Oak Ridge Associated Universities and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have partnered again to award two new grants in the ORAU/ORNL High-Performance Computing Grant Program for 2013.
ORAU provides up to $75,000 over three years to researchers and their teams. In addition to the monetary award, ORNL provides faculty and student teams with valuable access to the laboratory’s computing resources and staff.
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory—home of one of only two reactor facilities in the world capable of producing californium-252 (Cf-252)—has begun implementing a new six-year contract between the U.S. Department of Energy Isotope Program and industry to make this unique and versatile radioisotope.
The new contract follows the successful completion of a four-year Cf-252 program under an agreement with a consortium of industries that use the neutron-emitting radioisotope for a number of applications that focus mostly on analysis, detection, and nuclear energy.
Chuck Spencer
Note: This story was updated at 8:05 p.m.
The work week at the Y-12 National Security Complex could occasionally be reduced to 30 hours for many employees between April and October as part of a budget-cutting plan announced Thursday.
Under the proposal, nonessential personnel could work three 10-hour days rather than four 10-hour days every third week. The plan has been proposed in response to the automatic federal spending cuts scheduled to start taking effect at midnight.
B&W Y-12 General Manager Chuck Spencer said the cuts would require furloughs, or temporary layoffs, for most employees.
Chuck Spencer
Operating costs have already been cut by 7 percent at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and all employees are expected to report to work on Friday, even if automatic federal spending cuts go into effect at midnight.
The federal cuts could reduce lab funding by 5 percent to 8 percent, ORNL Director Thom Mason said. That could translate into $70 million to $100 million in funding cuts, depending upon how the reductions are allocated.
Meanwhile, at the Y-12 National Security Complex, the automatic spending cuts could lead to furloughs, or temporary layoffs. Democrats on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee have said between 700 and 1,000 employees could be furloughed for up to six months.
But in a Feb. 14 message to employees, B&W Y-12 General Manager Chuck Spencer did not say how many employees might be affected.
Pictured above are, standing, Avon Rollins, director of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center, and Jim Little, participant in the 1963 March; and, seated, are Helen Ashe, Love Kitchen director and founder, and Ellen Turner, Love Kitchen manager. They shared their thoughts on the 1963 March on Washington at ORNL’s Black History Month celebration event. (Photographer: Curtis Boles)
The theme of this year’s Black History Month activities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is “At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington.”
The lab had a Black History Month speaker event last week.
Proceeds from this year’s activities, including a soul food tasting, are being donated to the Love Kitchen. The committee presented a check for $3,000 to the Love Kitchen, and donations are still coming in, ORNL said.
Cheryl “Shelly” T. George
In celebration of Black History Month, the Oak Ridge Chapter of Blacks in Government is sponsoring the Annual BIG Scholarship Luncheon on Thursday, a press release said.
It’s scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Oak Ridge Civic Center.
The keynote speaker will be professor and author Cheryl “Shelly” T. George. She will discuss the 2013 Black History Month theme “Honoring Freedom: 150 Years after the Emancipation Proclamation and 50 Years after the March on Washington.”
Natalie Layne, a Coalfield High sophomore, listens to an ultrasonic detector pointed at her eyes during the “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” at the New Hope Center on Thursday. (Submitted photos)
About 400 girls from East Tennessee schools were encouraged to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics during the second annual “Introduce a Girl to Engineering” event at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.
The girls, who are in grades 9-12, interacted with women working in the engineering field, and they experienced hands-on activities at various exhibits hosted by Y-12, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee, and various engineering organizations, a press release said.
A dozen people were recognized for receiving U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patents during the ninth annual Y-12 Technology Transfer awards ceremony, held to celebrate fiscal year 2012 achievements, and 74 were honored for submitting invention disclosures.
The year was a record-breaking one for new patents at Y‑12, with 11 awarded. The Silver Acorn Award, bestowed upon first-time patent recipients, went to Ed Babelay, Bill Barkman, Amy DeMint, Jackie Gooch, Patrick Thomas, and Paul Vanatta.
Joan Cronan
Joan Cronan, University of Tennessee women’s athletic director emeritus and consultant and adviser to the chancellor, will be the keynote speaker at a women’s workshop in March.
The 2013 Oak Ridge Women’s Workshop is co-sponsored by the U. S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Federal Women’s Program and the Federally Employed Women Oak Ridge Chapter.
The Oak Ridge Environmental Research Park’s first spring nature walk of 2013 will focus on studies of the American woodcock and winter astronomy on Saturday, Feb. 23.
The walk from 5:30-9 p.m. will include opportunities to view demonstrations of the American woodcock’s elaborate flight displays. Also, a trained falconer from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency will have two different hawks on hand for participants to learn about.
The Tennessee Valley Authority and Babcock and Wilcox announced Wednesday a major step in their joint effort to build and test the nation’s first small modular reactor at TVA’s Clinch River Site in Oak Ridge.
TVA and B&W signed a contract Feb. 7 that formalizes the process toward the eventual submittal and Nuclear Regulatory Commission review of a licensing application for a B&W mPower small modular reactor, or SMR, nuclear plant at Clinch River.
Former Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist speaks to representatives from Leadership Knoxville at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Conference Center. (Jason Richards/ORNL)
Former Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist visited Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Thursday with Leadership Knoxville.
The group toured ORNL’s supercomputing facilities as part of the visit.
Here are two pictures from the tour, submitted by ORNL and photographer Jason Richards.
