Colleagues,

At this time of year, one of my priorities is overseeing the creation of a strategic annual lab plan to submit to the U.S. Department of Energy in the spring. In last year’s plan, we detailed our five major lab initiatives: Hard X-ray Sciences, Advanced Computing, Materials and Chemistry, Manufacturing Science and Engineering and the Universe as a Lab. Now we evaluate what we have accomplished over the last year and chart a course for continuing to advance down the path we have established.

I want to thank everyone who has helped further define the scope and direction of the lab initiatives. Our initiatives position us to thrive as an organization in the future. Input from employees across the lab is essential to our future success; by combining our multitude of perspectives and fields of expertise, we can create new opportunities for innovation and discovery.

One great example of how Argonne employees are getting involved and seeing how they can uniquely contribute is the Materials and Chemistry Initiative town hall meeting series. Approximately 400 people participated in the five meetings held from October through January, eager to learn about the initiative and offering their feedback and ideas. Thank you to everyone who participated, including the lab leaders who moderated discussions on various focus areas of the initiative including catalysis, quantum information, energy storage, energy-water and synthesis science.

In addition, over 130 people attended the High-Performance Computing and Manufacturing workshop in December. The workshop explored opportunities for program growth and for adding high-performance capabilities to existing programs to enhance the success rate of proposals and industry engagements. Thank you to those who participated and to the leaders who facilitated conversations about topics such as multiscale science; mesoscale, continuum scale and process modeling; design of reactions and reactors; materials design; machine learning; artificial intelligence; and opportunities for exascale.

With my vision for the lab — our science changes the world — Argonne will be known for our ideas, our high-quality and rigorous science, and the positive impact we have on society. Thank you for helping to make Argonne an extraordinary place, where smart people with diverse points of view and experiences collaborate in the pursuit of even greater knowledge.

I look forward to seeing the continued high levels of engagement. Town hall meetings for the Manufacturing Science and Engineering and Universe as a Lab initiatives will be announced soon. Additional meetings to help define the scope of our Hard X-ray Sciences and Advanced Computing initiatives will be scheduled as well. In addition, I encourage you to email me your thoughts at listen@anl.gov or join in one of my Conversations with Kearns. The next is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018, at 10 a.m. in Building 360, Room A224.