Oak Ridge Today

Mason named president of Triad, which will operate Los Alamos National Lab

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Thom Mason May 23 2016

Former Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason is pictured above on Monday, May 23, 2016. (File photo by ORNL)

 

Thom Mason, former director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been named president of Triad National Security LLC, which has been awarded a $25 billion contract to manage and operate the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

Mason, who is senior vice president for global laboratory operations at Battelle, will also serve as director designate of the lab during the transition period, according to a press release issued by Battelle in Columbus, Ohio.

Battelle and its partners on the Triad team announced Monday that they can officially begin the transition to operating Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the nation’s premier scientific and nuclear research facilities.

In the press release, which is posted on its website, Battelle said Mason will work closely with the laboratory’s current director, Terry Wallace, to ensure a smooth changeover between operating teams. [Read more…]

Researcher honored for helping advance Latinas in tech field

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Andrea Rocha

Andrea Rocha

A researcher whose worked is carried out at the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge Associated Universities has been named one of the top researchers in her field by Hispanic Engineer and Information Technology magazine.

Postdoctoral fellow Andrea Rocha is a member of a UT research team. She works on Governor’s Chair for Environmental Biotechnology Terry Hazen’s joint UT-ORNL team, and she was chosen as one of 32 women worldwide to be profiled in the magazine’s “Latinas at Tech Giants” edition, a press release said.

“I wasn’t even aware I was being considered,” Rocha said. “I didn’t know anything about it until I received a letter from the Women of Color STEM Conference that contained a congratulations note, press release on the article, and copy of the magazine which contained my profile.”

Almost as noteworthy, Rocha found out that Astrid Terry—a project manager at the Berkeley Lab at the University of California—had nominated her. [Read more…]

Free screening of ‘Inequality for All’ to honor International Women’s Day

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Robert Reich

Robert Reich

Local organizations are offering a free March 7 screening of “Inequality for All,” a documentary that features former U. S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, in honor of International Women’s Day 2014.

Reich’s award-winning documentary focuses on the widening income gap in America, a press release said.

The screening is scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m., Friday, March 7, in the City Room (A-111) of Roane State Community College at 702 Briarcliff Ave. It’s sponsored by Women’s Interfaith Dialogue, the League of Women Voters, Altrusa International, and the Sisterhood of the Jewish Congregation, all of Oak Ridge.

The release said Reich uses humor and a wide array of facts to explain how income inequality and the shrinking middle class affect everyone and have implications for the future of democracy, the economy, and the nation. The film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, winning the Special Jury Prize. It was recently released in theaters nationwide and has now been made available for educational screenings. [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…]

ORNL names new deputy director for science, technology

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Ramamoorthy Ramesh

Ramamoorthy Ramesh

Note: This story was updated at 3:40 p.m.

A new deputy director has been named at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Ramamoorthy Ramesh of the University of California in Berkeley will start as the lab’s deputy director for science and technology on June 1, ORNL Director Thom Mason announced in an e-mail to staff on Thursday.

Ramesh will replace Thomas Zacharia, who left in August to take a science and education foundation based in Doha, Qatar. [Read more…]