Oak Ridge Today

Tourassi named top scientist at ORNL’s annual Awards Night

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Georgia Tourassi, Director’s Award winner for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Science and Technology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

Georgia Tourassi, Director’s Award winner for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Science and Technology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

 

Georgia Tourassi of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate has received the ORNL Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Science and Technology.

The top scientist award was presented to Tourassi by ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia during Saturday night’s annual Awards Night event hosted by UT-Battelle, the management and operating contractor of ORNL for the U.S. Department of Energy, a press release said.

Tourassi was recognized for advancing the research, development, and deployment of artificial intelligence in data-driven biomedical discovery and medical imaging, including applications for cancer diagnosis and management, the press release said. She was also cited for her support of the missions of biomedical scientific societies and federal agencies and for mentoring students in biomedical science and technology.

Tourassi, who works in the Computational Sciences and Engineering Division and directs the laboratory’s Health Data Sciences Institute, also received the Distinguished Researcher award. [Read more…]

Looking ahead: SNS users visit to discuss next-generation target station at ORNL

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SNS-Second-Target-Station

More than 200 scientists from around the world met from October 27 to 29 at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to provide input on the scientific instruments that would be installed at a proposed Second Target Station, or STS, at the Spallation Neutron Source, which is pictured above. (Aerial photo and overlay by ORNL)

 

More than 200 scientists from around the world met from October 27 to 29 at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to provide input on the scientific instruments that would be installed at a proposed Second Target Station, or STS, at the Spallation Neutron Source.

The workshop—which was organized by ORNL’s Neutron Sciences Directorate and drew researchers from 56 universities, research institutions, and other national laboratories—aimed to define the capabilities needed to ensure the next-generation neutron source meets the biggest science challenges.

The Spallation Neutron Source is a DOE Office of Science User Facility that provides the most intense pulsed neutron beams in the world for scientific research and industrial development. [Read more…]

Tennant named director of UT-ORNL Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences

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Alan Tennant

Alan Tennant

Alan Tennant has been appointed director of the Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The institute is a partnership between ORNL and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

“Neutrons are the future in characterizing materials, especially soft matter,” said Taylor Eighmy, vice chancellor for research and engagement at UT. “With Alan as director, we can begin to establish deep thought leadership at UT and ORNL in this growing field.”

Tennant assumes the directorship from Takeshi Egami, the founding director of JINS, who is stepping down after leading the institute for 11 years. Egami will remain as director emeritus as he continues to hold his distinguished scientist position at ORNL and teach at the university.

“I am grateful for Takeshi’s leadership as the founding director of JINS, and I look forward to working with Alan as he continues to propel neutron science at the institute,” Eighmy said. [Read more…]

JMS Atomic Eagles win Rising Star award at Razorback Invitational

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JMS Atomic Eagles at Razorback Invitational

The Jefferson Middle School Atomic Eagles, a FIRST LEGO League team, are pictured above at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, from May 14-17. (Photo by Yvonne Dalschen)

 

The Atomic Eagles, a FIRST LEGO League (FLL) team from Jefferson Middle School in Oak Ridge, received the Rising Star award at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on May 14-17.

This competition hosted 72 FLL teams from around the world. Thirteen different nations and 31 different states were represented.

The Rising Star award is given to the team that the judges notice and expect great things from in the future.

Thomas Proffen, the team mentor, received the second-place adult mentor award. This award goes to the mentor whose wisdom, guidance, and devotion are most clearly evident in the team’s discussion with the judges. He has been volunteering with the Atomic Eagles since 2013, when Lego League was restarted at Jefferson Middle School by coaches Janie and Harold Shanafield. Proffen is the director of the Neutron Data Analysis and Visualization Division in the Neutron Sciences Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. [Read more…]

Four ORNL scientists selected for early career research funding

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ORNL Scientists Early Career Research

Projects by, from left, ORNL researchers Christian Engelmann, Cory Hauck, Katharine Page, and Chad Parish have been selected for DOE Early Career funding. (Photo by ORNL)

 

Four researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are among 44 scientists selected by DOE’s Office of Science to receive funding under the department’s Early Career Research Program.

The grants, which are intended to support researchers during their crucial early career years, are at least $500,000 per year for national lab researchers to cover year-round salary plus research expenses over a planned five years.

ORNL’s winners fall within three major Office of Science program offices: Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) and Fusion Energy Sciences (FES). Following are ORNL’s selectees and brief descriptions of their projects. [Read more…]

Paul Langan to lead ORNL’s Neutron Sciences Directorate

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Paul Langan

Paul Langan

Paul Langan, a senior scientist and distinguished research staff member at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been named ORNL’s associate laboratory director for neutron sciences.

Langan will lead the laboratory’s neutron science activities, which include two leading DOE Office of Science user facilities for neutron scattering analysis: the Spallation Neutron Source, or SNS, and the High Flux Isotope Reactor, or HFIR.

“As associate laboratory director, Paul will further broaden our role in neutron sciences globally, expand our instrument capabilities, and prepare for a second target station at the SNS,” ORNL Director Thom Mason said in a press release. [Read more…]

ORNL researcher wins Young Scientist Prize

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Clarina dela Cruz

Clarina Dela Cruz

Clarina Dela Cruz has won the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics C10 Young Scientist Prize, awarded by the American Physical Society. She was selected for her achievements in the field of strongly correlated electron systems.

Dela Cruz received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the National Institute of Physics at the University of the Philippines and her doctorate from the department of physics at the University of Houston.

She became a post-doctoral fellow in the Neutron Sciences Directorate at ORNL and the department of physics and astronomy at the University of Tennessee before becoming a lead instrument scientist at ORNL in 2010. She lives in Knoxville.

Top neutron scientists named to positions at ORNL

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Neutron Sciences Directorate, or NScD, home organization for the Spallation Neutron Source and High Flux Isotope Reactor, has filled two high-level administrative positions with leaders in the neutron scattering field.

Rob McQueeney, recently with Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory, has been named NScD’s deputy associate laboratory director. Alan Tennant, currently with the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin in Germany, has been named chief scientist for the NScD. [Read more…]