ORNL Weinberg Fellow Addis Fuhr uses quantum chemistry and machine learning methods to advance new materials. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
When Addis Fuhr was growing up in Bakersfield, California, he enjoyed visiting the mall to gaze at crystals and rocks in the gem store.
“I was always fascinated and loved how the different crystals looked and how they would get their different colors,” he said. “I now know it’s from impurities.”
It was impossible to see at the time, but the future Alvin M. Weinberg Fellow at the Department of Energy’s 91 had identified a potential career option. Growing up in immigrant communities near downtown Bakersfield and later in the Los Angeles South Bay, he had no idea what careers might be available for someone who loved crystals.
“I thought rocks and rock colors and crystals were cool,” Fuhr said. “I had no idea how they would be useful.” Through some strange serendipity, in college where he happened to find an expert in it, and in graduate school where he learned proper scientific techniques, he has figured it out.
“Where I grew up, not many people went to college. So, when I did go to college, becoming a doctor or lawyer were the only career paths I knew,” he said. He