Feature Archive - 2007
Follow the links below to read news items that have been featured on the ORAU home page.
December 2007
ORAU Employees Demonstrate Giving Spirit This Holiday Season
Employees throughout ORAU have collected everything from toys to toiletries as well as volunteered their time and energy to make sure those in need have a good holiday season.
November 2007
ORAU Wraps Up 2007 Giving Campaign with Corporate Gift
With 91% participation in this year's campaign, ORAU employees pledged more than $82,000 to help local charities throughout the coming year. ORAU also donated $15,000 to the United Way of Anderson County.
October 2007
Global Lab Launched at Imperial College London
ORAU member university Imperial College London is now the home to the Global Lab, which allows scientists there to use and manipulate—in real-time—multi-million dollar scientific instruments and technology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Global Lab links together laboratories in the United Kingdom and the United States via high-bandwidth/low-latency network, the Lambda Rail, running across the Atlantic seabed.
PACE Awards University of Cincinnati (UC) $420 Million In-Kind Contribution for Design and Engineering Software
UC, an ORAU member university, will now be home to a multimillion dollar software package, known for special movie effects, but also that can be used by students for high-tech simulations. Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE)—a consortium of international companies—recently announced that the highly competitive, in-kind contribution was being awarded to UC. It is the largest such contribution in the school's history.
ORAU Completes $1 Million Pledge to New Oak Ridge High School
President Ron Townsend presented a check for $400,000 to the Director of the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation to complete ORAU's pledge toward the construction of the new school.
ORAU Donates $14,000 to Support Pellissippi State's Mathematics Department
ORAU continued its commitment to strengthening local math and science education by donating $14,000 to the Pellissippi State Foundation to support Pellissippi State Technical Community College’s mathematics department and its annual middle school math bowl.
September 2007
ORAU Celebrates Second Annual Imagination Library Week in Tennessee
ORAU will be visiting local day care centers and libraries to help boost enrollment and fundraising for the state's pre-K literacy program, which provides a book a month to children from birth to age 5. Since joining the program in 2001, ORAU has distributed nearly 91,000 books to Anderson County children.
ORAU Awards More Than $27,000 in Grants to Area Schools for Science and Math Education
Grants were presented to nine schools in the Anderson County school system and three schools in the Oak Ridge City school system during an awards ceremony. Since the program began in 2002, ORAU has awarded nearly $150,000 to Anderson County Schools.
August 2007
Florida International University's "Wall of Wind" Featured in Wall Street Journal Article
FIU, an ORAU member university, has teamed with an insurer that incurred hundreds of millions of dollars in losses during recent hurricanes to find ways to help buildings survive massive storms. A recent article and video posted to the online version of the Wall Street Journal describes the partnership and the research.
Andrews Joins ORAU as Vice President of Business Operations and CFO
In this position, Andrews will oversee all financial, facility, communications, information systems, security and infrastructure support services. He will also serve as the deputy director for operations for the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE).
Poster Session and Graduate School Fair Offer Young Scientists the Opportunity to Showcase Summer Research
Approximately 150 students from across the country gathered for a student poster session that showcased their participation in 11 scientific and technical research participation programs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. They also met with graduate school representatives from 25 universities at the 8th Annual Graduate School Fair.
ORAU Employees Collect School Supplies for ADFAC
For the ninth straight year, ORAU employees are helping families in need by providing back-to-school supplies for distribution through the Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) organization. Employees also volunteered to help distribute the supplies.
July 2007
Appalachian High School Students and Teachers Explore Science with Mentors from Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Students and teachers from 11 different Appalachian states spanning New York to Mississippi took two weeks out of their vacation to learn from the world-class scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
ORAU Hosts Site Dedication for New ORAU/ORISE Center for Science Education
Congressman Zach Wamp joined ORAU President Ron Townsend and other dignitaries in a unique event to dedicate the building site for a new national Center for Science Education (CSE) on the ORAU main campus. The event featured a special competition among area students to “break ground” using LEGO® robots they had built themselves.
June 2007
ORAU Sending 10 Young Scientists to Meet Nobel Laureates
ORAU is sponsoring 10 outstanding graduate researchers to attend the 57th Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates and Students in Lindau, Germany, from July 1-6. The group will participate in discussions and lectures on physiology and medicine with Nobel Laureates.
May 2007
ORAU Awards 2007 Pollard Scholarships to Exceptional Students
Five William G. Pollard scholarships, at $1,200 each, are being awarded to ORAU employees’ children who display exceptional achievements in their high school or undergraduate studies. The scholarships will be used toward undergraduate studies for the 2007-2008 academic year.
ORAU and NEES Pen Agreement for Earthquake Engineering Collaboration
The new partnership will give university students and faculty access to state-of-the-art experimental research facilities with the goal of expanding the field of earthquake engineering research to a broader and more diverse community. This includes K–16 students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) career fields.
ORAU Awards Research Grants to 30 Junior Faculty at Member Universities
Each junior faculty winner will receive a $5,000 grant, which is intended to enhance their research and professional growth and result in new funding opportunities during the early stages of their careers. Each recipient’s institution matches the ORAU award with an additional $5,000, making the total prize worth $10,000 for each winner.
ORAU Awarded Contract with CDC with Multi-Million Dollar
Funding Potential in Health Services Marketing / Communications
Under the new contract, ORAU can bid to provide a variety of health communications services such as conducting focus groups, developing and testing messages, and creating technology-based education products, such as interactive and simulated learning tools.
ORAU Sponsors Largest Middle School Math Bowl in Tennessee
As educators across the country are pushing to get students’ attention in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, fun events such as the Math Bowl are crucial to fueling interest in what will be a critical skill set for America’s future work force. (Includes audio clips from participants.)
April 2007
Eight New Members Elected to ORAU Board of Directors
The ORAU Board of Directors announced the addition of eight new members at the 62nd annual meeting of the ORAU Council of Sponsoring Institutions held in March in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Newly Reestablished Lab at ORISE is Latest International Resource in War on Terrorism
To address the threat of nuclear terrorism and its potential effects on the civilian population, ORAU's Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education has reestablished its cytogenetic biodosimetry laboratory. It can assist the medical community in the evaluation, triage, and management of victims with radiation injuries.
March 2007
Getting Great Technological Ideas to Market
America’s research university laboratories have no shortage of great technological ideas. Finding both an application and a market for those ideas, however, poses some serious challenges. Those issues took center stage during the two-day “Innovation and Academia” workshop conducted as part of the 62nd annual meeting of the ORAU board and council in March.
February 2007
2006 ORAU Annual Report Now Available (pdf)
ORAU experienced a year of continued growth and success in meeting its consortium's and customers' needs. Read the details in the 2006 annual report.
ORAU Named One of Tennessee's Best Employers
ORAU was recently recognized as one of the Best Employers in Tennessee by Business Tennessee magazine in partnership with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) – Tennessee State Council, the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Best Companies Group.
ORAU to Host Black History Month Event: A Musical Celebration
Members of “Praise, Honour and Glory,” a Knoxville-based Christian music ministry will sing gospel, hymns and spirituals during a one-hour program on Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m. at ORAU's Pollard Technology Conference Center.
January 2007
ORAU Member Schools Invited to Nominate Graduate Students to Attend Nobel Laureate Meeting
Councilors from ORAU's member schools may now nominate students from their institutions to join an international delegation at the 57th Annual Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany. The July 1-6, 2007, meeting will focus on medicine/physiology. Students attend lectures by the Laureates in the mornings and small group sessions in the afternoons. Nominations must be submitted by Feb. 28.
ORAU Annual Council Meeting, ORCAS Workshop Slated for March 6-7 in Oak Ridge
In conjunction with the ORAU annual business meeting,
the Innovation and Academia Workshop will examine innovation in higher education. How are we teaching innovation, do we recognize innovation on our own campus – in research, tech transfer, and business? Key leaders in the national discussion on innovation will attend to discuss this important topic.
ORAU, ORNL Co-Sponsor Nano Nexus 2007 Event
Attendees at the April 2-4 event in Oak Ridge will explore the role of education in each stage of the innovation and commercialization process for nanotechnologies. The agenda includes a businesss competition among university graduate students, who will present their new nanotechnology product ideas that meet real market needs. Private industry will also present their research needs to university faculty.