Oak Ridge Today

UT Arboretum society to showcase redbud at plant sale on Saturday

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The University of Arboretum Society will celebrate its 50th anniversary by featuring “The Rising Sun™” Redbud at its Annual Spring Plant Sale on Saturday, April 18.

This plant was found and introduced into the trade by Ray and Cindy Jackson of Jackson Nursery in Belvidere, Tennessee. This brand-new Redbud displays heart-shaped foliage of deep apricot-orange in the spring, maturing to yellow and then speckled lime-green in summer, only to return to its rich golden tones for autumn. It has rosy-orchid sweet pea-like blooms in early spring which are attractive to bees and butterflies. It is a vigorous grower reaching eight to 12 feet tall and about eight feet wide, and is cold-hardy to Zone 5. This compact native is ideally suited as a specimen in small yards or gardens.  [Read more…]

UT Arboretum Society to have plant sale Saturday, April 18

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UT Arboretum Society Spring Plant Sale 2015

A wide variety of plants, blacksmith demonstration, and food will be featured

The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society will have its 48th annual Spring Plant Sale on Saturday, April 18. The sale is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the UT Arboretum at 901 South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge.

The “Members Only” sale will be on Friday evening, April 17, from 5 to 7 p.m. Memberships may be purchased at that time for this “early bird” shopping opportunity. Checks and credit cards will be accepted.

This year, the Arboretum Society will gather the best of four local nurseries in one location. Beaver Creek and Riverdale Nurseries from Knoxville, Sunlight Gardens from Andersonville, and East Fork Nursery from Sevierville will be offering a large and varied selection of shrubs, trees, wildflowers, perennials, annuals, and edibles. [Read more…]

ORION astronomy club meeting features UT professor on Wednesday

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The Wednesday meeting of the ORION astronomy club will feature Professor Denise Phillips, director of graduate studies in the Department of History at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Her presentation, “Can Peasants Be Scientists? Debates about the Social Reach of Science in the 18th-Century Europe,” is from her current book project, which includes both lay and professional astronomers.

The meeting is at the Grove Theater at 123 Randolph Road in Oak Ridge at 7 p.m. Wednesday April 15. (See http://orionastronomy.wordpress.com, for more information.)

ORION has supported educational and astronomy activities in Oak Ridge and the surrounding region since 1974. These include the free public star gazes at the Tamke-Allan Observatory in Rockwood scheduled on the first and third Saturday of the month. (See www.roanestate.edu/TAO or contact David E. Fields at fieldsde@roanestate.edu.)

Roane State has open house in Oak Ridge on Thursday

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Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge will have an open house on Thursday, April 16. All are invited, a press release said.

The Oak Ridge campus is located at 701 Briarcliff Avenue.

Check-in will begin at 5:30 p.m., and the Open House will be held from 6-8 p.m. Prospective students will have opportunities to talk one-on-one with faculty and staff; to hear presentations on admissions, majors, dual enrollment and financial aid; and to tour the campus. [Read more…]

TN Promise students can earn community service hours in Roane State garden

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Promise Garden

Roane State student Georgette Boozer works in the college’s Community Garden near the main campus in Harriman. Tennessee Promise students are invited to work in the garden April 25 from 8 a.m.-noon to earn some of their required community service hours. (Submitted photo)

 

Tennessee Promise students can complete up to four hours of their required community service by working in Roane State’s Community Garden on April 25.

The college is hosting a special Tennessee Promise Day in the Community Garden from 8 a.m.-noon on Saturday, April 25. The garden is located near the college’s main campus in Harriman.

Half of the bounty from Roane State’s Community Garden is donated to local charities to help feed the needy. During the spring, help is needed to clear the garden for this year’s crop. [Read more…]

Social benefit or Frankenfood? UT scientist cites value of genetically modified crops

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Tessa Burch-Smith and Mike Laman

Tessa Burch-Smith speaks with Michael Laman, dean of health sciences at Roane State Community College. He introduced her talk on genetically modified foods. (Submitted photo)

 

In developing countries where white rice is the dominant food, a half million pregnant women and young children become blind and two million die every year because of a Vitamin A deficiency.

On a mission to use genetic engineering to benefit humankind, scientists have genetically modified one type of rice so the grain, not just its leaves, makes Vitamin A. One published study showed that the improved nutritional content of “golden rice” could save sight and lives.

Golden rice was ready to be marketed in 2002, but critics have been calling it a Frankenfood. Golden rice is still not commercially adopted, even though in 2013, Pope Francis personally blessed its use.

This is one of the examples that Tessa Burch-Smith gave in her recent talk as part of the new Roane State Community College–Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning Intergenerational Lecture Series. An assistant professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, she teaches and conducts research in UT’s Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology. [Read more…]

Materials science duo advances next wave of alloys; work conducted at ORNL, UT

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Louis Santodonato

Louis Santodonato

Peter Liaw

Peter Liaw

KNOXVILLE—High-entropy alloys—substances constructed with equivalent quantities of five or more metals—might hold the key to future manufacturing and construction, and two researchers from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville could help pave the way.

Doctoral candidate Louis Santodonato, along with his adviser Professor Peter Liaw, both in materials science, did an extensive study into this class of materials, which are considerably lighter and less prone to fracture, corrosion, and oxidation than conventional alloys.

The pair used various methods to observe and model the atomic mixing behavior of high-entropy alloys, work that was picked up by the prestigious journal Nature Communications. [Read more…]

Roane State library in Oak Ridge hosts book sale March 31, April 1

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The Coffey Library at Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge campus will host its annual “Love Your Library” book sale March 31 and April 1 from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. each day.

The sale will include paperbacks, textbooks, cookbooks, computer software books, children’s books, craft books, and more. Only cash and checks will be accepted. Checks need to be payable to the Roane State Foundation. Prices range from $1-3.

The campus is located at 701 Briarcliff Ave. For more information, contact Christi Moss at (865) 354-3000, ext. 4739, or mosscl@roanestate.edu.

Altrusa to award scholarships for women

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Altrusa Scholarships

Altrusa International of Oak Ridge is offering scholarships starting at $1,000 to deserving women to support their pursuit of education and/or training, a press release said.

The Sarah Ketron Scholarship is intended for women who are non-traditional students and have interrupted their studies for work or family obligations and are returning to school to complete their education. It is named in honor of the late Sarah Ketron, Altrusa president in 1973-74. She was for many years a school counselor in Oak Ridge as well as a community leader and volunteer.

The Altrusa Scholarship is available for women who are continuing their education, post-high school, at an institution of higher learning, such as a university, community college, or technical college, the release said. [Read more…]

Roane State has ACT Prep Workshop on April 11

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Students can sign up now through April 4 for an ACT Prep Workshop at Roane State’s Oak Ridge campus on April 11.

Students will learn hidden rules of the ACT during the workshop, which is presented by Roane State Community College and SailAway Learning at the college’s Oak Ridge campus, a press release said.

Seating is limited, and the registration deadline is April 4. [Read more…]

UT: Expertise in materials science, additive manufacturing helps draw CVMR to Tenn.

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Michael Hargett and Kamran Khoza of CVMR USA

CVMR President Michael Hargett, left, and Kamran Khozan, chairman and chief executive officer, joined local, state, and federal officials on Friday, March 13, to announce they’re moving company headquarters from Toronto to Oak Ridge, investing $313 million and adding 620 jobs.

 

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd announced last week that CVMR Corporation is relocating its global headquarters to Oak Ridge from Toronto, Canada. CVMR provides materials for additive manufacturing and announced it will create 620 jobs.

During recruitment of CVMR, University of Tennessee officials assisted the state and hosted the company at UT Knoxville to visit with engineering and chemistry faculty and learn about graduate programs, such as the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, as well as internships and co-ops for students, a press release said. UT System officials provided information about technology transfer, the UT Research Foundation, and Cherokee Farm Innovation Campus. CVMR also learned more about the University’s role in leading the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, or IACMI, a $259 million partnership announced by President Barack Obama in January. [Read more…]

Expert to present wildflower talk on Thursday

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University of Tennessee Arboretum Society Logo

Dennis Horn, one of the country’s most renowned wildflower experts, will present a talk on wildflowers on Thursday evening in Oak Ridge.

The talk is presented by the University of Tennessee Arboretum Society. It’s scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 19, in the City Room at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]