Oak Ridge Today

President Obama announces more DOE nominations, including science director

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WASHINGTON, D.C.— President Barack Obama recently announced plans to nominate two people to top U.S. Department of Energy posts, including a director of the Office of Science.

The Office of Science is responsible for 10 of the 17 DOE labs, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Obama nominated Marc Kastner to serve as director of the Office of Science and Franklin Orr to serve as DOE under secretary for science and energy.

“I am confident that these outstanding individuals will greatly serve the American people in their new roles, and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come,” Obama said in a press release.

Here is more information about the two candidates: [Read more…]

Oak Ridge college senior one of only seven Rhodes Scholars from UT

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Lindsay Lee

Lindsay Lee

The Oak Ridge college senior who was named a Rhodes Scholar this past weekend is one of only seven University of Tennessee students who have received the honor in more than a century, officials said Monday.

Lindsay E. Lee is a UT senior studying math and Spanish. She is the oldest daughter of Julie Lee and Joe Lee, a member of the Oak Ridge Building and Housing Code Appeals who frequently participates at Oak Ridge City Council meetings and once ran for a seat on Anderson County Commission.

UT said the Rhodes Scholarship, which has an average value of about $50,000 per year, is the most prestigious international award a student can earn. Lee was one of 32 American recipients chosen from 857 students endorsed by 327 colleges and universities across the country. [Read more…]

No injuries reported, but SR 95 shut down when coal truck trailer overturns

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Highway 95 Coal Truck Trailer

A trailer hauling coal came loose from a southbound truck and overturned in a ditch next to Highway 95 between Bethel Valley Road and Melton Hill Dam on Sunday night.

No injuries were reported, but part of Highway 95 was temporarily shut down Sunday night after a coal trailer separated from a southbound truck and overturned in a ditch between Bethel Valley Road and Melton Hill Dam.

The accident was reported at about 6:15 p.m. Sunday. The highway remained shut down more than two hours later. [Read more…]

UT senior from Oak Ridge named a Rhodes Scholar, starts Oxford studies in October

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An Oak Ridge resident who is a senior at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville is among 32 U.S. men and women who have been named Rhodes Scholars and will start all-expenses-paid studies at Oxford University in England next October.

Lindsay E. Lee of East Pasadena Road is a math and Spanish major at UT. She has completed research at the National Institute of Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, at Vanderbilt Medical Center, and at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She has also served as the president of the Dean’s Student Advisory Council, as opinion columnist at the student newspaper, as a volunteer for the homeless, and in a children’s hospital, the Rhodes Trust announced Saturday.

The Rhodes Scholars were selected from 857 applicants endorsed by 327 colleges and universities. The Rhodes Scholarships pay all expenses for two or three years of study at Oxford and sometimes allow four years of funding. The value of the scholarships varies depending upon the academic field and the chosen degree, but the average value is about $50,000 per year. [Read more…]

UT professor receives more than $880,000 in DOE funding for carbon cycle research

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UT Students Measure Soil Carbon Flux

Doctoral candidate Jessica Bryant, left; Associate Professor Aimee Classen, middle; and University of Tennessee undergraduate student Kelsey Richesin use Li-Cor 6400, a machine that measure carbon flux from soil. (Photo courtesy UT)

KNOXVILLE—Carbon dioxide is key to life on Earth, but too much of the good thing can overheat the Earth’s surface and hurt the very things it supports. Thus, understanding how carbon cycles through the atmosphere is crucial to predicting its effects.

A University of Tennessee professor in Knoxville has received more than $880,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy to investigate often-overlooked carbon cycle players.

Aimee Classen, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and her team, which includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory staff members, will examine factors that influence carbon cycling below the ground and are not included in today’s carbon-cycle models.

“We know that tiny things that live in soil, like fungi, can regulate carbon processes in forests. However, our current soil models don’t consider what role fungal and plant root activity may play in soil carbon dynamics. Our project aims to fill this knowledge gap,” Classen said. [Read more…]

INCITE grants awarded to 59 computational research projects

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Titan Supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced 59 scientific projects that will share nearly six billion core hours on two of America’s fastest supercomputers, including the Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, pictured above. (Photo courtesy of ORNL)

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science announced 59 projects, promising to accelerate scientific discovery and innovation, that will share nearly six billion core hours on two of America’s fastest supercomputers dedicated to open science. Their work will advance knowledge in critical areas from sustainable energy technologies to the environmental consequences of energy use.

The allocations come from the Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment, or INCITE, program. Through it, the world’s most advanced computational research projects from academia, government, and industry are given access to DOE’s leadership computing facilities at Oak Ridge and Argonne national laboratories. [Read more…]

Stabilization of hot cells facility at ORNL completed

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ORNL Hot Cell Stabilization

Installation of the permanent electrical equipment at the 3026 facility has been completed, marking the final step of the stabilization activities at the building. (Photo courtesy DOE/UCOR)

UCOR has finished installing permanent electrical equipment at the 3026 hot cells facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

This action completes all scheduled tasks under the 3026 Hot Cells Transition and Stabilization Phase, the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office reported in the December issue of Public Involvement News.

UCOR took over the 3026 Hot Cells project at the request of DOE. The stabilization activities were con- ducted to help “downgrade” the facility from a Hazard Category 3 nuclear facility to a radiological facility, the Oak Ridge Office said. This downgrade, which has been approved by DOE, will make the facility less costly to maintain.

UCOR is DOE’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge.

Van Berkel receives top Science, Technology honor at UT-Battelle Awards Night

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Gary J. Van Berkel

Gary J. Van Berkel

Gary J. Van Berkel of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Chemical Sciences Division has earned the ORNL Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Science and Technology.

Van Berkel was honored Friday night during the annual Awards Night event hosted by UT-Battelle, the management and operating contractor of ORNL. The award recognizes Van Berkel’s sustained leadership and innovation in the development of disruptive sampling systems for mass spectrometry, resulting in multiple commercial licenses and new product offerings. He was earlier named ORNL’s Inventor of the Year.

David Fowler

David Fowler

David Fowler of ORNL’s Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate earned the Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Laboratory Operations. Fowler was honored for recent accomplishments that exceeded normal performance expectations and positively advanced ORNL’s mission. He also won the Excellence in Operations category.

Donald Cross of ORNL’s Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate earned the Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Community Engagement. Cross provided outstanding leadership and selfless dedication in community service through the mentoring of special needs children and adults in a wide variety of organizations. He also won the award for Exceptional Community Engagement by an Individual. [Read more…]

GIS Day on Wednesday at Roane State’s Oak Ridge campus

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Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge campus will host GIS Day from noon-3 p.m. Wednesday.

GIS Day is an international event that highlights the real-world applications of the geographic information systems, or GIS, field. Roane State offers a one-year certificate and a two-year associate degree in GIS.

“GIS is a great field that blends science, geography, mathematics and, in a way, art,” said Pat Wurth, associate professor and director of Roane State’s GIS program. “We want anyone interested in GIS to visit on GIS Day and learn more about how this technology and training is used in a variety of fields.” [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.

Chinese supercomputer still No. 1, ORNL’s Titan No. 2

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Titan Supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Titan at Oak Ridge National Laboratory stayed at No. 2 in a Top 500 ranking of the world’s most powerful supercomputers released Monday morning. (Photo courtesy of ORNL)

A Chinese supercomputer kept its top ranking, and Titan at Oak Ridge National Laboratory stayed at No. 2 in a Top 500 ranking of the world’s most powerful supercomputers released Monday morning.

The top two spots were unchanged from the semiannual rankings released five months ago in June, when Tianhe-2, a supercomputer developed by China’s National University of Defense Technology, bumped Titan from the top spot. The ORNL supercomputer had been named No. 1 one year ago.

The rankings released Monday at the SC13 conference in Denver, Colo., said Tianhe-2 is capable of performing 33.86 petaflops. That’s 33.86 quadrillion calculations per second, on what is known as a Linpack benchmark test.

Titan is a Cray XK7 system that achieved 17.59 petaflops. Titan is one of the most energy-efficient systems on the list, consuming a total of 8.21 megawatts and delivering 2.143 gigaflops per watt, a press release said. [Read more…]

ORNL retiree recalls 1944 hospital bombing in Belgium

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Ernest Shepherd

Ernest Shepherd

Ernest Shepherd attended the Veterans Day ceremony on Monday at Oak Ridge National Laboratory wearing a uniform similar to what he wore in 1944 when the hospital he was working in as a medic in Belgium was hit with a German bomb.

Shepherd—89 years old and an ORNL retiree who treated wounded from the D-Day invasion prior to moving on to Belgium—would earn the Purple Heart for his heroics in the aftermath of the bombing.

“It blew out all the windows in that whole building,” recalled Shepherd, who was on the second floor when the bomb crashed into the hospital and exploded about 300 feet from where he was located. “It killed 29 people. There were between 12 to 15 air personnel killed, and one major who I really liked got killed. I got wounded in the face with shrapnel or flying glass. That’s how I earned the Purple Heart.” [Read more…]