Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge Schools selects Teacher Leaders

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The Oak Ridge School system has announced its selections for Teacher Leaders for the 2014-15 school year.

The Teacher Leader initiative was conceived and launched as a result of the Tennessee Department of Education’s push to create a differentiated pay scale for teachers in all counties. The department encouraged systems to either adopt a structure where teachers receive pay bonuses based on student test scores and eliminate increases in pay for advanced degrees or years of service, or adopt programs that ask teachers to take on greater responsibilities in schools.

“When presented with the opportunity to reward teachers for their dedicated and outstanding service, we decided not to get rid of our steps and lanes that reward teachers for their time and dedication to the classroom and earning advanced degrees, but rather recognize teachers that step up and take on greater leadership roles around STEM, analyzing data, and reinforcing professional learning communities,” said Bruce Borchers, Oak Ridge Schools superintendent. [Read more…]

Photo: White House science adviser gives lecture at ORNL

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John Holdren and Thom Mason at ORNL

White House science adviser John Holdren, right, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason are pictured above. (ORNL photo/Jason Richards)

John Holdren, assistant to the president for science and technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, delivered the fourth talk of the Eugene P. Wigner Distinguished Lecture Series in Science, Technology, and Policy on Thursday at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The lecture series started in November at in the Iran Thomas Auditorium at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source. Other speakers have included former Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

State trooper, former marshal running for Anderson County sheriff

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Anthony Lay

Anthony Lay

An Anderson County man who is a state highway patrolman and former federal deputy U.S. marshal has announced he is running for sheriff.

Anthony Lay is seeking the Republican nomination for Anderson County sheriff in May 2014.

Lay is an officer with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, a press release said. He has served as Scott County sheriff, and when he was 33, was appointed as a federal U.S. marshal in Atlanta.

Lay returned to Anderson County to help his parents after his father suffered a health event, the release said.

“I am announcing my candidacy out of my love for public service and the people who live here,” Lay said in the press release. “Anderson County is a wonderful place to live and work, and the people of Anderson County deserve a safe community and leadership they can trust.” [Read more…]

UT names solar nanotechnology expert, ORNL deputy as Governor’s Chair

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Ramamoorthy Ramesh

Ramamoorthy Ramesh

KNOXVILLE—Ramamoorthy Ramesh, an authority in the physics of functional materials, has been named the 12th University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair. He has also been appointed as deputy director for science and technology at ORNL.

Ramesh will serve as Governor’s Chair for Nanomaterials Engineering, based in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He began on June 1. [Read more…]

State awards $200,000 grant for lighting at Oak Ridge Municipal Building, Civic Center

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Gov. Bill Haslam Check Presentation

Gov. Bill Haslam announces that Oak Ridge has received $200,000 in Clean Tennessee Energy Grant funding for lighting at the Municipal Building and Civic Center.

Gov. Bill Haslam on Monday announced that Oak Ridge is receiving $200,000 in Clean Tennessee Energy Grant funding for lighting in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building and Civic Center Complex.

The money will be used to replace and retrofit existing fluorescent lighting fixtures to LED lighting, a press release said.

It’s the first of 19 grant awards that the governor will be making in the next few weeks, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said in the press release. Funding for the projects comes from an April 2011 Clean Air Act settlement with the Tennessee Valley Authority. [Read more…]

ORAU awards $25,000 to A.L. Lotts in Extreme Classroom Makeover

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A.L. Lotts Extreme Classroom Makeover

Oak Ridge Associated Universities gave $25,000 to a classroom at A.L. Lotts Elementary School in Knox County in an Extreme Classroom Makeover contest. (Submitted photo)

A fifth-grade math and science teacher at A.L. Lotts Elementary School in Knox County has won $25,000 in an Extreme Classroom Makeover competition sponsored by Oak Ridge Associated Universities.

It was the third time teacher Karla Fultz has submitted a video for the annual contest, which is now in its fifth year.

A press release said her winning video was a parody of “Gangman Style,” the Korean pop song and video that has been watched more than one billion times online. [Read more…]

Y-12 has second annual ‘Introduce a Girl to Engineering’ event

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Ultrasonic Detector Demonstrator

Natalie Layne, a Coalfield High sophomore, listens to an ultrasonic detector pointed at her eyes during the “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” at the New Hope Center on Thursday. (Submitted photos)

About 400 girls from East Tennessee schools were encouraged to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics during the second annual “Introduce a Girl to Engineering” event at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

The girls, who are in grades 9-12, interacted with women working in the engineering field, and they experienced hands-on activities at various exhibits hosted by Y-12, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee, and various engineering organizations, a press release said.

[Read more…]

Y-12 technology brings licensee recognition

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The pairing of an environmentally friendly solvent invented and patented by the Y‑12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge with the business acumen of its licensee Scott Manley has gained recognition in two recent competitions.

Manley owns RockinBoat LLC, a South Carolina start-up that in 2011 obtained sole commercial rights to manufacture and market the solvent RonJohn. Teknikem, the chemical division of RockinBoat LLC, offers the solvent as its sole technology. Initially developed at Y-12 by Ron Simandl and John Brown for use in dismantling weapons parts, the 2011 R&D 100 Award–winning technology can completely strip adhesives and finishes from a variety of surfaces with advantages not afforded by other commercially available solvents.

[Read more…]

B&W Y-12 awards scholarships to two Roane State students

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B&W Y-12 STEM Scholarships

B&W Y-12 Commercialization Manager Jeremy Benton, left, chats with STEM Scholarship winners Sara Lemmonds and Wes Jenkins, two Roane State Community College students who will split $5,000 in scholarships. (Photo courtesy of B&W Y-12)

B&W Y-12 recently awarded $5,000 in scholarships split between Roane State Community College freshmen Wes Jenkins and Sara Lemmonds, a press release said.

B&W Y-12 operates and manages the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge for the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The contractor said the scholarships are part of its effort to support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, education.

Recipients of the B&W Y-12 STEM Scholarship must be full-time students at Roane State pursuing a degree in one of the STEM fields of study.

Jenkins is a Harriman High School graduate and plans to major in biology. Lemmonds graduated from Oak Ridge High School and is enrolled in the college’s pre-med program.

[Read more…]

Business, education partnership boosts student interest in science, math

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An Oak Ridge business and education partnership launched with the help of Roane State Community College has  boosted middle school student interest in science and math.

The students, from seven area school systems, participated in a “Lab-in-a-Box” pilot program by the Rural Communities STEM Initiative, or RCSI, during the past academic year, a press release said.

An evaluation by Roane State found that:

  • 70.9 percent of students responded that the labs increased their interest in science or math.
  • 91.5 percent of students reported that they liked doing the labs.
  • 85 percent of students achieved a high level (80 percent or greater) of competence in the state standards addressed with each Lab-in-a-Box.
  • 67.6 percent of students wrote that the labs motivated them to achieve in science or math.

[Read more…]