National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is a mission focused multidisciplinary laboratory conducting research and development in the biological, chemical, physical, and engineering sciences relating to energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. The laboratory has approximately 1300 staff supporting this mission.

The Materials and Computational Science Center at NREL maintains a commodity high performance computing cluster with approximately 8 TFlops of peak performance. Qualified graduate students may use these Laboratory resources during the course of their research. Various projects are available for fellowship students in many areas of basic science, including the following:

Biology

computational systems biology, photobiological hydrogen production, large- scale molecular dynamics simulations for biomass-to-fuels production, cellulosic ethanol, biomass surface characterization, structural biology.

Chemistry

computational quantum chemistry, chemical kinetics, organic photovoltaics, lithium ion batteries and electrical energy storage, hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen sorption, photoelectrochemistry.

Materials Science and Nanoscience

solid state theory, electronic structure calculations, molecular dynamics, superconductivity, nanoscale photonics, ultrafast spectroscopy, materials by design.

Mathematics and Computer Science

scientific data management, data mining, materials informatics, visualization, design of experiment and optimization methods, numerical methods, complex systems, performance modeling.

NREL's distinctive R&D programs and competencies advance national energy goals by developing innovations to change the way we power our homes and businesses, and fuel our vehicles. These competencies allow us to develop and advance renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies more effectively through the full R&D life-cycle—from basic research through applied research and engineering; to testing, scale-up, and demonstration. NREL's R&D competencies include:

CSGF Fellows performing their practicum at NREL would have the opportunity to work closely with world leading scientists using state of the art facilities focused on the grand challenge of developing cost-effective renewable energy sources and energy efficient technologies to meet future energy demand in an environmentally responsible manner.

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