Joan Cronan
Joan Cronan, University of Tennessee women’s athletic director emeritus, will be the speaker at the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge holiday brunch on Sunday, Dec. 2.
“Under the vision and direction of Cronan, the University of Tennessee Lady Vols have garnered a reputation as one of the most visible and respected programs throughout the nation,” a press release said.
Brunch reservations are due by Monday, Nov. 26. They can be made by calling Maryann Mulvenon at (865) 482-3153.
Roane State Community College will host an open house for high school seniors, juniors, and parents on Saturday, Dec. 1, from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the Roane County campus in Harriman.
Attendees will register in the theatre lobby in the O’Brien Humanities Building, a press release said. A brunch will be offered at no cost.
By tweaking the formula for growing oxide thin films, researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory achieved virtual perfection at the interface of two insulator materials.
This finding, published in the journal Advanced Materials, could have significant ramifications for creation of novel materials with applications in energy and information technologies, leading to more efficient solar cells, batteries, solid oxide fuel cells, faster transistors, and more powerful capacitors.
Oak Ridge Kiwanis Toy Drive Project Chair Felicia Langley, right, and Kiwanis President Mark Hembree collect toys at the Enrichment Federal Credit Union. (Submitted photo)
The Kiwanis Club of Oak Ridge is collecting toys, games, books, stuffed animals, and movies through Friday to give to the Holiday Bureau.
The Holiday Bureau distributes them to families with children before Christmas, selecting recipients based on household income.
The Holiday Bureau will start distributing the toys on Dec. 6. Parents may select one new and some used items for each child. These are usually the only presents the children will receive, a Kiwanis press release said.
Oak Ridge Kiwanis Toy Drive Project Chair Felicia Langley will be collecting toys through Friday, Nov. 30, at the Enrichment Federal Credit Union, 201 S. Illinois Avenue, the release said. Toys will be taken to the Holiday Bureau before a Tuesday, Dec. 4, Kiwanis toy moving project. Checks can be made payable to the Holiday Bureau and could be marked Kiwanis Toy Drive.
The Clinton Police Department has identified the man killed after his car rolled down an embankment and onto railroad tracks early Saturday morning.
Chris Vann, 39, of Clinton had been driving a 1992 Mitsubishi on Carden Road, which runs parallel to the train tracks, when his car left the road, rolled down the embankment, and came to rest on the tracks.
A CPD press release said it wasn’t clear if Vann died during the first accident or when his car was hit by a Norfolk Southern train. Police said it also wasn’t clear how long the vehicle had been on the tracks before it was hit by the train.
The large mountaintop fire near New River Highway west of Briceville was mostly out Saturday afternoon, but flames are flaring again on Walden Ridge in northern Anderson County, a state official said.
Meanwhile, firefighters were battling a 1,000-acre blaze in Campbell County. Despite fires across several counties in upper East Tennessee in the past week, though, no structures or homes have been damaged, according to the Tennessee Division of Forestry in Knoxville.
Assistant District Forester Nathan M. Waters said it wasn’t clear what caused the new fire at Walden Ridge. There were several possibilities. The fire had been considered mostly out on Friday, but it could have restarted, jumped control lines, or been reset. State officials suspect arson as the original cause of the 225-acre fire, which started Tuesday at Walden Ridge Road. That’s just north of Dutch Valley Road at Sulphur Springs Road.
Arson was also suspected at the fire near New River Highway at Graves Gap. It was first reported as a 100-acre blaze on Thursday but, fueled by winds, grew to 375 acres on Friday. It’s on a mountain east of New River Highway, also known as Highway 116, between Briceville and Rosedale.
One person died in a collision between a car and train in Clinton early Saturday morning, according to WYSH Radio.
WYSH said police are investigating the 3:30 a.m. accident and will not release the driver’s name until family members have been notified.
WYSH said the accident occurred when the driver’s car left the side of Carden Road and came to rest on the train tracks. An approaching train was unable to stop in time and struck the vehicle, WYSH said.
The atomic resolution Z-contrast images show individual silicon atoms bonded differently in graphene. (Photo by ORNL)
Electron microscopy at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is providing unprecedented views of the individual atoms in graphene, offering scientists a chance to unlock the material’s full potential for uses from engine combustion to consumer electronics.
Graphene crystals were first isolated in 2004. They are two-dimensional (one-atom in thickness), harder than diamonds and far stronger than steel, providing unprecedented stiffness and electrical and thermal properties. By viewing the atomic and bonding configurations of individual graphene atoms, scientists are able to suggest ways to optimize materials so they are better suited for specific applications.
State and local firefighters used “back fires” to control a mountaintop blaze near New River Highway on Friday. State officials suspect the fire, which grew to 375 acres, was started by arson.
GRAVES GAP—Driven by wind, a mountaintop fire that started as a 100-acre blaze in northern Anderson County on Thursday grew to 375 acres Friday, authorities said.
State firefighters suspect the fire at Graves Gap on New River Highway west of Briceville was started by arson, spokesman Nathan M. Waters said. Waters is assistant district forester for the Tennessee Division of Forestry in Knoxville.
Local and state firefighters battled the mountaintop blaze by setting up control lines, using hand tools and two bulldozers to clear away brush and set “back fires,” essentially fighting “fire with fire.”
Early Friday night, Waters said firefighters had left and plan to return to the blaze on Saturday. Firefighters from the Tennessee Division of Forestry have been assisted by volunteers from Marlow, Briceville, and Sevier County.
The Oak Ridge Electric Department, left, cut the power to a Culver Road home after a tree limb fell onto a line, knocking it to the ground and onto a boom lift, right, used by the homeowner trimming the tree. The man was stranded in the lift until city workers could turn off the power.
A Culver Road man trimming trees at his home was stranded in a boom lift Friday night after a tree limb fell onto a power line, knocking it to the ground and onto the lift, authorities said.
The man was able to be lowered to the ground after the Oak Ridge Electric Department disconnected the power. The man was not injured, but he was a little cold, Oak Ridge Police Officer Christopher Wallace said.
The man appeared to have been trapped about 20-30 feet in the air for about an hour on a chilly Friday night.
A city contractor will start work on Monday to relocate and install a larger sanitary sewer line that runs underneath Warehouse Road in east Oak Ridge, a press release said.
The road will be closed just east of Science.gov Way while the excavation work is being done. The work could take three days, although the scheduled could be affected by weather, the release said.
B&W Y-12 Commercialization Manager Jeremy Benton, left, chats with STEM Scholarship winners Sara Lemmonds and Wes Jenkins, two Roane State Community College students who will split $5,000 in scholarships. (Photo courtesy of B&W Y-12)
B&W Y-12 recently awarded $5,000 in scholarships split between Roane State Community College freshmen Wes Jenkins and Sara Lemmonds, a press release said.
B&W Y-12 operates and manages the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge for the National Nuclear Security Administration.
The contractor said the scholarships are part of its effort to support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, education.
Recipients of the B&W Y-12 STEM Scholarship must be full-time students at Roane State pursuing a degree in one of the STEM fields of study.
Jenkins is a Harriman High School graduate and plans to major in biology. Lemmonds graduated from Oak Ridge High School and is enrolled in the college’s pre-med program.
