Oak Ridge Today

Register by Thursday for UT Arboretum Society annual dinner

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Andy Pulte

Andy Pulte

Reservations are due by Thursday for an annual dinner and auction with the University of Tennessee Arboretum Society.

The Nov. 13 dinner will feature keynote speaker Andy Pulte, radio host on WNOX and University of Tennessee Department of Plant Sciences gardening expert, a press release said.

The dinner and silent auction start at 6 p.m. Nov. 13 at The Elks Club, 684 Emory Valley Road in Oak Ridge. The public is invited, and the cost is $25 per person, the press release said.

The release said Pulte is one of the hosts of “The Garden Guy” with Sue Hamilton on WNOX’s “Garden Talk,” a weekly radio show on from 8 a.m. to 9 .m. Saturdays.

His topic for the UT Arboretum Society dinner and auction is “Backgrounds and Borders Design Theory and New Plants for Everyone.”

“Paying attention to the specific emotions plant colors evoke is important,” Pulte said in the release. “Colors can be beautiful in peaceful, happy, relaxing, invigorating and even sad ways. The colors you ultimately choose for a garden should reflect the mood you want to express.”

He will also discuss using a set of newer or unusual plants you should consider adding to your landscape this year.

The press release said Pulte grew up in the nursery industry in Grand Island, Neb. He received his bachelor’s degree in horticulture from the University of Nebraska and a master’s degree from the University of Tennessee in the area of public horticulture.

He has worked at the National Arbor Day Foundation in the education department and the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Neb. He contributes to several gardening publications, speaks regularly to diverse groups, and travels extensively to feed his passion for people and plants, the press release said.

The Nov. 13 dinner and auction will begin at 6 p.m. with a social hour (cash bar) and silent auction followed by a buffet dinner at 7 p.m., then a brief business meeting and Pulte’s presentation. Silent actions items include fine crafts, gifts certificates, art, wine and accessories, hard tools, and more, the release said.

For more information on the Annual Dinner and Silent Auction, call (865) 482-9096 or send an e-mail to patrow@comcast.net. Cash or checks only will be accepted at the door.

To learn more about the Arboretum Society, go to www.utarboretumsociety.org.

UT professor discusses Arab Spring in Tuesday Lunch with the League

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Robert B. Cunningham

Robert B. Cunningham

A retired University of Tennessee professor who has taught in Syria and Jordan will discuss the Arab Spring and its impact on the Middle East and the United States during a Tuesday lecture in Oak Ridge.

The talk by Robert Cunningham, UT political science professor emeritus, starts at noon Tuesday in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church.

Cunningham’s research and teaching interests have focused on issues related to public administration and the politics of the Middle East. From 1959 to 1962, he taught at Aleppo College in Aleppo, Syria. He returned to the Middle East in 1986 through a faculty exchange program at Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan, and again in 1992 as a Fulbright Teacher and Scholar at Yarmouk University.

He has also conducted research in Marrakech, Morocco, and in Jordan.

Cunningham has a master’s degree and doctorate from Indiana University. He joined the UT faculty in 1972 and retired from full-time service at the end of the 2008-09 academic year.

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UT, Y-12 partner to recruit top students to MBA program

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Nine students pursuing master’s degrees in business administration at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville will work at the Y-12 National Security Complex while they complete their studies, thanks to a partnership between the two institutions called the Career Advantage Program, a press release said.

The program participants include six Class of 2013 MBA students: Lee Creviston of Brentwood, Bill Fortunato of Knoxville, Logan Howell of Mascot, Mike Koban of Nashville, Kelcee Ramsey of Oak Ridge, and Nick Tussing of Centennial, Colo.

In addition, three Class of 2012 students are continuing from last year: Chris Hurley of Delbarton, W.Va.; Aaron Jacques of Murfreesboro; and Melissa Tucker of Knoxville, the press release said.

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UT, ORNL lead national project to study nuclear fusion reactor materials

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A research team at the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory will receive $4.1 million during the next five years to study materials used in nuclear fusion reactors.

The funding is part of a larger $11.5 million U.S. Department of Energy project that includes seven other laboratories and universities across the country.

The goal is to help convert nuclear fusion, which promises an “almost limitless supply of clean and safe energy,” into a practical, commercial power source, a UT press release said.

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With help from UT, tree inventory under way in Oak Ridge

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The city of Oak Ridge and forestry students from the University of Tennessee are conducting a tree inventory to help develop a tree planting plan.

The inventory started Saturday at the west end of Oak Ridge near Rarity Ridge. The first two-week inventory will move east along State Route 95/58 to State Route 62, also known as Illinois Avenue.

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UCOR donates $250,000 to UT engineering fellowship

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UCOR at University of Tennessee

From left to right are UCOR’s Bob Smith, Leo Sain, Cathy Hickey, Veronica O’Hearn, and Ken Rueter with University of Tennessee assistant professor Jason Hayward in Hayward’s lab. (Photo submitted by UT)

UCOR, a federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, is donating $250,000 to set up an engineering faculty fellowship at the University of Tennessee.

The first award recipient is Jason Hayward, an assistant professor in UT’s Department of Nuclear Engineering, a university press release said.

Leo Sain, UCOR’s president and project manager, announced the fellowship on Friday, June 29, at the East Tennessee Economic Council meeting in Oak Ridge.

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ORNL, UT team maps nuclear landscape

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Nuclear Landscape

This image represents the nuclear landscape, with different isotopes, including dark blue stable isotopes, lighter blue unstable isotopes, and gray bound isotopes. (Image by Andy Sproles at Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

A supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been used to calculate the number of isotopes allowed by the laws of physics.

A team of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of Tennessee researchers used the Jaguar supercomputer to determine that there are about 7,000 possible combinations of protons and neutrons allowed in bound nuclei with up to 120 protons.

The team’s results are presented in the June 28 issue of the journal Nature.

Most of these nuclei have not been observed experimentally, an ORNL press release said.

“They are bound, meaning they do not spit out protons or neutrons,” team leader Witek Nazarewicz explained in the release. “But they are radioactive—they are short-lived—because there are other processes, such as beta decay, that can give rise to transmutations.”

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