Oak Ridge Today

Synthetic material from ORNL used in discovery of new elements 115, 117

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ORNL Berkelium-249

Berkelium-249, contained in the greenish fluid in the tip of the vial, was crucial to the experiment that discovered element 117. It was made in the research reactor at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo by ORNL)

 

Twenty-two milligrams of a very pure synthetic material produced at Oak Ridge National Laboratory were used in the discovery of two new chemical elements that will help fill out the seventh row of the periodic table.

The synthetic element, berkelium-249, was produced in a project that started with a six-month irradiation of a target material at the High Flux Isotope Reactor at ORNL. The resulting product was separated and processed during a three-month period at the lab’s Radiochemical Engineering Development Center.

The berkelium-249 was then shipped to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, or JINR, in Dubna, Russia, where it was intensely bombarded, or irradiated, with calcium-48 ions, creating six atoms of element 117, said Jim Roberto, ORNL associate lab director for science and technology partnerships. Berkelium-249, which does not exist in nature, has a 300-day lifetime, so researchers had a short time to do their experiments.

Element 117 is one of four new elements that have been officially verified by the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry. The IUPAC announced the discoveries on December 30. The other three are elements 113, 115, and 118. Element 115 is produced when element 117 decays. [Read more…]

UT-ORNL breakthrough aims to improve tech gadgets, TVs

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Ramki-Kalyanaraman

Ramki Kalyanaraman

Whether at home, work, or play, touchscreen devices have quickly become one of the hallmarks of the modern world.

Phones, tablets, computers, and even televisions use the technology, which relies on substances known as transparent conductive films. All but a small fraction of those films are made from a particular class of oxides that, although they do the job very effectively, contain rare and costly elements.

Now, thanks to a breakthrough led by the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, that problem could soon be in the past.

“The electronics industry relies heavily on the use of Indium metal for the many situations requiring the right balance of transparency and current carrying ability,” said UT Professor Ramki Kalyanaraman. “While Indium is scarce, our new material contains elements that are far more abundant such as iron, terbium, and dysprosium.” [Read more…]

CNS, UT chemical sensing technology wins R&D 100 Award

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ChIMES CNS and UT RD100

The ChIMES team’s investigators each brought unique expertise to the project. (Photo courtesy CNS)

 

An inexpensive, small, and portable chemical sensor developed by Consolidated Nuclear Security researchers at the Y-12 National Security Complex and the University of Tennessee received a prestigious R&D 100 Award.

ChIMES, which is short for Chemical Identification by Magneto-Elastic Sensing, was selected as a revolutionary technology by a panel of 70 independent judges. This low-cost sensor has virtually limitless applications, including detection of chemical and biological warfare agents, toxic industrial chemicals, explosives, and illegal drugs, a press release said.

The sensor is the product of a three-year collaborative effort between CNS and scientists from the University of Tennessee. Y-12 researcher Vincent Lamberti, who managed the project, said: “The R&D 100 award reflects the importance in having strong partners in the advancement of a new technology. ChIMES surely would not have succeeded without the steady stream of innovations that were created in our collaboration with UT.” [Read more…]

UT, Y-12 chemical sensing technology wins national R&D100 award

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Michael-Sepaniak

Michael Sepaniak

A low-cost chemical sensor invented by a University of Tennessee chemistry professor in partnership with the Y-12 National Security Complex has been recognized by R&D Magazine as a top technology product in the marketplace, a press release said.

The invention, the product of UT Chemistry Professor Michael Sepaniak and collaborators at Y-12, was selected this weekend for the 2015 R&D100 Award—known in the field as the “Oscars of innovation.” The award recognizes the top 100 technology projects of the year and honors the inventors.

ChIMES (Chemical Identification by Magneto-Elastic Sensing) is a new low-cost passive chemical sensing technology. The sensors are based on a set of target response materials that expand in the presence of a target. The expanding volume puts stress on materials, changing their magnetic properties so they can be detected wirelessly. [Read more…]

Pay cited most often as reason for ORPD turnover, low morale, MTAS report says

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Margaret Norris and Rex Barton of MTAS on Oct. 15, 2015

Margaret Norris, left, and Rex Barton of the Municipal Technical Advisory Service at the University of Tennessee deliver the results of a six-month review of the Oak Ridge Police Department to City Council on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12 p.m. Oct. 16.

It probably wasn’t the explanation that many expected, but pay was cited most often as the reason for turnover and low morale in the Oak Ridge Police Department, according to a report released Thursday.

Some have pinned most of the blame for the department’s woes—or perceived woes, depending upon your perspective—on Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi, and they had called for an investigation of the chief earlier this year on several different fronts.

Among those pressing for an investigation was Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn. She and others had raised questions about the chief’s temperament, including whether he has outbursts and is vindictive, and what Baughn suggested is a high turnover rate.

But the City Council instead approved a review of the ORPD that focused on morale, turnover, and administrative policies. In March, Council hired the Municipal Technical Advisory Service at the University of Tennessee to conduct the six-month review, which was first proposed by Council member Kelly Callison. MTAS presented its findings in a 20-page report presented to the Oak Ridge City Council in a special work session on Thursday.

The report identified a primary culprit familiar to many workers: pay. But as officers have pointed out, they, unlike most other workers, face danger on a daily basis.

Most of those interviewed by MTAS thought that ORPD salaries are not suitable for retaining good employees, MTAS consultant Rex Barton told Council members Thursday. Whatever raises have been given in the past few years have been outstripped by the rise in the cost of benefits, Barton said.

[Read more…]

UT, ORNL host academic-industry meeting on national lab partnerships

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

The University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory will host more than 200 university leaders and heads of industry this week at the 21st General Meeting of the University-Industry Demonstration Partnership. UIDP21 will be held October 13-16 at the Hilton Downtown Knoxville and the ORNL campus.

UIDP21, an organization of 140 universities and companies, brings people from academia and industry together to have tactical conversations about innovation and research and development, a press release said.

Given the collaborative research and development relationship UT and ORNL enjoy, the focus of the Knoxville meeting is university-industry-national laboratory partnerships, the release said. Attendees will hear from speakers from seven of the U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratories, professors, and administrators from several prominent universities, and industry leaders. [Read more…]

Wildcats freshman scores three TDs in 55-15 win over Lenoir City

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Wildcats Jordan Graham Touchdown and Panther

With UT Coach Butch Jones watching from the sidelines, Oak Ridge freshman running back Jordan Graham (30) runs for his third touchdown, a 60-yard sprint, in a 55-15 win over Lenoir City on Homecoming Night at Blankenship Field. Blocking at right are senior Darel Middleton (9) and junior Tee Higgins (5). Middleton and Higgins both had TD catches on Friday, Sept. 18, 2015. (Photo by Julio Culiat)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 1:15 p.m. Sept. 19.

Wildcats freshman running back Jordan Graham scored three touchdowns, including one on the opening kickoff return and another in front of University of Tennessee Coach Butch Jones, during a 55-15 win over Lenoir City on Homecoming Night at Blankenship Field on Friday.

“It was a great experience,” Graham said. He gave credit to his teammates and their blocking for setting up his first three Wildcats touchdowns.

Graham, who ended with more than 100 yards rushing, started the scoring on a 91-yard kickoff return on the first play of the game. He initially fumbled the ball, but he recovered his own fumble and raced to the Panther end zone, first making defenders miss and then outrunning them.

Graham, a small, fast 14-year-old, scored again at 5:51 in the second quarter, sweeping around the right side of the offensive line after a toss from senior quarterback Jordan Dunbar, weaving through defenders in the center of the field, and running 59 yards to score inside the left pylon, making it 21-8. [Read more…]

WYSH: Former UT linebacker killed in Sunday morning crash in Clinton

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Clinton Police Department Badge

Information from WYSH Radio

A former University of Tennessee linebacker was killed in an early-morning, single-vehicle accident in front of Ray Varner Ford in Clinton on Sunday.

Clinton Police Department officers responded to a report of an accident shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday on North Charles Seivers Boulevard near Miller Road and upon their arrival, found a Chevy Tahoe on its roof with heavy damage.

The only person in the vehicle, 31-year-old Daniel Brooks of New Market, had to be extricated from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators determined that Brooks had been headed west on Seivers when his SUV left the side of the road and traveled some distance in a ditchline before striking a driveway culvert, which caused it to become airborne. The Tahoe landed on its front end and flipped several times before coming to rest on its roof. [Read more…]

Lawler Scholarship helps student with study abroad; applications accepted

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Daniel Colburn at Cliffs of Dover

Daniel Colburn is pictured above at Cliffs of Dover. (Submitted photo)

 

By Jessica Steed

Daniel Colburn absorbed history and archeology as he studied thermodynamics and circuits during a study abroad program in London this summer.

Colburn, a junior at the University of Tennessee, was awarded a $2,000 Dr. Adrian R. Lawler Exchange Student Scholarship in the fall of 2014, which supported his participation in the five-week UT engineering program in London, his first experience abroad. In the Chancellor’s Honors Program, Colburn is majoring in mechanical engineering, with a minor in business and maintainability and reliability.

“We partnered those academic experiences with some real world experiences outside the classroom,” Colburn said of the London study abroad program. [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…]

ORNL manufacturing facility part of national effort to make innovations

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Penny Pritzker Tours ORNL Manufacturing Demonstration Facility

U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, second from left, tours Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley on Thursday. Also pictured from left are IACMI CEO Craig Blue; Mark Johnson, director of DOE’s office of advanced manufacturing; Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero; and ORNL Director Thom Mason. They are standing next to a Shelby Cobra sports car that was 3D-printed at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

HARDIN VALLEY—The Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is part of a national effort to keep the United States on the cutting edge of research and manufacturing, a federal official said Thursday.

One-third of economic growth comes from innovations, and the United States must continue making new developments, said Penny Pritzker, U.S. commerce secretary.

“Research and manufacturing is not nice to have,” Pritzker said. “It’s a need to have.”

Pritzker toured the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Cherahala Boulevard in Hardin Valley on Thursday. It’s part of the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation in Knoxville, which was announced by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden during a trip to East Tennessee in January. [Read more…]

Students to test skills, vie for scholarships in UT Pro2Serve Math Contest

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Hundreds of Tennessee high school students will put their mathematics skills to the test and vie for scholarships during this year’s UT Pro2Serve Math Contest, hosted by the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Registration opens Tuesday, August 25, for the 17th annual contest. The daylong event pits students—public, private, and home-schooled—from across the state in both individual and team competitions.

The contest, to be held Tuesday, October 27, at the Holiday Inn World’s Fair Park downtown, will award $6,000 annual scholarships to UT to the top 10 students in the individual competition. The scholarships are funded by UT and Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek. Other prizes also will be given. [Read more…]