John Pagliaro, a senior at Virginia Tech, was selected as a research associate at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) under the U.S. Department of Energy's (DoE) Oak Ridge Institute for Science & Education (ORISE) program. Pagliaro is completing the 10-week summer appointment at NETL's Morgantown, W.Va., research site.
A native of Bowie Md., Pagliaro is pursuing a bachelor's degree in engineering science and mechanics (ESM) as well as mechanical engineering (ME). He is working with his mentor, NETL researcher Peter Strakey, on a project employing flame thermoacoustic instability research for gas turbines. The work has potential for prevention of flame damage and better protection of the combustion chambers of gas turbines.
The ORISE program offers summer appointments to undergraduate students, post-graduates, graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and university professors to work part-time or full-time at NETL. Mentored by scientists and researchers, the research associates are assigned specific projects intended to teach them how to use their skills and qualifications to solve energy-related problems. The appointment provides research associates the opportunity to develop their professional, technical, leadership and communication skills, while promoting careers in energy, particularly in fossil fuel research and development.
NETL is one of the U.S. DoE’s national laboratories. NETL - "the ENERGY lab" - focuses on America's economic prosperity, which requires secure, reliable energy supplies at sustainable prices.
Three overarching issues characterize the energy situation in the United States. They are energy affordability, supply security, and environmental quality. The Department of Energy's only government-owned, government-operated national lab, NETL is a research and technology center where these energy challenges converge and energy solutions emerge. NETL implements a broad spectrum of energy and environmental research and development programs through its own research staff and through funded research at other labs, universities, and industry that will return benefits for generations to come.
The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is internationally recognized for its excellence in 14 engineering disciplines and computer science. The college's 5,700 undergraduates benefit from an innovative curriculum that provides a “hands-on, minds-on” approach to engineering education, complementing classroom instruction with two unique design-and-build facilities and a strong Cooperative Education Program. With more than 50 research centers and numerous laboratories, the college offers its 1,800 graduate students opportunities in advanced fields of study such as biomedical engineering, state-of-the-art microelectronics, and nanotechnology. Virginia Tech, the most comprehensive university in Virginia, is dedicated to quality, innovation, and results to the commonwealth, the nation and the world.
NETL also has major research facilities in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Albany, Ore.
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