Aug. 26, 2019

Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Oak Ridge Associated Universities were honored recently with Tennessee Board of Regents awards for their support of Pellissippi State and Roane State community colleges.

The Regents Award for Excellence in Philanthropy, which both ORNL and ORAU received, recognizes those organizations and individuals who have been “very generous” to one or more TBR institutions. TBR is the largest system of higher education in the state, governing 40 community and technical colleges – including Pellissippi State and Roane State.

“ORNL and ORAU understand the investments they are making in the futures of our students with the partnerships they support for Roane State and Pellissippi State community colleges,” said Regent Danni Varlan, who presented ORNL and ORAU with their Regents Awards at a recent East Tennessee Economic Council meeting in Oak Ridge. “We are grateful for their leadership and commitment to education and workforce training.”

Pellissippi State nominated ORAU for its longtime support of Pellissippi State and Roane State, both financially — $340,000 and counting – and through countless hours of volunteer time and expertise assistance. Roane State provided a letter in support of the nomination.

“Community colleges are so important in terms of advancing science and education in the workforce and in bringing in the talented workforce that East Tennessee is going to need in the next 10 to 15 years,” said ORAU President Andy Page. “ORAU is privileged to be a member of this community, and we have to be able to pay that back by investing in Pellissippi State, Roane State and their many students.”

Through the support of ORAU, Pellissippi State offers an annual middle school mathematics contest. During the past 18 years, more than 10,000 students from 32 East Tennessee schools have participated in the event, which is free for them to enter.

ORAU also partnered with Pellissippi State to offer an Advanced Manufacturing Internship, a six-week program designed to prepare students to enter this high-tech workforce, and provided scholarship support to Pellissippi State students, who worked as math tutors during their time at the college.
Most recently ORAU pledged $100,000 to support Pellissippi State’s Bill Haslam Center for Math and Science on its Hardin Valley Campus.

“ORAU’s continued commitment to Pellissippi State and Roane State has strengthened both institutions and made a positive impact on students and the community,” wrote Pellissippi State President L. Anthony Wise Jr., in nominating ORAU for the award.

Roane State nominated ORNL for the lab’s nearly two decades of support of many of the college’s educational initiatives, ranging from an innovative program for high school students to scholarships and grants to a major building project. The Tennessee College of Applied Technology in Harriman and Pellissippi State supported the nomination.

“We partner with Roane State and Pellissippi State because they effectively prepare students to succeed in diverse fields, including some that are still rapidly evolving,” said Dr. Thomas Zacharia, director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “Oak Ridge National Laboratory exists to tackle some of the most compelling challenges facing our nation in energy, science, technology, and national security, and we are fortunate to have both of these excellent colleges right in our backyard.”

UT-Battelle manages ORNL and since 2015 has supported Roane State’s unique Middle College with $119,000 in scholarships for high school students so they can graduate from both their high school and the college at the same time.

UT-Battelle in 2011 provided an initial $10,000 to buy supplies for the new “Lab-in-a-Box” program where middle school educators are given materials to use in teaching their students about biology, geology, chemistry and other sciences. Roane State faculty train the teachers. The program is still in place and provides assistance to schools in Roane State’s service area.

In 2008, UT-Battelle contributed $100,000 to help in the construction of the three-story Goff Health Sciences & Technology Building on Roane State’s Oak Ridge campus.

ORNL, through UT-Battelle, also has supported numerous other educational programs at Roane State through gifts of scientific equipment; support for the Tennessee Small Business Development Center at Roane State; backing for federal grants, including more than $1 million for the development of the college’s Mechatronics program; support for career-readiness training for wounded veterans; and access to lab facilities and volunteer staff support.

“Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s tremendous engagement with both Roane State and Pellissippi State benefits students and contributes greatly to workforce development in the region,” said Roane State President Chris Whaley. “ORNL is a wonderful partner, and we are deeply thankful for their support of the region’s community colleges.”

Pellissippi State offers a high quality, affordable, convenient and personal education to prepare students to achieve their educational and career goals. Founded in 1974, with five campuses in Knox and Blount counties, Pellissippi State offers associate degree and certificate programs, workforce development programs and transfer pathways to four-year degrees.

For more information on Pellissippi State, visit www.pstcc.edu or call 865-694-6400.

Roane State is a two-year college providing transfer programs, career-preparation programs and continuing education. Founded in 1971, the college has campuses in Crossville, Harriman, Huntsville, Jamestown, Knoxville, LaFollette, Lenoir City, Oak Ridge and Wartburg.

For more information on Roane State, visit roanestate.edu or call 865-882-4554.
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Caption ORAU: Andy Page, president of Oak Ridge Associated Universities, accepts the Regents Award for Excellence in Philanthropy on Aug. 2. From left are Roane State President Chris Whaley, Page, Regent Danni Varlan and Pellissippi State President L. Anthony Wise Jr.

Caption ORNL: Dr. Thomas Zacharia, director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, accepts the Regents Award for Excellence in Philanthropy on Aug. 2. From left are Pellissippi State President L. Anthony Wise Jr., Zacharia, Regent Danni Varlan and Roane State President Chris Whaley.

By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer

Mechatronics students at Roane State Community College teamed up with an Oak Ridge company to improve its production system.

The work was done for CoorsTek, located in Commerce Park in Oak Ridge. CoorsTek manufactures ceramic components used in many different fields, including the medical industry, semiconductors, automotive, aerospace, and defense. The Oak Ridge branch makes ceramic products used in the semiconductor industry.

High purity ceramic powder is first pressed into a variety of shapes. The compressed powder is then sintered, or fired, at high temperatures to produce a dense, durable substrate. The fired substrate is then machined to final customer requirements using diamond tooling. It is imperative that the powder “remain clean throughout this process,” said Gordon Williams, director of the mechatronics program.

The powder is expensive, and too much of it had been ending up on the factory floor instead of in a hopper, rendering it unusable, Williams said. Drew Stephens, a member of the first mechatronics graduating class in May 2017, designed a machine that would dump the powder from 55-gallon drums into a waiting pressing sack while curtailing spills.

Two mechatronics students in the latest graduating class, Hunter Cross and Chris Phillips, then designed and installed a hydraulic system and operating controls for the machine as their capstone project.

The new arrangement is undergoing testing, said Karen Hudson, engineering manager at CoorsTek and a member of the Roane State Advisory Council. The electrical component is being altered to bring it up to code, she said.

Once the system is fully debugged, “We’ll duplicate its design throughout the plant and possibly other facilities within CoorsTek,” Hudson said.

“It’s a collaboration between industry and education to solve a real-world problem,” Williams said.

“This partnership will benefit both the company and the school in providing real-world projects to new graduates,” Hudson said.

CoorsTek is the global leader in technical ceramics. With over 50 locations worldwide, the company manufactures advanced ceramic components for virtually every industry.

Mechatronics is a technology combining electronics and mechanical engineering. Program graduates often find jobs programing, troubleshooting, and operating industrial machinery.

To learn more, visit roanestate.edu/mechatronics.

Roane State is a two-year college providing transfer programs, career-preparation programs and continuing education. Founded in 1971, the college has campuses in Crossville, Harriman, Huntsville, Jamestown, Knoxville, LaFollette, Lenoir City, Oak Ridge and Wartburg.
For more information, visit roanestate.edu or call (865) 882-4554.

Remember, eligible adults can now attend Roane State tuition-free with the new Reconnect grant. Learn more at www.roanestate.edu/reconnect.
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Caption: Roane State Mechatronics students Hunter Cross, left, and Chris Phillips work on a device that’s now being tested for use by CoorsTek, an Oak Ridge industry.

By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer

As a teenager, she was an enthusiastic student, eager to tackle complicated piano pieces and fascinated by musical structure and composition.

That’s the way teacher Rudolph Nemeth, a Roane State adjunct faculty member, remembers Ellen Reid, the Oak Ridge native who won the Pulitzer Prize in music this year. Nemeth is a member of the community college’s Humanities Division and taught Reid for some five years, from when she was 14 until she graduated from Oak Ridge High School in 2001.

“I was lucky enough to teach her, and really enjoyed working with her,” Nemeth said of his once-a-week lessons with Reid at his recording studio in his Oak Ridge home.

“Rudolph Nemeth was always a generous teacher,” Reid said. “He helped me play the pieces I wanted to play, and honored multiple styles of music within his teaching. He takes his students into his home and helps them love music.”

Reid, now 36, won the Pulitzer Prize for her debut opera, titled “prism.” The Pulitzer Prize Board calls the opera “a bold new operatic work that uses sophisticated vocal writing and striking instrumental timbres to confront difficult subject matter: the effects of sexual and emotional abuse.”

“She worked very hard to absorb music,” Nemeth said of the teenaged Reid. He has taught music appreciation classes and piano courses at Roane State since 1999. Nemeth also teaches dual enrollment classes at Anderson County High School.

Nemeth said he also taught piano lessons to Reid’s brother, Austin, and mother, Karen, and remains friends with the family.

Karen Reid, in fact, phoned him about her daughter’s prestigious award, saying she wanted to be the first to tell him the good news. Karen Reid and husband Randy are Oak Ridge residents.

“I am blown away and incredibly honored to receive this year’s Pulitzer Prize in music,” Ellen Reid wrote on her website, ellenreidmusic.com. “Composing ‘prism’ was a challenging, rewarding and deeply personal experience.”

The opera was enthusiastically received by sold-out audiences on the East and West Coasts.
Reid is a composer and sound artist whose talents span sound design, film scoring, ensemble and choral writing, and opera. This fall, she begins a three-year appointment as creative advisor and composer-in-residence for Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

Nemeth said when he taught Ellen Reid, “she was interested in every genre of music, including classical. She played complicated pieces by Chopin, Liszt. She was very determined to learn.”

Nemeth, his wife, Eva and son, Rudolph Jr., escaped from communist Czechoslovakia as the Soviet Union was about to unravel and received asylum in Germany while seeking to move to America. The Oak Ridge Alliance Church sponsored the family’s move. Nemeth said Dr. Geol Greenlee, Roane State music department director, asked him to teach classes at the community college.

Eva Nemeth graduated summa cum laude in paralegal studies from Roane State and works in Knoxville Juvenile Court. Rudolph Nemeth also works as the organist at Robertsville Baptist Church in Oak Ridge and continues to offer private piano lessons. He was the recipient of the Clyde James Dunigan adjunct faculty award for teaching excellence in August 2016.
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Caption: Roane State adjunct faculty member Rudolph Nemeth is pictured with Oak Ridge native Ellen Reid, who won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in music. They’re shown following the premiere of Reid’s composition titled “Knoxville Summer of 2015” at the Tennessee Theatre.