Pioneers in science and technology

One of the highlights of Argonne’s year was a visit from President George W. Bush, who addressed our scientists and engineers and commended the work we are contributing to homelands security. He said he came “to look in the eyes of those who possess the genius and the creativity of the American people.” It was the first time that the president of the United States has visited our site outside of Chicago, and it underscored the excellent work we do in support of the Department of Energy’s missions.

Earlier in the fiscal year and in response to the awful events of September 11, 2001, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said national security is the Department of Energy’s overarching mission. Argonne has always supported this mission, and we responded with renewed focus.

As a member of the national laboratory system, Argonne has carried out world-class research and development for more than 56 years. Our programs include research in basic science, energy, environmental quality and national security—the long-standing missions of DOE. We evaluated our many research programs and found that much of our basic and applied research, while originally carried out in support of scientific and engineering missions, has homeland security applications.

To enhance our performance, Argonne and the University of Chicago—which has operated the laboratory for its entire history—are strengthening Argonne-university ties and increasing mutual research collaboration.

To complement existing missions, Argonne works closely with DOE and the scientific community—often in a leadership role—to develop new initiatives and scientific facilities to serve national needs. National security is one of three rapidly emerging initiatives on which our efforts focus. The others are transportation technologies and Grand Challenges in environmental science.

These three are in addition to five ongoing initiatives which represent timely opportunities to significantly enhance U.S. research capabilities in basic research and development and, hence, to advance scientific understanding and engineering achievement across a wide range of disciplines. These five are nanosciences and nanotechnology, the Rare Isotope Accelerator, functional genomics, advanced computing and advanced nuclear fuel cycle.

In these areas and others, our scientists and engineers have already made notable discoveries that contribute to our nation’s way of life. We work hard to transfer these discoveries into the mainstream of technological development.

Among the tools of our researchers, and other researchers from around the world, are Argonne's user facilities. Over the decades, the national laboratory system has proven highly effective at planning, designing, building and operating such one-of-a-kind research engines. They help maintain and advance U.S. scientific leadership by providing crucial support for national communities of researchers in many fields. Argonne operates three major DOE National User Facilities: The Advanced Photon Source, the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source and the Argonne Tandem-Linac Accelerator System.

Moreover, we support educational programs, working with teachers and students, to encourage future scientists, engineers and scientifically literate citizens.

Frontiers is our annual report about the high points of each year. In its pages, you will learn much more about Argonne. You will read about some of our tools for protecting our nation. You will read about work to understand the way life works. And you will read about many things in between. And this is only a taste of the scope of the “genius and creativity” of our people here at Argonne.

Hermann A. Grunder
Director
Argonne National Laboratory

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