DOE recognizes ORAU for Science Bowl support

Oak Ridge Associated Universities was recently recognized for its continued support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Tennessee Science Bowl, an annual competition to encourage high school students to excel in science and math and pursue careers in those fields.

Johnny Moore, DOE’s site office manager at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, presented a commemorative plaque to ORAU for its support of the science bowl.

In a letter to ORAU President and CEO Andy Page, Moore emphasized that coordinating the event—which in 2012 hosted more than 300 students, coaches, and volunteers over a two-day period—was a “huge undertaking and (ORAU) staff performed in an incredible manner to make it happen.”

ORAU, which manages the Oak Ridge Institute for Science Education for DOE, has partnered with the agency to coordinate the Tennessee Science Bowl since it was launched in 1991, a press release said.

“The Tennessee Science Bowl is a powerful competition that inspires STEM-related academic aspirations in talented students from across the state,” Page said. “Our fundamental mission of advancing science education is a strong complement to the DOE Office of Science’s mission objectives in this same area, and we’re honored to have assisted DOE in meeting this challenge for more than two decades.”

Earlier this year, Knox County Schools’ Bearden High School took top honors at the 2012 Tennessee Science Bowl, which included a $1,000 cash prize, a first-place trophy, and an all-expense paid trip to compete in DOE’s National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C. The National Science Bowl’s high school competition now involves more than 13,000 students and is the only science competition in the United States sponsored by a federal agency.