Oak Ridge Today

Lawler Scholarship helps student with study abroad; applications accepted

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Daniel Colburn at Cliffs of Dover

Daniel Colburn is pictured above at Cliffs of Dover. (Submitted photo)

 

By Jessica Steed

Daniel Colburn absorbed history and archeology as he studied thermodynamics and circuits during a study abroad program in London this summer.

Colburn, a junior at the University of Tennessee, was awarded a $2,000 Dr. Adrian R. Lawler Exchange Student Scholarship in the fall of 2014, which supported his participation in the five-week UT engineering program in London, his first experience abroad. In the Chancellor’s Honors Program, Colburn is majoring in mechanical engineering, with a minor in business and maintainability and reliability.

“We partnered those academic experiences with some real world experiences outside the classroom,” Colburn said of the London study abroad program. [Read more…]

First Community School seminar focuses on early Oak Ridge history

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D. Ray Smith

D. Ray Smith

The first of the three Community School evening seminars focusing on management of legacy wastes from Oak Ridge will feature local historian D. Ray Smith. The seminar will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, September 15, at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

In his presentation, “Stories from the Secret City,” Smith will give an overview of early Oak Ridge history including how the East Tennessee location was selected and the predictions the “Prophet of Oak Ridge.” In material provided about the presentation, Smith said that many Ed Westcott historical images will form the backdrop for the stories of the history of Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project. A primary focus will be the Y-12 National Security Complex, which produced the uranium for the first atomic bomb, with some Oak Ridge National Laboratory history included as well.

He said he will touch on the Cold War Era and today’s Oak Ridge missions, and time permitting, give an update on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. A concluding activity of the first seminar will be an Oak Ridge mapping exercise, led by Community School staff. [Read more…]

Woman facing charges after bringing loaded handgun to evening class at ACHS, report says

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Anderson County Sheriff Patch

A Lafollette woman reported to be suicidal is facing charges after she brought a loaded handgun to an evening class at Anderson County Career and Tech Center at Anderson County High School on Monday, authorities said.

The 36-year-old woman reportedly came to class aggravated and told the teacher of a certified nursing assistant class that “she would be better off dead,” according to an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department report.

The teacher said the woman told her she had everything in place “so she could die,” the report said. The teacher asked the woman if she had a gun in her bag, and the woman said “Yes, she had had it every night,” the report said.

A student in the class told Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Robert J. Collins that the woman said she had a gun in her bag if she needed it, and the woman had a journal stating that she wanted to die. [Read more…]

Teen pregnancy rates down from 2010-2013 in Anderson, Knox

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Tennessee Teen Pregnancy Map

Tennessee teen pregnancy map. The map is color-coded to reflect which counties have a pregnancy rate exceeding 19.5 per 1,000 females, ages 15-17. The map is based on the most current data, which is from 2013 and published by the Tennessee Department of Health.

 

The teenage pregnancy rate dropped significantly in Anderson and Knox counties between 2010 and 2013, state officials said Thursday. It fell about 41 percent in Anderson County and 36 percent in Knox County.

There was a smaller overall decrease in Roane County 2010 and 2013, but the rate actually increased in 2011 and 2012, compared to 2010.

The teenage pregnancy rate also fell significantly in Morgan and Union counties, but it was up slightly in Campbell and Loudon counties and it more than doubled in Scott County.

The pregnancy rate is per 1,000 females from ages 15-17.

The state average fell each year from 2010 to 2013: [Read more…]

Researcher honored for helping advance Latinas in tech field

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Andrea Rocha

Andrea Rocha

A researcher whose worked is carried out at the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge Associated Universities has been named one of the top researchers in her field by Hispanic Engineer and Information Technology magazine.

Postdoctoral fellow Andrea Rocha is a member of a UT research team. She works on Governor’s Chair for Environmental Biotechnology Terry Hazen’s joint UT-ORNL team, and she was chosen as one of 32 women worldwide to be profiled in the magazine’s “Latinas at Tech Giants” edition, a press release said.

“I wasn’t even aware I was being considered,” Rocha said. “I didn’t know anything about it until I received a letter from the Women of Color STEM Conference that contained a congratulations note, press release on the article, and copy of the magazine which contained my profile.”

Almost as noteworthy, Rocha found out that Astrid Terry—a project manager at the Berkeley Lab at the University of California—had nominated her. [Read more…]

CNS research teams named 2015 R&D 100 Award finalists

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LISe Thermal Neutron Imager Sensor Board

The LISe Thermal Neutron Imager sensor board bears the Y‑12 and UT logos. At the center is the lithium crystal that creates the images. The imager is nominated for a 2015 R&D 100 Award. (Photo by Y-12 National Security Complex)

 

CNS partners with universities on significant technology advances

Two teams of Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC researchers at the Y-12 National Security Complex are finalists in the 2015 R&D 100 Awards program.

The LISe Thermal Neutron Imager, or LTNI, and a sensor named ChIMES, which is short for Chemical Identification by Magneto-Elastic Sensing, were selected as finalists by a panel of 70 independent judges. The winners will be announced November 13 at the conference in Las Vegas.

LTNI (pronounced litany) was developed through a collaboration with three Tennessee universities—the University of Tennessee, Fisk University, and Vanderbilt University. The imager builds upon a lithium crystal that won an R&D 100 Award in 2013. Applications for the imager include research, diagnostics/medical imaging, law enforcement, and national security. [Read more…]

Two UT College of Engineering groups finalists for R&D 100 List

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By University of Tennessee

The University of Tennessee College of Engineering recently got some good news, as R&D Magazine named two research groups to its list of finalists for the R&D 100.

The joint UT-Y12 Lithium Indium Diselenide Thermal Neutron Imager (LTNI) project includes Assistant Professor Eric Lukosi and Y-12 Joint Assistant Professor Ashley Stowe, both of nuclear engineering, while the joint UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Universal Grid Monitoring and Analyzing System (UGMAS) includes Governor’s Chair Yilu Liu, Research Assistant Professor Yong Liu, and Lingwei Zhan of electrical engineering and computer science.

A panel of judges and editors selected groups for inclusion as nominees based on the magazine’s determination of the most technologically significant products introduced in the past year. [Read more…]

Cartoonist Charlie Daniel to talk Sept. 3 at Roane State

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Charlie Daniel

Charlie Daniel, editorial cartoonist at Knoxville newspapers for 57 years, will speak Thursday, September 3, at 3 p.m. in the Goff Health Sciences and Technology Building of Roane State Community College, Oak Ridge campus, off Briarcliff Avenue and Laboratory Road.

His talk will open the second RSCC-Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning intergenerational lecture series and ORICL fall kickoff (where catalogs on the upcoming ORICL fall term will be available). Refreshments will be offered after the lecture.

A native of Richmond, Va., Daniel grew up in Weldon, N.C. He attended Weldon public schools and Fork Union Military Academy before serving as a private in the U.S. Marine Corps. [Read more…]

ORAU seeks applicants for the 2016 Extreme Classroom Makeover

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Oak Ridge Associated Universities Building MC-100

The Oak Ridge Associated Universities Building MC-100 is pictured above.

Oak Ridge Associated Universities is accepting applications for its $25,000 Extreme Classroom Makeover competition.

Now in its eighth year, the competition provides the latest educational technologies to update one teacher’s classroom, a press release said. Interested teachers must file their intent to apply no later than October 14.

The contest is open to public school math and science teachers who teach grades from third to 10th and are located within a 50-mile radius of Oak Ridge. Entrants must have the written consent of their principals and, if chosen, be willing to have their 2016-2017 classroom experience highlighted on the Internet and in various media outlets. Teachers, students, and even parents whose children are benefiting from this initiative will be invited to blog about this year-long experience on the Extreme Classroom website. [Read more…]

More changes under reorganization at Oak Ridge Schools

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The recent reclassification of positions announced earlier this week has created opportunities for other staff to assume new positions in the Oak Ridge Schools, including at Robertsville Middle School and Secret City Academy, a press release said.

Here are the organizational changes:

  • D.T. Hobby will become the Robertsville Middle School assistant principal, which was open due to Garfield Adams being named the new Robertsville Middle School principal.
  • John Roberts will be the new Secret City Academy (formerly the ORS Alternative School) administrator due to the departure of D.T. Hobby. Roberts is currently an Oak Ridge High School assistant principal.
  • A vacancy will be posted immediately to fill the open Oak Ridge High School assistant principal position.

See a summary of the backgrounds of both Hobby and Roberts below. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Schools introduces Access Oak Ridge Digital 1:1 Initiative

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Oak Ridge Schools Logo

Oak Ridge Schools formally introduced its digital 1:1 initiative, called Access Oak Ridge, at its Board of Education meeting Monday evening. The Access Oak Ridge initiative will put a digital device in the hands of every ORS middle school student prior to the end of the 2015-2016 school year.

The digital 1:1 rollout will start with a proof of concept phase beginning this October, which will include the 6th grade at Jefferson Middle School and the 7th grade at Robertsville Middle School. This phase will be followed by a full, middle school rollout to include all middle school grades 5-8.

Bruce Borchers, Oak Ridge Schools superintendent, offered crucial context and explained the importance behind the Access Oak Ridge initiative, a press release said. [Read more…]

Commerce secretary to tour UT partner IACMI, ORNL manufacturing facility

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Penny Pritzker

Penny Pritzker

KNOXVILLE—On Thursday, August 27, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Department of Energy Assistant Secretary David Danielson will visit the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation in Knoxville.

The visit is part of a two-day tour of the institutes make up the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. Governor Bill Haslam, U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann, Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero, and Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett will join Pritzker for portions of the day’s activities.

The group will tour the U.S. Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility and National Transportation Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The University of Tennessee in Knoxville is a key strategic partner of IACMI and led the proposal efforts with ORNL.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden announced the new institute in January during a visit to East Tennessee. The White House initiative aims to strengthen the global competitiveness of America’s manufacturing sector and the workforce. The NNMI now has six institutes, and three more are being formed. [Read more…]