Oak Ridge Today

Student at UT’s Bredesen Center wins $50,000 ORNL prize

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Andrew Lepore Big Idea ORNL Check

Bredesen Center student Andrew Lepore stands with the $50,000 check he won as part of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Next Big Idea competition. (Photo courtesy University of Tennessee)

KNOXVILLE—With the first set of Bredesen Center graduates at the University of Tennessee set to receive their doctorates next week, students who will be in the next wave of graduates are already finding success.

Andrew Lepore, working out of the Materials Science and Technology Division through the center, recently won a prestigious Oak Ridge National Laboratory-related prize at the Next Big Idea competition. Lepore is on track to receive his doctorate in 2016.

“For him to go in there against some more seasoned researchers, against students who are further along, and come out with one of the three awards speaks highly of him and of the quality of students we have here,” said Bredesen Center Director Lee Riedinger. [Read more…]

Spotlight: Two Roane State alumni awarded doctorates in same semester

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Chester Goad

Chester Goad

Scott Sills

Scott Sills

Two Roane State Community College alumni completed their doctorates during the fall semester, and their dissertations have been added to the Roane State Library.

Dr. Scott Sills earned a Ph.D. from the University of Westminster in London, England, and Dr. Chester Goad received his doctorate in educational leadership (with an emphasis in special education) from the University of the Cumberlands.

Dr. Sills is a reproductive endocrinologist in private practice in Newport Beach, Calif. His dissertation is titled “An evidence-based policy for the provision of subsidized fertility treatment in California: Integration of array comparative genomic hybridization with IVF and mandatory single embryo transfer to lower gestation and preterm birth rates.”

Dr. Goad, director of disability services at Tennessee Tech University, conducted his doctoral research on the topic “A study of service delivery models and leadership in postsecondary disability programs in Tennessee.” [Read more…]