Researchers Baohua Gu and Parans Paranthaman have been named Corporate Fellows of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). ORNL’s Corporate Fellows are recognized for significant career accomplishments and continued leadership in their scientific fields.
 
“Baohua and Parans’ accomplishments epitomize the definition of ORNL’s Corporate Fellows,” ORNL director Thomas Zacharia said. “Baohua has made significant contributions in advancing the environmental geochemistry community’s understanding of subsurface systems. Parans has pioneered advances in the field of materials chemistry with impacts on energy technologies such as superconductors, batteries and solar cells. They have both also been outstanding mentors and role models for students and early career staff members.”
 
Gu is an international expert in environmental geochemistry, most noted for his innovative approach to studying organo-metal interactions and applying spectroscopic techniques to characterizing the fate, transformation and transport of heavy metals, radionuclides and nanomaterials in aquatic and terrestrial systems.
 
Currently team lead for Molecular Scale and Biogeochemical Processes in the Environmental Sciences Division, Gu has published more than 220 journal articles with more than 9,000 citations and has six patents.
 
Paranthaman, who came to ORNL in 1993, has gained international recognition for the design, synthesis and fabrication of new materials and their translation into new energy technologies, including superconductor wires, electrodes for batteries and additive manufacturing of low-cost magnets.
 
Currently group leader for Materials Chemistry in the Chemical Sciences Division, Paranthaman has published more than 380 journal articles with more than 14,600 citations and has co-edited six books. He has 35 patents and more than 20 have been licensed and commercialized.
 
With the addition of Gu and Paranthaman, there are now 27 Corporate Fellows at ORNL.