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President appoints ORNL researcher to National Science Board

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Image courtesy Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Note: This story was updated at 2 p.m. Jan. 22.

President Joe Biden will appoint Merlin Theodore of Oak Ridge National Laboratory to the National Science Board, the White House said in an announcement last week.

Theodore is the first full-time researcher from a national laboratory to serve on the National Science Board, the governing board for the National Science Foundation, according to ORNL.

“Merlin’s appointment to the National Science Board is indicative of her accomplishments as a researcher, her contributions to national missions, and her advocacy for women and minorities in science,” said interim ORNL Director Jeff Smith.

Theodore is one of eight new board members. The National Science Board is made up of 25 members appointed by the president, and they serve six-year terms.

The National Science Board pursues the goals and function of the NSF, including the duty to “recommend and encourage the pursuit of national policies for the promotion of research and education in science and engineering,” according to the White House news release.

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Free Zoom presentation about conservation fisheries on Jan. 25

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Submitted photo

The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society and Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning have a free Zoom presentation about conservation fisheries on Tuesday, January 25.

The presentation is scheduled to start at 7 p.m., and it will feature Conservation Fisheries, Inc., a nonprofit organization preserving the Southeast’s aquatic biodiversity, a press release said. The presenter, Pat Rakes, is co-director of Conservation Fisheries.

“He will explain the role and mission of CFI as well as its history, pictures of the hatchery, field work, and fish as well as cooperators in this important effort,” the press release said.

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UT to require masks indoors

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The University of Tennessee will require face masks indoors this fall semester.

Masks will be required in classrooms, laboratories, other places of instruction, and any indoor events that students are required to attend, UT said in a press release Monday.

The university may be the first school in the area to announce a mask requirement as the delta variant of the new coronavirus spreads in Tennessee and across the United States. Masks are not currently required in Oak Ridge Schools.

In the press release, UT System President Randy Boyd urged students, faculty, and staff members to talk with their families and healthcare providers about the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccination.

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Roane State helps with experiment to provide high-speed Internet access to rural communities

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Roane State Community College played a crucial role in an experiment to get high-speed Internet to rural communities currently lacking what’s become an essential component of modern life. (Photo by Yvette Gooden/University of Tennessee)

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

Roane State Community College played a crucial role in an experiment to get high-speed Internet to rural communities currently lacking what’s become an essential component of modern life.

It’s an effort to bridge the digital divide in Roane County, where about 30 percent of households lack access to robust, affordable broadband internet.

That includes some 6,000 students who must have internet access for online learning.

Internet access “is paramount in current situations such as COVID-19 and the remote learning requirements it presents,” said Egon Hillermann. He’s the director of ROANEnet, an organization that advocates for improving high-speed internet access.

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Bienvenue named first executive director of Oak Ridge Institute

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Joan Bienvenue

Joan Bienvenue has been selected as the first executive director of the Oak Ridge Institute at the University of Tennessee.

“The institute was established last year to align the expertise and infrastructure of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the university in support of world-leading research and talent development,” UT said in an announcement to students, faculty, and staff on Tuesday.

As director, Bienvenue will also serve as a vice provost. She will begin her new position on March 8.

She will develop a strategy for establishing new interdisciplinary graduate research in emerging fields, build programs using UT and ORNL’s capabilities, and lead recruitment of faculty, staff, and students, the announcement said.

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New daily COVID-19 case average remains near or above 10

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A graph shows confirmed new cases of COVID-19 in Anderson County through Friday, Oct. 9, 2020. (Image courtesy Tennessee COVID-19 Case Tracking Coronavirus-19 Outbreak Response Experts (CORE-19) at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville)

The average number of new cases of COVID-19 per day has remained near or above 10 in Anderson County for more than a month.

That’s down from the peak average of about 20 new cases per day or more in late July. But it remains higher than the averages for March, when the pandemic began, and for April, May, June, and early July.

On Tuesday each week, Oak Ridge Today calculates the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases per day in Anderson County for the previous week.

That seven-day average passed an average of 10 new cases per day in early to mid-July before peaking at 24.7 new cases per day in late July. The average then fell in August before hitting a plateau at about 10 in mid-August. It has remained there, or close to it, with one exception since then.

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UT professor to discuss impact of COVID-19 on ecology, evolution

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Nina Fefferman

A University of Tennessee professor will discuss the effects of COVID-19 on ecology and evolution during an online presentation on Tuesday.

Nina Fefferman will be the speaker at the League of Women Voters event. Fefferman is a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Mathematics at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Fefferman is the associate director of UT’s One Health Initiative, and she is a member of the Covid-19 Outbreak Response Experts (CORE-19) at UT.

The principle investigator at the Fefferman Lab at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville since 2008, Fefferman focuses on disease in the human population and how disease and disease-related behavioral ecology can affect the short-term survival and long-term evolutionary success of a population during and after a pandemic, a press release said. She has done extensive work with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on pandemic preparedness and has drawn on her expertise to develop models to shape policy to keep populations safe during and after pandemics.

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New daily COVID case average declines in Anderson County

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A graph shows confirmed new cases of COVID-19 in Anderson County through Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020. (Image courtesy Tennessee COVID-19 Case Tracking Coronavirus-19 Outbreak Response Experts (CORE-19) at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville)

The seven-day average of new daily cases of COVID-19 in Anderson County fell Tuesday, a reversal of a trend that had been in place since at least late June.

Still, the average number of new daily cases remained high, and it was higher than it has been in all but the previous week. And it’s not clear yet if the downward trend will continue.

The most recent seven-day average, in the week ending Tuesday, was 18.6 new COVID-19 cases per day. The highest it’s been, the week before, was 24.7. In late June, the county had an average of 3.43 new cases of COVID-19 per day.

Another trend that has reversed, at least for now: The number of active cases in the county fell four days in a row. It was 255 on Thursday. That was down more than 30 cases from a peak of 289 active cases on Sunday. Active cases are total cases minus recoveries and deaths.

In other potentially good news, the daily positivity rate, which measures the percentage of people who test positive for COVID-19 out of those who are tested, has fallen for at least two weeks.

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Updated: Anderson County has more than 500 COVID cases, reports two more deaths

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A graph shows total cases of COVID-19 in Anderson County through Tuesday, July 28, 2020. Another 36 cases were reported Wednesday. (Image courtesy Tennessee COVID-19 Case Tracking Coronavirus-19 Outbreak Response Experts (CORE-19) at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville)

Note: This story was last updated at 4 p.m. We have added some of Wednesday’s COVID-19 statistics to this story, which initially focused on Tuesday’s numbers.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Anderson County rose to 500 on Tuesday, and the county has reported its fourth and fifth deaths due to the new coronavirus.

Three of the county’s five deaths have been in the past two weeks. Two of those have been in the past week.

On Wednesday, Anderson County reported another 36 new cases of COVID-19—just below the all-time high of 39—and the total number of cases climbed to 536.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the county has more than doubled in 13 days. There were 252 COVID-19 cases in Anderson County on July 16.

The 536 cases reported Wednesday means about 0.7 percent of the county’s roughly 77,000 residents have been infected with COVID-19.

A graph shows active cases of COVID-19 in Anderson County through Tuesday, July 28, 2020. Another 30 active cases were reported Wednesday. (Image courtesy Tennessee COVID-19 Case Tracking Coronavirus-19 Outbreak Response Experts (CORE-19) at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville)

The number of active cases (total cases minus recoveries and deaths) continued to increase significantly, rising to 271 on Wednesday, according to data published by the Tennessee Department of Health. (The number of active cases had been 241 on Tuesday.) Active cases increased by 118 in Anderson County in one week. They have more than doubled in the past two weeks.

The county reported a record-high 39 new daily cases twice in the past week, first on Thursday and then again on Monday.

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For members: ORNL contract extension valued at up to $8 billion

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The main entrance at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

The five-year non-competitive contract extension at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has an estimated value of up to $8 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

In March, the DOE Office of Science explained why it did not have a full, open competition for the extension.

 

The five-year non-competitive contract extension at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has an estimated value of up to $8 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The DOE Office of Science has explained why it did not have a full, open competition for the extension.

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ORNL researcher helps discover new species of cave snail

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Researchers discovered the Tennessee cavesnail, Antrorbis tennesseensis, in caves near Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The snail is less than two millimeters long. (Photo credit: ORNL/Nathaniel Shoobs and Matthew Niemiller)

A researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory helped discover a small cave snail.

The new snail species has been named the Tennessee cavesnail, or Antrorbis tennesseensis. Its name honors the state where it was found and the fact that several researchers involved in its discovery are affiliated with the University of Tennessee. A paper describing and naming the species was published in December.

The snail, which is less than two millimeters long, was found in two caves in Roane County a few miles south of the Oak Ridge Reservation. The reservation includes ORNL and parts of the city of Oak Ridge.

The snail is found on or under rocks far inside the caves, usually in streams that aren’t too muddy or silty, ORNL said. Researchers recommended that the species be listed as endangered.

The ORNL researcher is Evin Carter. He is a research associate and wildlife ecologist at ORNL, which is a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory. With only a handful of surveys completed so far, Carter has plans to survey the 40 or so other caves on the Oak Ridge Reservation, ORNL said.

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UT classes moving online due to coronavirus

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Classes at the University of Tennessee are being temporarily suspended and moved online in response to COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus.

UT Chattanooga will suspend in-person classes until March 30, while UT Knoxville and UT Martin will suspend in-person classes until April 3. Beginning March 23, UT Health Science Center will offer all face-to-face lecture classes remotely until further notice. Clinical rotations in hospitals will continue as usual, a press release said.

University of Tennessee Interim President Randy Boyd—in consultation with chancellors at UT Knoxville, UT Chattanooga, UT Martin, and the UT Health Science Center—announced the temporary suspension of all in-person classes in a press release on Wednesday. It’s being called a proactive measure.

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