Visit by the National Laboratory of Scientific and Technical Police (LNPST) to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Forensic Science Center (LLNL)

PURPOSE FOR TRIP Through the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Twinning and Assistance Program, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Forensic Science Center (LLNL) has been paired with Morocco’s National Laboratory of Scientific and Technical Police (LNPST), with the goal of mentoring LNPST to become an OPCW Designated Laboratory. The purpose of this visit was for LLNL staff to mentor staff from LNPST as they participated in hands-on, laboratory-based exercises to analyze proficiency test samples prepared by LLNL. This visit was designed to help LNPST scientists strengthen their skills in OPCW proficiency testing.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
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↗
DOE OSTI2025

Knowledge Transfer Program for International Nuclear Safeguards

Nuclear safeguards were first announced in 1945 by the U.S., Canadian and British governments as a means to exchange scientific information about peaceful uses of atomic energy and prevent the use of nuclear material for weapons. International nuclear safeguards, now under the provision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), serves to hold accountable the 140 member countries (States) that have entered into treaties and agreements against the spread of nuclear weapons. Most notably, the IAEA acts as a nuclear materials inspectorate under the global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, brought about in 1968, that specifies commitments member States make to the world?s non-proliferation regime. The Office of International Nuclear Safeguards (OINS) is part of the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. Within OINS, the Human Capital Development program recognizes the need to build workforce capacity and safeguards expertise. This includes supporting the education and training of younger generations working in international nuclear safeguards. One of the program?s main concerns is core competencies being lost to retirement or attrition and building knowledge retention pipelines from senior to new professionals. One identified core competency is knowledge gained by individuals who have completed IAEA assignments such as missions to member States to conduct safeguards inspections. Such individuals possess unique knowledge, and efforts are being put forth to effectively capture this knowledge within the national laboratories complex. To this end, we report findings from a one-year mentor-mentee knowledge retention program in which an international safeguards subject matter expert imparted knowledge and skills to a willing professional mentee. The knowledge and skills stem from the mentor?s multi-year assignment at the IAEA in Vienna, Austria.

98 - NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Italian Summer Students Program at Fermilab and other US Laboratories: 40 years of education in particle physics and technology

Since 1983 the Italian groups collaborating with Fermilab (US) have been running a 2-month summer training program for Master students. While in the first year the program involved only 4 physics students, in the following years it was extended to engineering students. Many students have extended their collaboration with Fermilab with their Master Thesis and PhD. The program has involved more than 600 Italian students from more than 20 Italian universities. Each intern is supervised by a Fermilab Mentor responsible for the training program. Training programs spanned from Tevatron, CMS, Muon (g-2), Mu2e and SBN (MicroBooNE, Icarus, and SBND) and DUNE design and data analysis, development of particle detectors, design of electronic and accelerator components, development of infrastructures and software for tera-data handling, quantum computing and research on superconductive elements and accelerating cavities. In 2015 the University of Pisa included the program within its own educational programs. Summer Students are enrolled at the University of Pisa for the duration of the internship and at the end of the internship they write summary reports on their achievements. After positive evaluation by a University of Pisa Examining Board, interns are acknowledged 6 ECTS credits for their Diploma Supplement. The program was paused in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it resumed in 2022. From 2022 to 2024, a total of 60 students participated in the nine-week training at Fermilab. We are currently organizing the 2025 program. This paper provides an overview of the program, which can serve as a model for other interested laboratories.

Barzi, Emanuela [Ohio State U.]↗
DOE OSTI2025

“When I talk about it, my eyes light up!” Impacts of a national laboratory internship on community college student success

Participation in technical/research internships may improve undergraduate graduation rates and persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), yet little is known about the benefits of these activities a) for community college students, b) when hosted by national laboratories, and c) beyond the first few years after the internship. We applied Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) to investigate alumni perspectives about how CCI at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) impacted their academic/career activities. We learned that alumni had low confidence and expectations of success in STEM as community college students. Participation in CCI increased their professional networks, expectations of success, and STEM skills, identity, and self-efficacy/confidence. Hispanic/Latinx alumni recalled the positive impact of mentors who prioritized personal connections, and women valued "warm" social environments. We propose several additions to the SCCT model, to better reflect the supports and barriers to STEM persistence for community college students.

careers↗
DOE OSTI2024

Calculating Reactivity and Fusion Energy Yield

During my time at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, I had the opportunity to intern at the HEDS (High Energy Density Science) Center and become an IFE (Inertial Fusion Energy) summer student for three weeks with Dr. Veronika Kruse as my mentor. Within this time frame, my research project’s goal was to develop an understanding of nuclear fusion while building technical skills in calculating and analyzing the required data. The following report outlines the process of calculating reactivity curves and energy yields of specific fusion reactions. For context, nuclear fusion is when two atomic nuclei combine, and energy is released. NIF (the National Ignition Facility), located at LLNL, uses laser-based inertial confinement fusion to achieve ignition. To simplify the process, NIF uses lasers to heat a small sphere or capsule, made up of primarily deuterium and tritium, to extremely high temperatures and densities to achieve fusion ignition, where more energy is released than the lasers introduced.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

NNSA MSIIP Intern Biweekly Report - #3

These couple of weeks I continued doing solvent tests with the 3D printed actuators. I made measurements and organized the data obtained from the tests. I was also able to get a logic gate design that worked according to the logic and was able to start printing and modifying the design. I've been understanding more about what parts of the design it would be best to modify and why certain ideas do not work versus others. I've been communicating with my mentor when I make edits to the design to ensure I keep moving forward with it and make it look closer and closer to what we need it to. I've continued to attend the seminars held by the department and learned more about the different methods of 3d printing and the different projects that are being worked on here.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Reactor System Demonstration with Cyber-Attack Scenarios Using CrowPis and Arduino Microcontrollers

This study covers developing and simulating nuclear reactor system using CrowPis and Arduino microcontrollers for demonstrating cyber-attack scenarios. The team was tasked with implementing more sensors and cybersecurity aspects to the reactor program that was created by last year’s high school interns. The team received the opportunity to collaborate and obtain advice from multiple university interns that helped us gain a better perspective of our project. Our mentor’s background in nuclear science was pivotal to our understanding what we could add to the reactor program to make it as realistic as possible. The first week of our internship was spent reading as much material as possible to gain an understanding of and the background for cyber-attacks and nuclear science. Nuclear science was a new horizon for each of the high school interns on the team, so spending this time in the beginning of our internship was crucial to our success. For the remaining portion of our internship, the team collectively did our best to implement as many sensors and use as much hardware as we could to make an accurate representation of a nuclear reactor in the program that was created. This internship was a big learning experience for everyone on the team. We all gained so many insights into the nuclear world and how it can benefit our lives, as well as how so many moving pieces are needed for it to work properly.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Enhanced Resistance Pines for Improved Renewable Biofuel and Chemical Production (Technical Report)

We completed phenotyping constitutive and inducible oleoresin flow across two seasons, constitutive resin canal number and density and wood terpene content in our ADEPT2 and CCLONES populations. We completed genetic association between 19 oleoresin phenotypes and a total of 523,192 SNP markers from ADEPT2 and 13,883 SNP markers in CCLONES using four mixed linear models. A total of 293 significant SNPs (FDR = 0.20) were identified. We used the MENTOR tool to mine mechanistic connections from a multiplex network constructed from poplar multi-omic data to construct a conceptual model for a subset of these significant SNPs. Our model contains 6 transcriptional regulators in addition to 3 monoterpene synthases. To generate more lines of evidence for these significant SNPs, we completed a time course RNAseq experiment after inducing vascular zone cells to differentiate into new resin canals with a methyl jasmonate treatment, a single nuclei RNAseq that identified differentiating resin canal epithelial cells and are completing analysis for a QTL study in a hybrid pine population. The time course identified 4634 significantly down and 1890 significantly up regulated transcripts after treatment with methyl jasmonate, an inducer of new resin canal formation in the vascular cambial meristem. To analyze this large set of differentially regulated genes, we created a predictive expression network and analyzed it with random walk restart using 6 seed genes coding for transcription factors regulating xylem differentiation in poplar. Of the top ranked 200 transcripts, 119 transcripts were significant differentially expressed supporting these transcripts as potential candidates regulating resin canal formation. Analysis of single nuclei sequencing of shoot tips that contain differentiating resin canals, identified 10 clusters. One cluster was highly enriched in transcripts coding for 9 of the enzymes in the MEP pathway 3 prenyl synthetases, and 3 monoterpene synthases strongly suggesting that this cluster represents resin canal epithelial cells. We are mining the additional transcripts to create a trajectory analysis. In summary, we have identified > 10 novel genes that are strongly supported candidates for further analysis in breeding lines and for genetic engineering over- and under- expressing lines to increase wood terpene content to improve resistance to insect and fungal pathogens while simultaneously increasing terpene supplies for renewable chemicals and biofuels.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗