Laboratory Directed Research and Development Annual Report for 2010

This report documents progress made on all LDRD-funded projects during fiscal year 2010. The projects supported by LDRD funding all have demonstrable ties to DOE missions. In addition, many of the LDRD projects are relevant to the missions of other federal agencies that sponsor work at the Laboratory. The program plays a key role in attracting the best and brightest scientific staff needed to serve the highest priority DOE mission objectives. The flexibility provided by the LDRD program allows us to make rapid decisions about projects that address emerging scientific challenges so that PNNL remains a modern research facility well into the 21st century. Individual project reports comprise the bulk of this LDRD report. The Laboratory focuses its LDRD research on scientific assets that often address more than one scientific discipline. Though multidisciplinary, each project in this report appears under one of the following primary research categories: (1) Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation; (2) Biological Sciences; (3) Chemistry; (4) Earth and Space Sciences; (5) Energy Supply and Use; and (6) Engineering and Manufacturing Processes.