Oak Ridge Today

UT, CNS support camp that lets students study space shuttle debris

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Shuttle Debris at UT, CNS, ASM Camp

CNS Y-12’s Steve Dekanich holds up a piece of the remains of the space shuttle Columbia during a materials science camp session on Monday. (Submitted photo)

 

KNOXVILLE—An ASM International Materials Camp supported by the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and scientists at CNS Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is giving local students the chance to study debris from the space shuttle Columbia, with an eye on improving materials used in space flight.

“This is a great opportunity for local kids to get involved with materials science and see how it affects a lot of different disciplines,” said Steve Dekanich, senior metallurgist at CNS Y-12 and the leader of this year’s camp. “People can tend to focus on the really specialized things that materials science studies, but the reality is that it plays a part in many things that people don’t realize, from energy to design.”

Dekanich recalled how he met NASA’s Steve McDanels at a conference in Hawaii, with the two hitting it off immediately.

McDanels, who heads up NASA’s materials science division at Kennedy Space Center, has spent years doing studies and analysis for the agency, including work related to the shuttles, the International Space Station, and various hardware. He offered Dekanich the chance to have his campers study NASA debris for the first time in 2006, with the offer being gladly accepted. [Read more…]

Registration for Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit closes Monday

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Includes discussion of federal missions in Oak Ridge

Registration for the annual Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit closes Monday. The summit will include a discussion of federal missions in Oak Ridge.

Organizers expect more than 300 national and regionals leaders at the 20th Annual Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit. It’s being held at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City on May 27-28. The Summit will be at the D.P. Culp University Center at ETSU.

“Hundreds of regional leaders will gather in Johnson City to focus on education from the business and industry perspective at the 20th annual Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit,” a press release said. “The sessions at the two-day event will focus on how to ensure tomorrow’s workforce has the skills they need to find quality jobs at home and how the region’s educational institutions can partner with businesses and organizations for better success.” [Read more…]

Roane State students awarded NASA scholarships; more available for summer, fall

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Jeffrey Burks

Jeffrey Burks

Roane State Community College student Jeffrey Burks earned his GED six months before he started college. He’s on his way to a mechanical engineering degree.

A typical workday for Blake Stewart lasts 15 hours—job in the morning, classes at night.

Corey Stafford works to pay for school. Any help with costs, he said, is a relief.

Burks, Stewart, and Stafford are all receiving extra financial assistance with their college education. They are the first recipients of $1,250 NASA scholarships awarded to Roane State students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) fields. More NASA scholarships are available for summer semester and for fall semester. Students in STEM majors are encouraged to apply. [Read more…]

Update: Secret City Wildbots compete in qualifying Friday, could make elimination rounds Saturday

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FIRST Robotics Competition Secret City Wildbots 2015

The Secret City Wildbots are pictured above at the 2015 FIRST Robotics Competition Championship on Thursday, April 23, in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photos by Angi Agle) 

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12:45 p.m.

The Secret City Wildbots of Oak Ridge High School are competing this week in the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.

Here are pictures from the competition on Thursday by Angi Agle. Oak Ridge won its last round and was ranked #37 as of Thursday evening.

Here is a Friday morning update from Agle: [Read more…]

Video: Secret City Wildbots compete in Smoky Mountain Regionals

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This is a video of Team 4265, the Secret City Wildbots, during the final qualification round at the Smoky Mountain Regionals in Knoxville on Saturday, April 4. It was the fifth annual FIRST Robotics Competition Smoky Mountain Regional.

Team 4265 won the coveted Engineering Inspiration Award sponsored by NASA and will compete at the World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, from April 21-25.

Secret City Wildbots win Engineering Award, prepare for World Championship

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Secret City Wildbots Compete at Smoky Mountain Regionals

The Secret City Wildbots (Team 4265) compete at the Smoky Mountain Regionals in Knoxville on Saturday. (Photos by Angi Agle)

 

KNOXVILLE—Team 4265, the Secret City Wildbots, finished the qualifying rounds ranked Number 10 and successfully negotiated the three-round quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville.

The team suffered a disappointing loss in the semifinals, but at the end of the awards ceremony, members were presented with the coveted Engineering Inspiration Award sponsored by NASA. The award qualifies them to compete at the World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, from April 21-25, with the entry fee paid by NASA.

This is the Secret City Wildbots’ fourth year, and the team has earned the right to compete in the World Championship each of those four years. [Read more…]

ORNL part of project to study how tropical forests respond to climate change

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Amazon Tropical Rainforests

The future of tropical rainforests in the Amazon (pictured) and worldwide is the focus of a new research project that combines field experiments and predictive modeling. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

 

Researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory will play key roles in an expansive new project that aims to bring the future of tropical forests and the climate system into much clearer focus by coupling field research with the development of a new ecosystem model.

The project is called the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiments-Tropics, or NGEE-Tropics. Its goal is the development of a model that represents how tropical forests interact with Earth’s climate in much greater ecological detail than ever before. This will help scientists explore, more accurately than is possible today, how rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, increasing greenhouse gas levels, and other natural and human-induced changes affect tropical forests’ influence on Earth’s climate.

Led by DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), the effort includes collaborators from Oak Ridge, Brookhaven, Los Alamos, and Pacific Northwest national laboratories. The study also includes researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, NASA, and several institutions from other nations. [Read more…]

Metal powder manufacturing company investing $313 million in Oak Ridge, adding 620 jobs

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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 to announce they’re moving company headquarters from Toronto to Oak Ridge, investing $313 million and adding 620 jobs.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12 a.m.

A company that manufactures high-purity metal powders and super alloys is moving its operations to Oak Ridge from Toronto, Canada, and investing $313 million here and creating 620 jobs, officials said Friday.

CVMR, which has operations in 18 countries, will use the former Theragenics building at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge for its headquarters and research and development. The company closed on that building, which is on 21 acres, on Friday, but executives declined to disclose the sale price.

The first employee was hired Thursday, said Kamran Khozan, chairman and chief executive officer of CVMR (USA) Incorporated.

The company could expand that 65,000-square-foot building; infrastructure that is already in place allows it to be doubled. The company could put 218 people to work right away in its new headquarters and add 402 high-paying manufacturing jobs later, a state official said.

“I can promise you that this is the start of a wave,” said Randy Boyd, the new commissioner of Tennessee Economic and Community Development. [Read more…]

Fuels for the final frontier: Y-12 to help create fuel for NASA space exploration

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Y-12 Development's Roland Seals and NASA and DOE Officials

Y-12 Development’s Roland Seals explains Y‑12’s infrared heating capabilities to NASA and DOE Office of Nuclear Energy officials. (Photo by Brett Pate)

 

The Y-12 National Security Complex is taking their uranium expertise to the next level—outer space.

The NNSA Production Office (NPO) at Y-12 struck an agreement earlier this year with NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, to support the design of a small nuclear-powered reactor with the potential to lead to small fission power reactors for future space exploration missions.

For the first phase of the project, Y-12 will research materials and manufacturing processes for a physics demonstration of a kilowatt-range nuclear reactor, known as project Kilopower, using an enriched uranium-molybdenum metallic fuel core and a lithium-hydride shield. The Kilopower concept was a 2013 R&D 100 Award winner for proof-of-principle experiments performed at the National Criticality Experiments Research Center in Nevada led by Los Alamos National Laboratory in collaboration with NASA Glenn and National Security Technologies.

“Science missions are seeking greater power and functionality,” explained Lee Mason, chief of the Thermal Energy Conversion Branch at Glenn. “We’re planning to demonstrate the technology in a ground test using a prototype U-235 reactor core.” [Read more…]

Congressional staffer, Marshall Space Flight Center win Corridor Champion Award

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Helen Hardin Corridor Champion

Longtime Tennessee Congressional staffer Helen Hardin, right, received the Corridor Champion Award at last week’s Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit in Chattanooga. Also pictured are Gerald Boyd, chair of the TVC board, center, and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge. (Submitted photos)

 

CHATTANOOGA—Longtime Tennessee congressional staffer Helen Hardin and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center received the top awards given by the Tennessee Valley Corridor during the organization’s annual national summit held last week on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Hardin is senior policy advisory for Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican, and she has been involved in the TVC’s activities since the first Summit was held in Oak Ridge in 1995. Todd May, manager for NASA’s space launch system program, accepted the award on behalf of MSFC.

The Corridor Champion Award recognizes individuals and organizations that provide leadership to enhance the TVC’s national visibility, high-tech economic development, and collaborative efforts within the region.

Past Corridor Champion Award winners include Fleischmann, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, former Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission Anne Pope, the Tennessee Valley Authority, University of Tennessee, and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Alumnus of NASA program administered by ORAU wins presidential award

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Josh Alwood and PECASE Award

Joshua Alwood in the Bone and Signaling Lab at NASA’s Ames Research Center. (Image Credit: NASA Ames/Dominic Hart)

Top presidential honor recognizes research initiated during fellowship, continued at NASA’s Ames Research Center 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Joshua S. Alwood, a former participant in the NASA Postdoctoral Program, was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) at a ceremony in April. PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government for science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. Alwood received the award in recognition of advances in space bioscience he achieved at NASA’s Ames Research Center.

The NASA Postdoctoral Program contributes to national priorities for scientific exploration, confirms NASA’s leadership in fundamental research, and complements the efforts of NASA’s partners in the national science community. Oak Ridge Associated Universities has administered NPP for NASA since 2005. [Read more…]

ORAU Annual Report highlights impact of early career researchers on U.S. scientific mission

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Jason Hayward

Jason Hayward, who has a doctorate in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan, holds a high-resolution instrument, which is part of his research to benefit facilities like Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source. (Photo credit: University of Tennessee)

With U.S. falling behind China and India in numbers of STEM graduates, strengthening U.S. scientific talent is critical, according to report

Jason Hayward is applying his nuclear engineering research expertise to develop the next generation of high-resolution instruments for facilities like Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source.

Hayward, who has a doctorate in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan, hopes his work will eventually help curtail the spread of nuclear weapons and assist in identifying viable alternative energy sources. Hayward is an assistant professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Tennessee, a joint faculty member with ORNL’s Nuclear Security and Isotope Technology Division, a U.S. Department of Energy research award recipient, and a participant in the Higher Education Research Experiences Program.

He and many other early career researchers are participating in fellowships and internships managed by Oak Ridge Associated Universities with DOE and other federal agencies, and they are the main focus of ORAU’s “2013 Annual Report,” which has just been released. [Read more…]