Oak Ridge Today

Roane State to host author, speaker Jeff Shiver at maintenance best practices seminar

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Jeff Shiver

Jeff Shiver

Roane State Community College will host industry recognized book author and speaker Jeff Shiver at the “Achieving the Maintenance” Best Practices Seminar in Clinton.

Shiver will focus on the five primary goals that most organizations are seeking from the maintenance function: reliability, lower costs, safety, environmental integrity, and quality, a press release said. He will provide an overview of tools and concepts that you can apply in your organization. These include RCM3, risk-based strategies, planning and scheduling, proactive tasks, how equipment fails, and defect elimination.

Shiver—a CMRP, CRL, RCM2/RCM3 practitioner—will highlight a morning session with the “big picture” from a reliability-centered maintenance perspective, the press release said. [Read more…]

Scientists seek new physics using ORNL’s intense neutrino source

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Neutrino Experiment at High Flux Isotope Reactor

The High Flux Isotope Reactor, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility that creates continuous neutron beams, is the site of a new neutrino experiment. Yale-led PROSPECT will probe neutrinos formed as a byproduct of radioactive decay processes. (Image credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, DOE/Photographer Genevieve Martin)

 

By Dawn Levy

Soon to be deployed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is an experiment to explore new physics associated with neutrinos. The Precision Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment, or PROSPECT, is led by Yale University and includes partners from 14 academic and governmental institutions. The DOE High Energy Physics program will support the experiment at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, or HFIR, a DOE Office of Science User Facility at ORNL. The neutrino, the subject of a 2015 Nobel Prize, remains a poorly understood fundamental particle of the Standard Model of particle physics.

These electrically neutral subatomic particles are made in stars and nuclear reactors as a byproduct of radioactive decay processes. They interact with other matter via the weak force, making their detection difficult. As a result of this elusiveness, neutrinos are the subject of many interesting and challenging detection experiments, including PROSPECT.

“Unique capabilities of ORNL will enable us to broaden the understanding of neutrino properties,” said David Dean, director of ORNL’s Physics Division. “The expansion of neutrino experiments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a win for the lab because we have a new scientific focus area, and a win for the scientific community because ORNL has unique neutrino sources that physicists will utilize to explore neutrino science.” [Read more…]

TVC honors Earl Gohl, Wayne Cropp for commitment to region

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Earl Gohl

Earl Gohl (Submitted photo)

 

Two long-time supporters of the Tennessee Valley Corridor were presented the organization’s top award at the TVC’s National Summit held June 1-2 on the campus of Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, Tennessee.

Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Federal Co-Chair Earl Gohl and Chattanooga attorney J. Wayne Cropp were honored with the Corridor Champion Award in recognition of their leadership to enhance the TVC’s national visibility, high-tech economic development, and collaborative efforts within the five-state region, a press release said.

“Wayne Cropp chaired the TVC first two Summits in 1995 and 1996 in Oak Ridge and Chattanooga and has been an active leader since,” said Board Chair Steve Cope from Tullahoma. “He has been a true champion for our region’s efforts to promote its federal missions and to leverage those investments for high tech economic development. [Read more…]

Roane State dental hygiene students earn honors

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Roane State dental hygiene students Kim Palmer (left) and Crystal Morse won first place at a state competition for their display on silver diamine fluoride. (Photo by RSCC)

Roane State dental hygiene students Kim Palmer (left) and Crystal Morse won first place at a state competition for their display on silver diamine fluoride. (Photo by RSCC)

 

Two Roane State Community College dental hygiene students won first place at the annual Tennessee Dental Hygiene Association table clinic competition in Chattanooga.

Students from five dental hygiene programs presented displays that represented their research on a dental hygiene topic. Roane State students Kim Palmer of Lenoir City and Crystal Morse of Friendsville won for their display on silver diamine fluoride.

“I am very proud of our students and their hard work,” program director Melinda Gill said. “This is the third year our dental hygiene students have competed, and we have placed every year.” [Read more…]

Roane State offering LabVIEW classes starting June 20

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Roane-State-Coffey-McNally-Building

The Roane State Community College campus in Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Photo by Roane State)

Roane State Community College Workforce Development will offer LabVIEW Core 1 and 2 courses June 20-August 17 at the college’s Oak Ridge campus.

Classes will meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:30 p.m.-8 p.m.

LabVIEW Core 1 introduces students to the LabVIEW environment, dataflow programming, and common LabVIEW development techniques in a hands-on format. Students will learn to develop data acquisition, instrument control, data-logging, and measurement analysis applications. [Read more…]

Tennessee gets a place at the table with newest element: Tennessine

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Robert Grzywacz

Robert Grzywacz

One of the newest members of the periodic table will likely have a familiar sound to it, even if the spelling might be a bit off: Tennessine.

Proposed as a nod to researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Tennessee, who helped confirm its existence, element 117 would be only the second to be named for a state. Since the name Tennessee has its origins in the name of the Cherokee village of Tanasi, it also becomes the first element with Native American roots.

The International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry formally verified the discovery and has now put forth the name Tennessine—pronounced to rhyme with green—for public comment.

Robert Grzywacz, director of the UT-ORNL Joint Institute for Nuclear Physics and Applications and a physics professor at UT, served as UT’s connection to the project. Grzywacz helped develop a process that measures the decay of nuclear materials down to one millionth of a second, which was vital in proving the existence of the new element. [Read more…]

ORISE report shows nuclear engineering graduation rates rebounding in 2015 after brief decline

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Increases seen in undergraduate and master degrees, while number of doctorate degrees awarded declined

After briefly declining in 2014 following five straight years of continual increases, the number of college students graduating with majors in nuclear engineering has rebounded. This is according to an annual study conducted by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education which surveyed 35 U.S. universities with nuclear engineering programs. The report, titled “Nuclear Engineering Enrollments and Degrees Survey, 2015 Data,” includes degrees granted between September 1, 2014, and August 31, 2015.

Overall number of nuclear engineering degrees increases

According to the report, 652 students received bachelor’s degrees with majors in nuclear engineering in 2015—a 4 percent increase over 2014 and just 0.5 percent lower than 2013. This is the second highest number of bachelor’s degrees reported since 1984; however, it remains 23 percent below the peak years in the 1970s.

The number of nuclear engineering master’s degrees awarded in 2015 increased by 13 percent over 2014 and is nearly identical to the number reported for 2013. The 363 master’s degrees awarded in 2015 are the highest since the 1980s. [Read more…]

Roane State awarded grant to develop specialized welding courses

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Roane-State-Coffey-McNally-Building

The Roane State Community College campus in Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Photo by Roane State)

 

Roane State Community College received a $25,000 grant to develop classes in lightweight metal welding, a skill set needed by automotive manufacturers.

The grant from the Center for Advanced Automotive Technology will be used to develop four courses: aluminum welding, robotic welding, non-destructive testing, and metallurgy. Grant funds will pay for costs related to course development, supplies, and outreach materials.

Markus Pomper, dean of Roane State’s Mathematics and Sciences Division, said the course material will have applications in the automotive industry and for work at the Uranium Processing Facility under development in Oak Ridge.

“Automotive manufacturers are using light metals, such as aluminum, in their designs in order to increase their vehicles’ fuel efficiency,” Pomper said. “The lightweight metal welding courses will train the workforce for the lightweight auto manufacturing. In addition, we anticipate that the planned Uranium Processing Facility will require welders who can weld exotic metals and also test their work.” [Read more…]

Fifteen students, including one from ORHS, named as Haslam Scholars at UT

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Oumar Souleymane Diallo

Oumar Souleymane Diallo

Fifteen students, including one from Oak Ridge High School, have been named to the 2016 cohort of Haslam Scholars at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. There are 14 students from Tennessee and one from North Carolina.

The ORHS student is Oumar Souleymane Diallo.

A student from Hardin Valley Academy, Sophia Cui, is also among the incoming students.

The Haslam Scholars Program is UT’s premier four-year scholarship program. Each year, the program admits 15 first-year students from the university’s Chancellor’s Honors Program and supports them with the university’s most prestigious and generous named scholarships. [Read more…]

Roane State girls basketball camp set for July 18-22

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Roane State Community College women’s basketball coach Monica Boles will host her annual girls basketball camp July 18-22 at the college’s main campus in Harriman.

Girls from age 7 through rising high school seniors are invited to participate in the camp. The camp schedule is 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 9 a.m.-noon on Friday.

“The main focus of our camp is to provide girls with the opportunity to improve their fundamental skills and knowledge of the game through drill work and competitive play in a positive basketball environment,” Boles said. “The camp is a great place for players of all ages to experience success and build self-confidence” [Read more…]

Roane State boys basketball camp set for June 27-July 1

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

For more than 20 years, the Roane State Community College men’s basketball program has conducted dedicated, detailed skills instruction during boys basketball camps instructed by head coach Randy Nesbit.

This year’s session at the Roane County campus gym for ages 8-high school seniors will be June 27-July 1, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m.-noon on Friday. [Read more…]

Spencer Wilson receives Myrick-sponsored ORPSEF Scholarship

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Spencer Wilson

Oak Ridge High School senior Spencer Wilson, center, is pictured above with Teresa Myrick, right, and ORHS teacher Deni Sobek. (Submitted photo)

 

Spencer Wilson grew up fishing in the lakes and mountain streams of the area, an activity that fostered his interest in the environment. The Oak Ridge High School senior, who plans to pursue his interest in fish and the environment in college, has received the $1,000 Tim and Teresa Myrick Scholarship.

The scholarship is awarded annually to a hard-working student interested in environmental science, a field of study important to Tim Myrick. Spencer plans to major in aquatic biology, continuing to build on his lifelong interest.

“Spencer has an interest in the environment, a desire to work and ‘play’ outside. He is an avid fisherman, which was one of Tim’s favorite pastimes,” said Deni Sobek, Advanced Placement Environmental Science teacher at ORHS, who recommended Spencer for the scholarship. He was a student in Sobek’s class in his junior year.

In 2012, Myrick and his wife Teresa pledged $25,000 to the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation’s “Making the Critical Difference” campaign for grants and scholarships. Their pledge provides an annual scholarship to a top AP Environmental Science student, as well as grant funds to be awarded to ORHS Science Department applicants. [Read more…]