The U.S. Department of Energy has approved a five-year extension of UT-Battelle’s contract to manage and operate Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The five-year extension took effect Wednesday, April 1, ORNL said in a response to questions.
The value of the extension wasn’t immediately available.
[Read more…]Anderson County officials on Friday asked residents to watch government meetings on television or stream them online, rather than attend in person.
The request comes as people across the country grapple with the uncertainty over COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus. The request came after Anderson County Commission Chair Tracy Wandell and Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank discussed the state of emergency declared by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Thursday and the county’s response to it in terms of government meetings.
“We will continue to conduct meetings to fulfill the jobs we are required to perform and to keep services available to citizens,” a press release said. “However, we encourage citizens to take advantage of Anderson County’s technological capabilities for our meetings. You may watch our meetings on Comcast cable Channel 95 or by streaming online at https://www.andersoncounty.tv.”
[Read more…]Roane State Community College is extending spring break for students through March 22 and will move classes online starting March 23.
The changes are in response to public health concerns about COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus.
Faculty and staff will use the extended spring break time to prepare for a transition to online classes and working from home, Roane State said in a press release on Friday. On March 23, classes will resume in an online format through at least March 29, the college said.
[Read more…]Classes at the University of Tennessee are being temporarily suspended and moved online in response to COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus.
UT Chattanooga will suspend in-person classes until March 30, while UT Knoxville and UT Martin will suspend in-person classes until April 3. Beginning March 23, UT Health Science Center will offer all face-to-face lecture classes remotely until further notice. Clinical rotations in hospitals will continue as usual, a press release said.
University of Tennessee Interim President Randy Boyd—in consultation with chancellors at UT Knoxville, UT Chattanooga, UT Martin, and the UT Health Science Center—announced the temporary suspension of all in-person classes in a press release on Wednesday. It’s being called a proactive measure.
[Read more…]
Note: This story was last updated at 10:55 a.m.
The Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been used to identify drug compounds, including medications and natural compounds, that could help fight coronavirus, although more study is needed.
“The researchers used Summit, the world’s most powerful and smartest supercomputer, to identify 77 small-molecule drug compounds that might warrant further study in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which is responsible for the COVID-19 disease outbreak,” ORNL said in a response to questions Wednesday.
The researchers performed simulations on Summit of more than 8,000 compounds to screen for those that are most likely to bind to the main “spike” protein of the coronavirus, rendering it unable to infect host cells. They ranked compounds of interest that could have value in experimental studies of the virus. They published their results on “ChemRxiv.”
[Read more…]
Submitted
Roane State Community College is joining the state’s growing movement to better train new workers by sponsoring apprenticeship programs with area businesses and industries. The college is currently working with one of Anderson County’s biggest employers.
“We will be working with SL Tennessee and our Middle College students in mechatronics to develop programs of study and identify specific apprenticeship tasks,” said Kim Harris, the college’s director of workforce training and placement.
“We look forward to working closely with Roane State in starting the apprenticeship program,” said SL Tennessee Director Scott Laska. “We believe that this program will help solve our skills gap in our operation and provide meaningful career opportunities for the community.”
SL Tennessee, located in the Clinton Interstate 75 Industrial Park, manufactures automotive parts and is near Roane State’s Clinton Higher Education and Workforce Training Facility. The college’s classes in mechatronics—the engineering of electrical and mechanical systems—are offered there.
[Read more…]
The Roane State Foundation has won a $6,000 grant from the CNS Y-12 Community Investment Fund to help adult students in the community college’s programs in computer science, cybersecurity, and mechatronics, a press release said.
CNS operates the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, and the contractor established the fund through the East Tennessee Foundation in 2014 as part of its commitment to Oak Ridge and the surrounding communities.
Officials said the grant will fund scholarships to help students pay for industry-recognized certifications. Those certifications are important tools for graduates to pair with their college degree to demonstrate to employers they have the skills and documentations that often allow graduates to earn higher wages when going to work, the press release said.
[Read more…]A creative writing director at the University of Tennessee will speak at Lunch 4 Literacy in Oak Ridge in March.
The popular annual event is co-sponsored by the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club and the Altrusa International Club of Oak Ridge. It will be held at Oak Ridge High School at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 24.
This year, the award-winning speaker is Margaret Lazarus Dean, an associate professor and director of creative writing in the Department of English at the University of Tennessee. [Read more…]
By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer
A recent Roane State Community College graduate is researching climate change and the microorganisms that contribute to it.
Rachel Andrews, a Morgan County resident who graduated from the community college in May 2019, is an intern at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She’s doing research with Christopher Schadt in the Biosciences Division at the lab.
They are investigating methane production in peat, which is formed by the partial decomposition of plants in wet, acidic conditions of bogs. Scientists say methane gas is one of the major contributors to a warming planet.
“We study the methanogens that live in peatland soil,” Andrews said in an emailed response to questions about her research. She said these microorganisms produce quite a bit of methane and carbon dioxide, also identified as a culprit in climate change.
[Read more…]
By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer
It’s a vexing, persistent problem nationally: food insecurity issues experienced by many college students. Roane State Community College is again doing something about it.
That’s the message delivered by Chris Whaley, president of the community college, during the formal opening of the Brain Food Pantry on the college’s Oak Ridge campus.
Some 40 percent of college students nationwide “struggle with hunger,” Whaley told the crowd attending the ribbon-cutting in the former Anderson Grille in the campus’s Coffey/McNally Building.
Making sure students—and their families—have proper and adequate nutrition “is as much a part of student success as what happens in the classroom,” said Karen Brunner, the college’s vice president of institutional effectiveness and research.
[Read more…]
A materials science professor in the University of Tennessee’s Tickle College of Engineering has received a five-year $1.7 million award from a leading scientific foundation for research in the emerging field of quantum materials.
David Mandrus, the Jerry and Kay Henry Endowed Professor, has a joint appointment at UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Mandrus’s work has been cited thousands of times, and he has earned several notable accolades for his part in advancing materials science, a press release said. In recognition of his work, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has named him an Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems (EPiQS) Materials Synthesis Investigator.
“I’m honored to have again been selected by the Moore Foundation as someone whose work they have chosen to recognize,” Mandrus said. “Their support will help me further explore ideas and concepts related to quantum materials and the opportunities they make possible.”
[Read more…]
Volkswagen Group of America, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of Tennessee on Friday announced a collaboration to create Volkswagen’s first innovation hub in North America at the UT Research Park at Cherokee Farm.
“Working with the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a great opportunity to continue growing Volkswagen’s engineering footprint in the North American region,” said Wolfgang Demmelbauer-Ebner, executive vice president and chief engineering officer for Volkswagen’s North American region. “This hub, along with other research institutions here, is an integral part of Volkswagen’s global research and development efforts and can also directly contribute to vehicles in North America.”
The collaboration involves research opportunities for doctoral students and space in the Innovation North building at the UT Research Park at Cherokee Farm in Knoxville, a press release said. Initial work will focus on developing lighter vehicle components made from composite materials and the electrification of vehicles.
[Read more…]