Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory - History

History

The beginnings (1986–1997)

The idea that would become EMSL began in 1986 with a National Academy of Sciences report entitled Opportunities in Chemistry. The report identified scientific challenges relating to energy and the environment that required fundamental research to achieve a solution. Then director of PNNL William R. Wiley and lab senior managers met to discuss the report and how PNNL could respond to the nation’s scientific challenges that were critically dependent on fundamental advances in chemistry. Their recommendations would become EMSL, a center with advanced instrumentation for the study of molecular-level chemistry.

Wiley envisioned a facility where the research was conducted in an integrated and collaborative manner. “Problems don’t come in small, unique, compartmentalized packages. We must recognize the interrelationships,” said Wiley.

Ohio-based Battelle Memorial Institute, which operates PNNL for the U.S. Department of Energy, approved $8.5 million in funding over four years to establish the facility; develop research programs; and obtain the equipment, facilities, scientists and staff to support these programs.

The DOE authorized PNNL to proceed in October 1993, and PNNL began construction of the facility in July 1994. The facility was dedicated on October 16, 1996, in honor of Wiley, who died three months earlier. Construction was completed in August 1997. Then-DOE Secretary Hazel O'Leary delivered the dedication speech and Wiley’s wife, Gus, cut the ribbon. EMSL opened Oct. 1, 1997, for full operation as DOE’s newest national scientific user facility.

The early years (1997–2001) During its first five years, EMSL operations focused on building capabilities, recruiting scientific leadership and attracting users. The scientific focus then expanded to include biology, particularly the study of naturally occurring microbes for environmental cleanup, alternative energy, and carbon dioxide reduction in the atmosphere – critical challenges addressed by DOE.

EMSL’s early user program focused on single investigator studies – particularly those Wiley championed that crossed disciplinary boundaries – and quickly reached more than 1,000 users per year, representing every state and several foreign countries.

A maturing program (2001–2009) In this period there were two grand challenges. These challenges were team-based, multi-investigator research efforts targeted on two key challenges related to DOE missions:

• a biogeochemistry question concerning the fundamental interaction between microbes and minerals, and
• a study addressing the structure and function of proteins in the cell membrane.

EMSL’s management further defined the lab’s research focus by establishing science themes. Started in 2006 as four themes and later focused to three, these Science Themes are:

• Biological Interactions and Dynamics
• Geochemistry/Biogeochemistry and Subsurface Science
• Science of Interfacial Phenomena.

In January 2007, EMSL celebrated its first permanent expansion: a nearly 4,000-square-foot raised floor within its high-performance computing operations center to accommodate a more powerful supercomputer. In April 2008, EMSL dedicated a new office pod to distinguished user J. Mike White that houses nearly 100 staff and users. At the same time, EMSL management began pursuing plans for a Radiochemistry Annex and a Quiet Wing.

Building for the future (2009 to present)

In 2009, DOE announced a $60 million investment in capabilities for EMSL from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA. EMSL used the funds to upgrade some existing capabilities, as well as developing and deploying totally new systems and capabilities.

At this same time, EMSL directed capital funds toward construction of the $8 million Quiet Wing to house up to eight microscopy instruments. The Quiet Wing opened in early 2012. Additionally, EMSL moved forward with plans for a radiological chemistry capability with a Radiochemistry Annex, slated to open in 2014.