NETL’s Tammie Borders, acting associate laboratory director for the Critical Minerals & Advanced Alloys Center of Excellence, has been selected as a 2026 Oppenheimer Science & Energy Leadership Program (OSELP) fellow. This distinguished year-long program, facilitated by the National Laboratory Directors’ Council, identifies and cultivates exceptional leaders poised to shape the future of science and energy within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories.

Borders joins an elite cohort of 21 other leaders from across the DOE national laboratory enterprise. Through an immersive experience that includes mentorship, strategic thought leadership engagements and critical stakeholder interactions, OSELP provides fellows with an unparalleled understanding of the national labs’ crucial role and the broader DOE system. This rigorous program not only enhances leadership skills and expands professional networks but also equips participants to tackle pressing national challenges and bolster the DOE’s mission to deliver secure, reliable and affordable energy for all Americans.

After joining NETL in 2024, Borders began leveraging multi-scale computational approaches to accelerate the development and deployment of advanced energy technologies. Her leadership directly translates to bringing energy solutions to market with greater speed, lower cost and reduced risk, ultimately benefiting American consumers and industry.

Prior to her position at NETL, Borders served as a senior member of the technical staff in the Proliferation Signature & Data Exploitation Department at Sandia National Laboratories, where she led numerous programs for both national security and energy systems. Her extensive expertise encompasses next-generation artificial intelligence (AI), advanced materials, chemical dynamics and digital engineering, underpinned by a doctorate in computational physical chemistry from the University of North Texas.

Borders has been pivotal in expanding NETL’s capabilities in high-performance computing (HPC) and AI, directly contributing to solutions that ensure a more affordable, reliable and secure energy future for the nation. Under her guidance, NETL has seen significant advancements in HPC, developing sophisticated simulation models, mathematical methods, algorithms and software tools. Her strategic vision has been instrumental in aligning NETL’s objectives with the administration’s ambitious vision for AI dominance in scientific discovery.

A recognized expert in AI, modeling, simulation and quantum information sciences, Borders notably advanced collaborations with Cerebras Systems Inc. This partnership led to the development of cutting-edge computer modeling capabilities using Cerebras’ Wafer-Scale Engine, resulting in a user-friendly interface that set a world record for speed in critical models. Furthermore, her team developed a robust library of scientific problem-solving tools applicable to materials science, subsurface modeling and computational fluid dynamics, areas critical to unlocking new energy resources and technologies.

Since its inception in 2016, OSELP has underscored the national laboratories’ collective commitment to cultivating leaders equipped with the foresight and skills necessary to advance the DOE’s critical mission and safeguard America’s energy future.

NETL is a DOE national laboratory dedicated to innovating and accelerating the nation’s energy solutions in hydrocarbon, geothermal energy and critical minerals production. With research sites in Albany, Oregon; Morgantown, West Virginia; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, NETL operates as one laboratory to create advanced energy technologies that support DOE’s mission and enable affordable, reliable and secure energy to fuel human prosperity.