By joining a specific research group in the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Rohit Kousika knew he would have the chance to spend time at nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory and utilize the lab’s world-class facilities for projects.

He just didn’t realize the depth of the connections he would make by merely walking around the ORNL campus. Kousika regularly runs into experts in fields that are completely unfamiliar to him, yet, after speaking with them, often finds some applications that can be incorporated into his research.

“They can be an inspiration or some sort of catalyst for your own work, where you can apply methods that are being developed at ORNL into your own research,” Kousika said. “This is a wonderful opportunity for UT students to collaborate with scientists and gain the expertise that these people have here.”

Kousika is part of the research group of Acting CBE Department Head Art Ragauskas, the UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Biorefining. The PhD students in the group are at forefront of innovation through their collaborative research opportunities at the ORNL campus.

PhD student Austin Conte is participating in highly collaborative research as part of the Solvent Disruption of Biomass and Biomembranes Science Focus Area at ORNL, which has a goal to improve biomass pretreatment and microbial fermentation for efficient conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into biofuels and bioproducts.

Conte’s research focuses on solvent-based extraction of lignin—a cell wall biopolymer that acts like the glue of plants—from biomass to improve access for enzymes and boost fermentation of cellulosic sugars. Along with members of the Neutron Scattering Division and Center for Molecular Biophysics at ORNL, he’s helping create a pipeline for rapid, large-scale sampling in a custom multi-reactor system, followed by characterization of lignin by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and small angle neutron scattering on the cellulose-rich solids.

“Our goal is that this work will not only help scientists and engineers design processes that produce high quality lignin and fermentable sugars from biomass, but also lead to a better fundamental understanding of why certain solvents perform better than others,” Conte said.

High-Scale Research

Having largely been working on AI-driven projects during his PhD work, being at ORNL has enhanced Conte’s research capabilities.

“We’ve made a lot of progress in developing different machine learning models based on empirical and experimental data, combined with the analysis that’s done with neutron scattering,” he said. “I’ve been really lucky to make new contacts in these other departments at Oak Ridge, which if I wasn’t in Dr. Ragauskas’ group, I would have had to make those connections on my own.”

Kousika’s research is in collaboration with ORNL’s Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI). He is working to characterize plant biomass to see which plant phenotypes are most suitable for converting to biofuels. Kousika is using two NMR units at ORNL and works with several geneticists who are studying genes-to-traits linkages using the Advanced Plant Phenotyping Laboratory at ORNL.

“I knew there was good science coming out of ORNL, but I didn’t know the sheer amount of work that is being done. Once I arrived at Oak Ridge and became familiar with CBI, I got to know the incredible work people are doing,” Kousika said. “There are so many projects that are concurrently going on. That’s what surprised me, just the scale of the things.”

Gaining Exposure

Conte has gained a better understanding of how the national lab system works through doing his research at ORNL.

“The staff scientists at the national labs really hold themselves to a different standard in terms of the work that they do,” Conte said. “They’re just invaluable resources to have. It also helps to see a route that I and my other lab mates can explore for a career. There’s a lot of in-between opportunities that are not necessarily industry or professorship that aren’t obvious unless you’re at the national lab seeing them work on a on a day-to-day basis.”

Being in such close proximity to a national lab, like UT is to ORNL, is something the PhD students in Ragauskas’ group value. Not only has it enhanced their educational experience and knowledge, it’s provided a chance to expand their network in multiple ways.

“For a PhD student, collaborations can give you a lot of perspective in terms of what you can do and what can be done in a certain field or in certain places,” Kousika said. “At ORNL, you have a lot of collaboration, and the resources are definitely an advantageous part. In a typical university setup, not everyone gets to work with such a broad spectrum of people with expertise.”

Contact

Rhiannon Potkey (rpotkey@utk.edu)