Oak Ridge Today

Curran at ORNL receives SAE Foundation industry leadership award

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Scott Curran and SAE Leadership Award

Stefan Pischinger Young Industry Leadership Award winner Scott Curran, center, is congratulated by SAE Foundation Board Chairman Mazen Hammoud of Ford Motor Company and Patrick Hupperich, FEV North America Inc. president and CEO. (Photo: SAE Foundation)

 

Scott Curran, a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has received the Society for Automotive Engineers Foundation’s 2015 Stefan Pischinger Young Industry Leadership Award.

The award, given this week at this year’s SAE Foundation Annual Celebration in Detroit, highlights early career individuals who demonstrate leadership potential and promote STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)-based researched in their respective fields. The SAE Foundation is the charitable branch of the SAE International professional society.

A recipient of three engineering degrees from the University of Tennessee, Curran has been an active member of the SAE since his college days and has been involved in DOE’s Advanced Vehicle Technical Competition as both a student and an advisor. [Read more…]

Alexander: Bill raises Office of Science funding to highest-ever, includes UPF, supercomputing, cleanup funding

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

A bill approved by a U.S. Senate subcommittee on Tuesday would give $5.144 billion to the federal agency that oversees work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It’s the highest level of funding ever for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which oversees 10 national labs, including ORNL, federal officials said.

The bill would also provide $430 million for the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, which will “continue to keep this project on time and on budget,” according to a press release from the office of U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican.

Alexander’s office also said the legislation would provide funding for:

  • a new mercury treatment plant in Oak Ridge,
  • cleanup of nuclear facilities that are no longer in service,
  • nuclear infrastructure at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and
  • advanced computing, which supports the new Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The bill was unanimously approved on a voice vote by the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development on Tuesday afternoon. Alexander is chair of that subcommittee, and he said the approval shows that there is bipartisan support for energy research, waterways, and national security. [Read more…]

UCOR awards 33 mini-grants for local school projects

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

UCOR, the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor at the Oak Ridge Reservation, has announced the 33 winners of the UCOR Education Mini-Grant Program.

UCOR is a partnership between URS and CH2M Oak Ridge LLC.

The company said one of its primary objectives is to support and encourage education initiatives.

“The Mini-Grant Program was designed to recognize and support excellence in teaching by providing funds to assist classroom teachers for specific projects or curricula, focusing primarily on science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM,” a press release said. [Read more…]

New summer STEM Camp at Robertsville Middle School: Invention Project

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Robertsville Middle School is offering Invention Project, a brand new STEM summer camp for rising sixth- to eighth-graders from June 8-12.

Invention Project builds on the great success of the Camp Invention STEM program last summer, a press release said. STEM is an acronym that means science, technology, engineering, and math, but it is also an interdisciplinary educational approach that blends these fields, which are deeply intertwined in the real world and in how students learn most effectively.

The Invention Project summer camp features a variety of entertaining and educational STEM challenges to engage the inventor, artist, and entrepreneur in each participant, the press release said. [Read more…]

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

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

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…]

ORAU awards $25,000 for Extreme Classroom Makeover

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Charlie Arp 2015 Extreme Classroom Makeover Grand Prize

2015 Extreme Classroom Makeover grand prize winner Charlie Arp and his students. (Photo by ORAU)

 

The idea that technology has the ability to drastically change students’ lives was the focus of one regional middle school teacher’s video submission for the 2015 ORAU Extreme Classroom Makeover competition. His dream of satisfying students’ hunger for technology in the classroom was realized Thursday as ORAU President Andy Page presented Brown Intermediate School science teacher Charlie Arp with a $25,000 technology makeover during a surprise school-wide assembly.

The funding is part of ORAU’s annual Extreme Classroom Makeover competition, now in its seventh year.

In his winning video Arp, explains that when it comes to teaching with technology, the sky is the limit. He describes many new and interactive approaches to teaching math and science, and he insists that, with this grant, he can satisfy his students’ hunger for technology in their day-to-day learning environment. Brown Intermediate School serves students from the city of Sweetwater in the fifth and sixth grades. [Read more…]

Secret City Wildbots win Engineering Award, prepare for World Championship

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

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…]

Smoky Mountain Regional robot competition kicked off Thursday with practice

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Smoky Mountain Regionals Team 4265

Photos by Angi Agle

 

By Angi Agle

The Smoky Mountain Regional robotics competition kicked off Thursday with practice rounds, and qualification matches began Friday morning.

The theme of this year’s game is “Recycle Rush.” Robots are to pick up recycle bins, put foam noodles in trash cans, and stack all of them in the center of the field. Additional points are gained for the number of containers stacked.

Human players feed foam noodles into the trash cans as the robots hold them up to a hole in the plexiglas, as well as feeding gray recycle bins into the field for the robots to stack.

Team 4265, the Secret City Wildbots, experienced some technical challenges, which were expected to be resolved Friday morning. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum hosts SciGirls Training Saturday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will host a SciGirls Professional Development Training from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday, March, 21, for educators interested in teaching science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM.

“SciGirls” is a PBS Kids television series that aims to change how middle school age youth think about STEM. In each episode, bright and curious girls put STEM to work. The show’s web site offers games and projects to connect students in a safe social networking environment. [Read more…]

Y-12, UT sign agreement to continue, expand collaborative work

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Y-12 and UT MOU Signing

UT Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek, left, and CNS President and CEO Jim Haynes sign a Memorandum of Understanding to expand collaboration between the university and CNS. Joining them for the signing are Taylor Eighmy, UT Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement, and Tom Berg, CNS Director of Technology Development and Technology Transfer, right. (Photo by Brett Pate)

 

Submitted

Partnership combines strengths to train future workforce, solve national challenges

A memorandum of understanding signed Thursday by Consolidated Nuclear Security and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville will expand collaborations while making the country safer and more secure. CNS and the university collaborate in areas ranging from joint research to analyzing business operations and pushing more technologies into the private sector.

The partnership between the university and the Y-12 National Security Complex, which began in 2011, combines the leading research talents of the university with Y-12’s successful track record in technology development and application that bolsters national security. Through CNS, the agreement now also incorporates the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.

CNS manages and operates Y-12 and the Pantex Plant for the National Nuclear Security Administration. [Read more…]

Honors: St. Mary’s teacher wins Air Force award

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

St. Mary's Teacher wins Air Force Award

Teacher of the Year Marsha Sega receives a check from Steven Dillenburg, chapter president on September 24 in the St. Mary’s School library. (Submitted photo)

 

Marsha Sega is the middle school science and math teacher at St. Mary’s School in Oak Ridge. Her work preparing her students to use and excel in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) won her the local Air Force Association chapter’s Teacher of the Year Award earlier this year.

The second part of the award was presented in the form of a check from Stephen Dillenburg, chapter president of the local Air Force Association on September 24 in the St. Mary’s School library, a press release said. [Read more…]

Alexander: World’s fastest supercomputer will again be at ORNL

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Summit Supercomputing Press Conference

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, second from left, a Tennessee Republican, at a Friday morning press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, right; Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, center; and representatives Bill Foster and Dan Lipinski. (Submitted photo)

 

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

Note: This story was last updated at 11:25 a.m.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory will have the world’s fastest next-generation supercomputer, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander announced at a Friday morning press conference with U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.

Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, said the new computer will provide five times the performance of Titan, the current system, and support advanced scientific and materials research to improve economic and national security.

The “next-generation hybrid supercomputer” will be called Summit, and it will be delivered in 2017, the senator said.

“Once again the world’s fastest computer will be in the United States, and once again it will be at Oak Ridge,” Alexander said. “Supercomputing has helped Tennessee become a center for advanced manufacturing with the arrival of new companies, including several in the auto industry, creating thousands of good-paying jobs. Tennessee can continue to thrive and create many more good jobs with the use of this new supercomputer.” [Read more…]