Oak Ridge Today

Spotlight: Knoxville mayor tours ORNL’s manufacturing demonstration facility

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Madeline Rogero at Manufacturing Demonstration Facility

Foreground, from left, ORNL’s Ryan Dehoff shows 3-D printed parts to Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero, accompanied by ORNL Director Thom Mason and Craig Blue, director of ORNL’s advanced manufacturing program and the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. (Photo by Jason Richards/ORNL)

 

Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero recently visited the U.S. Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Rogero had been invited to participate as a “Maker Mayor” at the June 18 White House Maker Faire. Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan also attended.

When Roger returned, she asked ORNL for more information on additive manufacturing, the lab said.

The tour of the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility gave Rogero an overview of the facility and the research underway there.

White House Maker Faire: High school team with ET ties competes with cutting-edge 3D

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White House Maker Faire 3D Exhibitor

Photo courtesy WhiteHouse.gov

From WhiteHouse.gov

A high school team with East Tennessee ties, including in Oak Ridge, was among the exhibitors and honored “makers” at the White House Maker Faire on Wednesday.

The team includes Fletcher Blue, 17, of Hardin Valley Academy FIRST RoHAWKtics Team 3823 in Knoxville; Joshua St. John, 33, a teacher in New York, N.Y.; and Scott Turner, 48, 3D Systems of Venice, Calif., and Knoxville. They received mentoring help from Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Here is more information about the team’s project: [Read more…]

Learn more about first-ever White House Maker Faire

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Tom Beehan

Tom Beehan

Madeline Rogero

Madeline Rogero

UT, Oak Ridge, Knoxville participating

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Mayors from the Manufacturing Alliance of Communities, including MAC Chair Dayne Walling, mayor of Flint, Mich.; founding MAC Chair Virg Bernero, mayor of Lansing, Mich.; and Mayor Kevin Smith of Anderson, Ind., will participate today with President Barack Obama in the first-ever Maker Faire to be held at the White House.

MAC mayors, who have been enthusiastic supporters of the Maker Movement to democratize access to high-tech tools for all innovators and makers in their communities, will join Obama and scores of entrepreneurs and industry leaders to highlight a “nationwide day of making” across the country. This event at the White House is intended to increase awareness of the great potential for boosting innovation and entrepreneurship in manufacturing, in the same way that the Internet and cloud computing lowered the barriers to entry for digital startups, creating the foundation for new products and processes that can help to revitalize American manufacturing.

Oak Ridge, Knoxville, and the University of Tennessee are participating. Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan and Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero have both been designated Maker Mayors. [Read more…]

UT College of Engineering also taking part in White House Maker Faire

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Submitted

KNOXVILLE—Responding to President Barack Obama’s call to empower America’s students and entrepreneurs to invent the future, the College of Engineering at the University of Tennessee is Knoxville is participating in today’s National Day of Making, held in conjunction with the first White House Maker Faire.

Referred to as the “maker movement,” there has been a surge of innovation in recent years as laser tools, 3-D printers, and software previously unavailable outside of laboratory settings have found their way into the hands of average citizens, who are leading the next wave of breakthroughs.

Geared toward inspiring what the White House calls a “renaissance in American manufacturing,” the fair is designed to highlight those Americans who have found new ways to embrace changing technology and techniques shaping modern economies, workforces, and education, with the Day of Making serving to kick off the effort. [Read more…]

Mayor Beehan represents Oak Ridge at White House Maker Faire

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Tom Beehan

Tom Beehan

Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan is representing Oak Ridge at the White House Maker Faire today (Wednesday). It’s part of the Mayors’ Maker Challenge, which the Oak Ridge City Council approved at the June 2 Council meeting.

Here’s an e-mail about it from the White House:

Tune in to the White House Maker Faire!

We’ve got another big first happening at the White House (Wednesday, June 18) and our guests are making a lot of things besides history.

President Obama will celebrate innovators, entrepreneurs, and tinkerers of all ages from across the country at the first-ever White House Maker Faire. [Read more…]