Oak Ridge Today

RMS one of three new STEM Scouts Labs in East Tennessee

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Robertsville Middle School

Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge is one of three additional schools in East Tennessee that have opened STEM Scouts labs.

Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge is one of three other schools in East Tennessee that have opened STEM Scouts Labs. The other two new participants are Karns Middle School and Stanford Eisenberg Knoxville Jewish Day School.

That brings the total number of STEM Scouts Labs in the area to seven, a press release said. Oak Ridge High School and Clayton-­Bradley STEM Academy already have STEM Scouts Labs.

STEM Scouts is a co-­ed after-­school program by the Boy Scouts of America that uses hands-­on learning to show youth from elementary through high school how to apply STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) in their everyday lives and encourages them to develop those experiences into a future career, the press release said. The program uses the Scout Oath and Scout Law as its cornerstone.

“We are very happy to see STEM Scouts growing, “ said April McMillan, national co-director of STEM programs for the Boy Scouts of America. “We are the first in the nation to test this program, so we are pleased to see it taking off like this. We’ve had very positive feedback from students, teachers, and parents. We hope to open several more labs before the end of the year.” [Read more…]

UT-Battelle donates $100K to Emory Valley Center for capital campaign

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

UT-Battelle Check to Emory Valley Center

Jennifer Enderson, Emory Valley Center president, accepts a check for the organization’s Capital Campaign from Alan Icenhour, UT-Battelle’s associate lab director for nuclear science and engineering and EVC board member. Also pictured (from left) are Dottie Thompson, Capital Campaign co-chair; John Eschenberg, Emory Valley Center board president; Gene Caldwell, Capital Campaign co-chair, and several Emory Valley Center clients. (Submitted photo)

 

UT-Battelle recently presented a check to Emory Valley Center in support of their ongoing Capital Campaign for a new facility. The new building will incorporate many features to enhance the lives of people with disabilities being served, including a job training center; life enrichment classrooms; adult day center; medical clinic; speech, physical, and occupational services; gym and more. UT-Battelle manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy.

The check was a $100,000 contribution toward UT-Battelle’s pledge of $250,000, the Emory Valley Center said.

Donations from individuals and companies, as well as grant awards, have helped fundraisers reach 75 percent of the total Capital Campaign goal, a press release said. Emory Valley Center is continuing to accept donations for the Capital Campaign from individual and business supporters throughout the community. If you would like to donate, contact EVC Development Director Janet Wood via email at [email protected] or call (865) 813-0576. [Read more…]

Guest column: City manager urges citizen engagement in key decisions

Posted at
By 1 Comment

Mark Watson

Mark Watson

Many projects are happening in Oak Ridge at the present time. Our city does not slow down and is affected by issues at the state, federal, and local levels.

As your city manager, I am concentrating on matters such as the implementation of EPA sewer requirements on a tight timeframe, creation of a national park, development of a new mall, and installation of a new dispatch center.

Among its many other decisions, Oak Ridge will be facing a pair of major initiatives which particularly important for our community. The American Museum of Science and Energy (AMSE), owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory contractor UT-Battelle, is under new leadership as veteran museum director David Moore takes the helm. With this change, the DOE knows that the long-term viability of a museum is dependent upon local and regional involvement.

Recently, the AMSE Foundation and the City of Oak Ridge have been co-hosting a series of community meetings about AMSE to discuss options for developing a new operating model for the museum. Two of four public discussions have been held about this topic.

Last week, we heard from the directors of the MUSE in Knoxville, the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, and the new Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol to hear how today’s museums remain current and relevant to their visitors. Turnout for the first two meetings has been very encouraging; the next public meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 25, from 6-8 p.m., when heritage tourism will be discussed. [Read more…]

Honors: Hispanic engineers group recognizes ORNL’s Idrobo

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Juan Carlos Idrobo

Juan Carlos Idrobo

Juan Carlos Idrobo, a researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been recognized by the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award Corporation with the 2014 Outstanding Technical Achievement Award for groundbreaking research in scanning transmission electron microscopy of 2D materials.

Idrobo works in the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences’ Microscopy group. The Ecuador native received his bachelor’s in physics from Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia; his master’s in physics from the University of Illinois at Chicago; and doctorate in physics from the University of California, Davis. He joined the ORNL research staff in 2010.

The award is associated with Great Minds in STEM, a nonprofit organization that advocates science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers for the Hispanic community. [Read more…]

USEC: ORNL extends American Centrifuge demonstration program into 2015

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

American Centrifuge Technology Manufacturing Center

The American Centrifuge Technology Manufacturing Center in south Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Photos courtesy USEC)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has exercised an option to extend the American Centrifuge demonstration program into 2015, USEC announced Wednesday.

The announcement was included in a report on second quarter results, when the uranium enrichment company had a net loss of $28 million. USEC, which has operations in Oak Ridge, is undergoing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is turning over its gaseous diffusion plant in Paducah, Kentucky, to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Funding for the next-generation American Centrifuge activities was previously provided under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy. Under that cost-sharing agreement, DOE provided 80 percent of the funding, and USEC provided 20 percent for research, development, and demonstration work performed from June 1, 2012, through April 30, 2014, when the agreement expired.

On May 1, USEC signed a new agreement with UT-Battelle, which manages and operates ORNL for DOE. The agreement was called the American Centrifuge Technology Demonstration and Operations, or ACTDO, agreement, and it allows for continued cascade operations and the continuation of core American Centrifuge research and technology activities and the furnishing of related reports to ORNL, USEC said in its quarterly report.

On July 31, ORNL exercised its option to extend the period of performance for the ACTDO Agreement by an additional six months to March 31, 2015. The agreement also provides ORNL with one additional option to extend the agreement by six months to September 30, 2015. [Read more…]

ASM International elects ORNL researchers Paranthaman, Pint fellows

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Parans Paranthaman and Bruce Pint

From left are Parans Paranthaman and Bruce Pint. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

The professional society ASM International has elected two researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to the rank of fellow. A former ORNL researcher was also elected.

The materials engineering professional society cited Mariappan Parans Paranthaman “for the development of novel epitaxial buffer layers on textured templates, enabling high critical current density superconductor films, and for developing mesoporous architectures destined for high performance energy storage applications.”

Paranthaman, a distinguished researcher in the lab’s Chemical Sciences Division, has a joint faculty appointment with the University of Tennessee’s Bredesen Center in Knoxville as a professor. He is also a distinguished UT-Battelle inventor who has authored or co-authored more than 350 publications and has been awarded 28 U.S. patents. His awards include four R&D 100 Awards and three national and two regional Federal Laboratory Consortium awards for developing high performance second-generation superconducting wires for electric-power applications.

Bruce Pint, a researcher in the Materials Science and Technology Division, was cited for “groundbreaking contributions to the fundamental knowledge of high temperature oxidation mechanisms in alloys and coatings, and for contributions to heat resistant alloy design and development through the incorporation of minor elements to control and improve high temperature stability and overall oxidation resistance.” [Read more…]

Stuart, Stribley receive DOE Small Business Program awards

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Cassandra McGee Stuart

Cassandra McGee Stuart

Two Oak Ridge National Laboratory staff members have received DOE Small Business Awards under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Secretarial Small Business Awards Program.

Cassandra McGee Stuart is the recipient of the Facility Management Contractor Small Business Program Manager of the Year award. McGee Stuart manages ORNL’s Small Business Programs, which identifies qualified firms to establish business relationships with UT-Battelle, which manages ORNL for DOE.


LeAnne Stribley

LeAnne Stribley

LeAnne Stribley, director of ORNL’s Acquisition Management Services, won the DOE Mentor award through her involvement in the ORNL Mentor Protégé Program. The mentor-protégé program guides small businesses in performing subcontracts at ORNL and helps the small businesses improve their company infrastructure through marketing plans, onsite training and business plans.

Stuart and Stribley are both Knoxville residents. The awards were for Fiscal Year 2013.

The Smithsonian, ORNL partner to advance science, education

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Smithsonian Wayne Clough, Thom Mason, and Jeff Nichols

Pictured above during a Thursday signing ceremony at the Smithsonian Institution’s Castle Commons are, from left, Wayne Clough, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; ORNL Director Thom Mason; and ORNL associate lab director for computing and computational sciences Jeff Nichols. (Photo by John Gibbons/Smithsonian)

 

The Smithsonian Institution and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have announced a new partnership to support collaborative research programs and science education efforts. This is the first partnership between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Smithsonian, which was formalized during the signing of a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, on Thursday, June 12.

The Smithsonian and Oak Ridge National Laboratory both examine many of the world’s most complex and time-sensitive scientific problems and support many research programs that complement and reinforce each other. They also support science education to impact students and teachers from elementary school through post-doctoral studies. The MOU, signed by Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough and ORNL Director Thom Mason, creates a framework for future collaboration between the two organizations that leverages the strengths of each.

“The Smithsonian is proud to partner with another organization that realizes that basic research is vital to the future of the nation, and that knowledge about the natural world is inherently valuable to society,” Clough said. “This agreement will help us each maximize our strengths and achieve our common goals across a broad spectrum of scientific endeavor.” [Read more…]

DOE public bus tour begins June 2

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

DOE Public Bus Tour

A U.S. Department of Energy public bus tour in August 2012. (DOE photo/Lynn Freeny)

Visitors see Oak Ridge’s past and present

The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2014 Oak Ridge facilities public bus tour begins June 2 and continues through August 29. The tour offers visitors a first-hand look at the DOE’s Oak Ridge facilities and provides historical commentary on the transformation of the Oak Ridge Reservation during the past 70 years.

The reservation-wide tour is a popular attraction for tourists visiting the area. Since its inception in 1996, the DOE public tour program has attracted more than 30,000 visitors from all 50 states. The three-hour tour allows visitors to see the Oak Ridge Reservation and learn about its history. It also provides participants a chance to find out about the world-class missions underway in Oak Ridge.

Bus stops include: [Read more…]

More than 100 jobs terminated as B&W work on USEC centrifuge project ends

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

American Centrifuge Technology Manufacturing Center

The American Centrifuge Technology Manufacturing Center in south Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Photos courtesy USEC)

But hundreds of jobs maintained in Ohio and Tennessee, USEC says

Babcock and Wilcox has terminated the employment of more than 100 workers who had been involved in the American Centrifuge project with USEC, and Monday was the last day of work for most of them, a spokesperson said.

“B&W’s involvement in the American Centrifuge Manufacturing LLC has transitioned fully to USEC, which will result in the termination of all 122 employees B&W had engaged in the effort,” said Aimee Mills, B&W media relations lead.

Mills said roughly 25 employees will be released during the next two months as the “final steps of demobilization take place” on the advanced uranium enrichment project, which has included centrifuge manufacturing in Oak Ridge and the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio.

“Some of those affected have been reassigned within B&W,” Mills said. “We have also provided assistance by way of job fairs and workshops to update resumes.”

Meanwhile, USEC has notified a small group of its Oak Ridge employees who worked on manufacturing activities that they would be laid off, Communications Manager Jeremy Derryberry said Tuesday. Several were transferred to other parts of the centrifuge program. [Read more…]

Education Foundation will award $80,000 in grants at Wednesday ceremony

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge Today

As part of its “Making the Critical Difference” campaign, the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation will award almost $80,000 in grants to community teachers at a ceremony this Wednesday, May 21. The ceremony is open to the public and will be held in the Oak Ridge High School cafeteria beginning at 3 p.m.

Longtime Oak Ridge resident and award-winning author Eva Wike will speak at the event and will be available after the ceremony to sign copies of her most recent book, “Fiddler of the Mountains—Attuned to the Life and Times of Johnny Mull.” Wike is contributing a significant portion of the sales of her book to the Education Foundation.

The grants program is a key component of the foundation’s mission to support the highest quality education for all students. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge senior Andrew Skipper earns UT-Battelle scholarship

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Andrew Skipper and Thom Mason

Andrew Skipper, left, the 2014 UT-Battelle Scholarship winner, is congratulated by ORNL Director Thom Mason. (Submitted photo)

Andrew Skipper, a senior at Oak Ridge High School, is the recipient of the 2014 UT-Battelle Scholarship to the University of Tennessee.

The four-year, $20,000 scholarship is presented annually to a graduating senior who plans to study science, engineering, or mathematics at UT and whose mother or father works at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Andrew is the son of David and Maria Skipper. David Skipper works in ORNL’s Environmental Protection and Waste Services Division, and Maria Skipper works in ORNL’s Business Management Services Division. His grandmother, Margie Skipper, worked in ORNL’s Laboratory Protection Division for many years prior to her retirement in 1999.

Andrew’s goal at UT is to pursue a bachelor’s degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering before enrolling in graduate or medical school. [Read more…]