This proposal is a request to be eligible to participate in DOE's Fellowship and Scholarship Support program where NE eligible students can apply for scholarships and fellowships per the Funding Opportunity Announcement. This is up to a 10 year cooperative agreement program and may run up to 13 years to accredited US Colleges and Universities for the US Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy Fellowship and Scholarship Awards.������������������

We propose a basic science oriented approach that will advance the fundamental understanding of transient operating plasma systems (TOPS) and enable process and hardware design that will extend plasma assisted manufacturing into areas not achievable with the existing technology structure. We present a research path focused on the ����������������n+2��������������� technology node while providing technical and collaborative deliverables that will also enable solutions for more near term technical challenges for the Samsung MRD group.

The center will carry out work on three standard plasma sources as well as non-standard sources intended to address specific science challenges by providing process conditions that cannot be reliably achieved on one of the standard source configurations. The NCSU effort, in collaboration with Minnesota, Sandia, Ohio State, and Maryland, will advance methodologies in the design and construction of plasma sources with repeatable and reproducible plasma conditions across a plurality of sources operating across multiple center locations. Using existing source matching methodologies as a baseline [1,2] this effort will identify critical design principles for source configurations that will contribute to the experimental efforts of the center. The design principles behind identical operation of multiple plasma reactors, often referred to as ����������������chamber matching��������������� is one of the biggest technical challenges in other industries where plasma processing is a well-established manufacturing technology. In this center effort, we will 1.) identify source design variables that most significantly alter standard source performance, 2.) establish best known practices for source facilitization (gas delivery, cooling, etc.), and 3.) establish best known practices for sample preparation and exposure during plasma-liquid and plasma-catalyst experiments. This effort will be a combination of design methodologies, simulation, and experimental measurements made both at NCSU and in collaboration with other center sites utilizing the standard sources established in this center.

Our vision is to combine tunable non-equilibrium nonthermal plasma treatment with catalysts and chemical processing to offer an improvement in efficiency and selectivity over conventional recycling processes and, in the longer term, a viable environmentally-friendly solution to plastic recycling.

Enabling the next generation of sustainable farms requires a paradigm shift in resource management of the two most critical agricultural inputs for food production: water and nitrogen (N) - based fertilizer. Inefficient management of these resources increases food production costs, decreases productivity, and impacts the environment. An integrated approach is needed to improve the sustainability and efficiency throughout the production chain. Emerging (bio)electrochemical (BEC) technologies offer alternatives to conventional, fossil-fuel intensive N fertilizer production. Recently our team has demonstrated two game-changing BEC technologies: 1) microbial conversion of nitrogen gas into ammonium, and 2) plasma generation of N species (e.g., nitrate, nitrite) and other reactive species in water for fertilization and anti-pathogen benefits. We will integrate these technologies to produce BEC, N-based fertilizer, and with advanced sensor and delivery systems, we will precisely supply fertilizers for sustainable precision agriculture. Our proposed approach focuses on the development of a novel ����������������BEC fertigation on demand system��������������� by using sensor-driven data and molecular analyses to investigate BEC fertigation impact on the plants������������������ growth, adaptation, and microbiome; its impact on food safety and quality, and its economic feasibility for on-farm deployment.

This proposal is a request to be eligible to participate in DOE's Fellowship and Scholarship Support program where NE eligible students can apply for scholarships and fellowships per the Funding Opportunity Announcement. This is a 5 year cooperataive agreement program and may run up to 8 years to accredited US Colleges and Universities for the US Department of Engergy's Office of Nuclear Energy Fellowship and Scholarship Awards.

This proposal is a request for financial support for two graduate students every year for four consecutive years in nuclear engineering through the North Carolina State University������������������s Graduate Fellowship in Nuclear Engineering (NCSU������������������GFINE) program that helps to develop a highly talented and competent workforce with post-baccalaureate education capable of leading the nation������������������s charge to reinvigorate its nuclear industry. Every attempt will be made during the recruitment and selection processes to ensure that the sponsored students reflect the diverse groups that make up our nation������������������s populace. Moreover, the high academic standards inherent to NC State������������������s Department of Nuclear Engineering and the proposed selection formula will ensure the highest caliber of the sponsored fellows. These individuals will shepherd the design, construction, operation, and regulation of new and innovative nuclear facilities, while maintaining the safety and security of processes for the handling of requisite nuclear materials in the coming decades, a period crucial for the revamping of an industry that has fallen to neglect. Upon graduation, the sponsored fellows will be contractually required to complete nuclear-related employment at the rate of six months per year of NCSU������������������GFINE sponsorship. The support of industry for the Department and its mission, and their interest in NCSU������������������GFINE is evidenced by hiring of our graduates.

Multi-physics platforms have proven to be a powerful tool in plasma science. Commercial solvers such as COMSOL and ANSYS are the workhorses that enable researchers to study complex systems spanning fluids, chemistry, and electromagnetics in combination to better understand plasma phenomena. , Recent developments in open source Multiphysics platforms such as Kratos, MOOSE, and OpenFoam have opened up the range of problems that can be tackled by enabling affordable large scale HPC Multiphysics simulation. The Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE), in particular, has experienced tremendous growth in application and user base since its release, with modules spanning microstructure evolution of materials, chemistry, and superconductivity to complement its original core mission to advance nuclear reactor simulation. MOOSE is an extremely capable Multiphysics platform capable of running in a massively parallel computing environment to address some of the pressing issues in plasma science such as plasma material interaction and simulation of the near surface interface including conditions when that surface is powered by an electrostatic or electromagnetic source.

Plasma based depyrogenation of chitosan is a promising low cost surface modification that will greatly expand the range of application for chitosan in medical applications, particularly in the domain of internal medical application. NCSU will develop cost effective systems for the depyrogenation of chitosan and collaborate with Karamedica and Loma Linda Medical Center to demonstrate the necessary endotoxin reduction levels using plasma treatment on chitosan samples through controlled design and experimentation.

This proposed scope of work seeks to advance EMP design efforts for liquid metal reactors by 1.) improving MHD modelling capability, particularly by incorporating turbulence modeling and investigating the MHD stability criteria, 2.) advancing multi-physics simulation of these systems leveraging the open source MOOSE platform that is already used in many nuclear reactor and reactor system efforts, and 3.) constructing a low barrier EMP test loop for model validation and instruction that can be easily replicated at low cost at other facilities.