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ORAU Welcomes Two New Universities to Consortium (March 2008)
ORAU welcomed the University of Alabama at Huntsville and the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico as its newest consortium members during the 63rd annual meeting of the ORAU Consortium of Sponsoring Institutions held in Oak Ridge, Tenn. With these additions, the ORAU Consortium now consists of 99 sponsoring institutions and 14 associate members, representing 28 states, as well the District of Columbia and London.
Read the news release.
2007 ORAU Annual Report Now Available (March 2008)
ORAU experienced another successful year in supporting the needs of its consortium and customers. Read the details in the 2007 ORAU Annual Report.
ORAU/ORCAS Workshop Focuses on Relationships Between Universities, DOE, and National Labs (March 2008)
In conjunction with the annual meeting of the ORAU Council of Sponsoring Institutions, representatives from more than 50 ORAU member schools participated in a workshop to gain additional insight into developing productive collaborations with DOE and it labs. Innovative research opportunities were also highlighted.
Read the news release.
Carolina International Symposium on Neutrino Physics, May 15-17, 2008 (January 2008)
The Department of Physics at the University of South Carolina is inviting physics leaders to lecture on the latest research in neutrino physics resulting from an explosion of new data and tools to interpret the data. As well as keeping the physics community informed, this symposium is expected to stimulate working relationships among them. The symposium will also celebrate the 75th birthdays of Frank Avignone and Ettore Fiorini and commemorate the 75th birthday of the late Peter Rosen. Financial support is expected to be available for a limited number of graduate students. ORAU is a co-sponsor of the event.
Learn more on the symposium Web site.
ORAU Council Meeting Set for March 4-5, 2008 (January 2008)
The 63rd Annual Meeting of the Council of Sponsoring Institutions will be held at the Oak Ridge Center for Advanced Studies (ORCAS). In conjunction with the meeting, ORCAS will host a workshop on Relationships Between Universities, National Laboratories, and the Department of Energy. Successful collaborations between universities and DOE labs and opportunities for the future collaborations and DOE extramural funding will be highlighted.
Learn more and register online to attend.
Global Lab Launched at Imperial College London (October 2007)
The Global Lab at Imperial College London recently launched, allowing scientists there to use and manipulate—in real-time—leading multi-million dollar scientific instruments and technology in the United States. 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. The Lambda Rail can move vast amounts of data virtually instantaneously across thousands of miles.
The Global Lab has been established as part of the AtlanTICC Alliance, a sustainable energy research consortium comprising Imperial College London, Georgia Institute of Technology and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Read the complete ORNL news release and the AtlanTICC Alliance news story.
University of Cincinnati Receives $400 million PACE In-Kind Contribution for Software; Largest Contribution in School's History (October 2007)
Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE)—a consortium of international companies—announced that the University of Cincinnati is receiving a highly competitive, in-kind contribution commercially valued at more than $420 million for a state-of-the-art software package.
The multimillion dollar software was used to create special effects in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. UC students will also benefit from learning about its practical applications beyond movie effects. For example, it could be used for accident and safety testing via computer simulations or medical testing (e.g., blood flow passing through artificial heart valves) via simulations.
Read the complete University of Cincinnati news release.
Florida International University's International Hurricane Research Center Featured in Wall Street Journal (August 2007)
FIU's International Hurricane Research Center "Wall of Wind" was featured recently in the Wall Street Journal. The article describes how FIU and an insurer that incurred hundreds of millions of dollars in losses during recent hurricanes are teaming up to find ways to help buildings survive massive storms.
The Wall of Wind consists of six fans, stacked 16 feet high with each hooked up to a powerful motor. The setup can create gusts of well over 100 miles per hour. FIU and an affiliate of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd., a catastrophe insurer, have teamed to study how hurricane winds attack vulnerable parts of a building, such as where the roof meets the walls. Researchers are testing devices that may help protect the buildings.
Read the full story on wsj.com and view the accompanying video.
Carolina Universities Form Photonics Consortium (July 2007)
The Carolinas Photonics Consortium (CPC) announces the signing of the CPC Inter-Institutional Agreement by North Carolina State University, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Western Carolina University, Clemson University and Duke University.
The agreement provides the foundation for collaborative university work aimed at the commercialization of photonics or light-based technologies. Photonics-based technologies are used in a wide array of everyday products, including: DVD players, long distance communication, medical and dental surgeries, dash board lighting, missile guidance, and garage door sensors. Photonic technologies are being used to complement or replace electronics in almost every facet of our lives. Recent advances include high intensity lighting, biochemical detection, high powered lasers for manufacturing needs, and early cancer detection.
One of the primary goals of the CPC is the commercialization of photonics-based research by awarding funds to competitively submitted proposals from the five campuses. For more information, go to http://carolinasphotonics.com/
Howard University Names McGee VP for Research and Compliance (June 2007)
Oliver G. McGee III, Ph.D., has been appointed vice president for Research and Compliance at ORAU consortium member Howard University effective July 1, 2007.
McGee will oversee all aspects of the research and sponsored programs administrative enterprise. Working closely with the provost and vice president for Health Sciences, he will shape academic and fiscal research policies, manage the process for the submission of proposals and the subsequent administration of grants, contracts and cooperative agreements awarded to Howard University and Howard University Hospital, and represent the University’s research interests to federal, state and local governments, industry, foundation, consortia, and other national and international constituencies.
Read more at Howard University's news room.
ORAU Sending 10 Young Scientists to Meet Nobel Laureates (June 2007)
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. Read the full news release.
Deadline Nears for Eighth Annual ORAU/ORNL Graduate Student Fair (June 2007)
Friday, July 13 is the deadline for signing up to tell students about your academic institution at the 8th Annual ORAU/ORNL Graduate Student Fair in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
About 150 students from across the country will present posters of their research at ORNL during an all-day session on Wednesday, Aug. 8. Later that day from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., ORAU will sponsor a reception and recruitment fair at the Pollard Technology Conference Center in Oak Ridge. ORAU will offer table space for recruiting purposes (limit one table-two people per institution). Table location will be assigned on a first come first served basis.
Contact Ann Farler at ann.farler@orau.org to register. If you anticipate participating in the poster sessions at ORNL, be aware that increased security concerns require that you have early approval to go to the lab. Let us know ASAP, if you plan to go to the lab. U.S. citizens must apply by July 28, and non-citizens will have to apply for visit approval by June 19. Contact Cheryl Terry at cheryl.terry@orau.org to provide the information required for visit approval.
MSU Hosts First Leg of Security Competition Leading to $500,000 Prize (June 2007)
Mississippi State will be the sole American university sponsor for the first part of the Global Security Challenge business plan competition. The competition offers entrepreneurs in the security field an opportunity to win a $500,000 grant and mentorship by leading venture capitalists.
Based in London, England, the annual worldwide competition seeks to identify the most promising security start-ups, as well as innovators who are developing new technologies that could "make the world a safer place," said Simon Schneider, Global Security Challenge's co-director.
The competition is open to individuals and newly established companies offering technology-based security solutions ranging from encryption software to biometric applications. Entrants must submit executive summaries of their business ideas before June 30. Guidelines and the timetable are available at www.GlobalSecurityChallenge.com
ORAU and NEES Pen Agreement for Earthquake Engineering Collaboration (May 2007)
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. For more details, read the ORAU news release.
ORAU Awards Research Grants to 30 Junior Faculty at Member Universities (May 2007)
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. For additional information, including the list of recipients, read the ORAU news release.
Texas Students Win $25K at ORNL Nano Competition (April 2007)
A team from the University of Texas at Austin won the Nano Idea to Product competition held during Nano Nexus 2007 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory last week.
The business contest, which was co-sponsored by ORAU, brought together 15 teams from 12 universities to pitch nanotechnology-based products and business concepts to a panel of judges from industry, academia and venture capital firms. The University of Texas at Austin received a $25,000 prize. Runners up were teams from Louisiana Tech, which placed second, and Vanderbilt universities.
Profiles of the winning teams as well as all other teams participating can be found on the Nano Nexus 2007 Team profile page. For more information on the competition, go to www.nanonexus.org.
Eight New Members Elected to ORAU Board of Directors (April 2007)
The Oak Ridge Associated Universities’ (ORAU) Board of Directors announced the addition of eight new members at the 62nd annual meeting of the ORAU Council of Sponsoring Institutions held recently in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The board provides policy and fiduciary oversight of ORAU operations for its membership. Please read the full release for the list.
Sands Joins UAB as Associate Provost (April 2007)
Harlan M. Sands, who has previously served as the ORAU member councilor from Florida International University, has accepted the position of associate provost for administration and finance at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Sands' new appointment will become effective on June 1, 2007. For more details, please visit the UAB Web site and read their press release.
Getting Great Ideas to Market is ORAU Board and Council Focus (March 2007)
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 at the Oak Ridge Center for Advanced Studies on March 6-7, 2007. The workshop was part of the 62nd annual meeting of the ORAU board and council.
Read what the various speakers had to say on this topic.
University of Virginia Professor Recognized for His "Lab-on-a-Chip" Advance (March 2007)
Chemistry professor James Landers is a master of compression. He has reduced an entire laboratory for DNA analysis to a chip the size of a common everyday microscope slide. Asked about the advantages of his Lilliputian laboratory, he’s appropriately succinct: “With a lab-on-a-chip, it takes just 30 minutes to do the work it would take three technicians and three instruments to complete in a week.”
Read the entire article at the University of Virginia Web site.
George Mason University Researcher Wins $1 Million Prize for Creating Arsenic Filtration System (March 2007)
Abul Hussam, a chemistry professor at ORAU member university George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, Va., has won the $1 million Grainger Prize for Sustainability for 2007. The National Academy of Engineering awards the prize for research leading to cost effective and reliable means of removing arsenic from drinking water.
Hussam devised a filtration system that uses sand, charcoal, and pieces of brick and iron to remove arsenic from well water poisoned by arsenic, a naturally occuring element that has no color or taste but can cause cancer and other illnesses when ingested by those drinking water from tainted wells.
You can read more about Professor Hussam's award winning efforts at the GMU Web site.
New Senior Appointments Announced at Member HBCUs (January 2007)
Dr. Stanley F. Battle has been appointed chancellor of North Carolina A&T State University. He was most recently president of Coppin State University. Battle earned a bachelor’s from Springfield College, a master’s from the University of Connecticut and a master’s and doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Wayne J. Riley has been named the 10th president of Meharry Medical College (Tenn.). He was most recently vice president and vice dean for health affairs and governmental relations at Baylor College of Medicine. Riley earned a bachelor’s from Yale University, a master’s from Tulane University, an MBA from Rice University and a medical degree from Morehouse School of Medicine.
Dr. Robert Hampton has been appointed executive vice president and provost at Tennessee State University. He had been the chancellor’s faculty fellow and a professor of sociology at the City University of New York. Hampton earned a bachelor’s from Princeton University and a master’s and doctorate from the University of Michigan.
Call for Applications for 2007 ORCAS Summer Student Internship Program (January 2007)
Graduate students attending ORAU member institutions are eligible to apply for the 2007 Summer Student Internship Program, a paid internship at the Oak Ridge Center for Advanced Studies, located on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory campus in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The deadline is March 2. Areas of focus for the program include nanotechnology, climate modelling, energy technology and policy, and land use changes, populations, and housing. More information about the program, eligibility requirements and application materials can be found at orcas.orau.org/internships/overview.htm.
Call for Student Nominees to Attend Nobel Laureate Meeting (January 2007)
ORAU Sponsoring Institutions are invited to make nominations for graduate students to attend the 2007 Nobel Laureate meeting in Lindau, Germany, July 1-6. Since 1951, Nobel Prize winners and an international group of students have met annually for a week in Lindau. In addition to sponsorship by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, which is managed by ORAU, several other agencies and organizations sponsor the program, including the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. All nominations must be received electronically by Feb. 28, 2007. For more information about eligibility requirements and how to submit a nomination, go to www.orau.org/lindau/.
Deadline for ORAU Annual Meeting Nears (January 2007)
The deadline for registering for the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Council of Sponsoring Institutions is Friday, Feb. 9. The meeting will be held beginning at 3:15 p.m., Tuesday, March 6 and ending at 1:15 p.m., Wednesday, March 7, at the Oak Ridge Center for Advanced Studies (ORCAS) on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory campus in Oak Ridge, Tenn. In conjunction with the ORAU annual meeting, ORCAS will host a workshop on Innovation and Academia. More information including the meeting and workshop agenda as well as proxy and registration information is available at www.orau.org/innovation.
Call for Proposal for Review Coordinators for 2007 Powe Awards (January 2007)
ORAU is seeking 30 Review Coordinators to review applications for the 2007 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award Program. Review Coordinators, who must be ORAU Councilors, are sought for all discipline areas. Those wishing to serve as Review Coordinators must contact Ann Farler (ann.farler@orau.org or 865-576-1898) by Friday, Feb. 9. For more information about the role and responsibilities of the Review Coordinator, please contact Farler.
The deadline for applying for a Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Award is Friday, Feb. 2. All applications must be sent electronically to ann.farler@orau.org. Fax submittals will not be accepted. Applications will be reviewed in March/April, and awards will be announced in May.
NSF Gives $5 Million to Evolution Research
(Florida State University, October 2006)
Just how do changes in the environment cause organisms to evolve—and how do those evolving organisms then change the ecosystem? To answer those big biology questions, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $5 million grant over five years to an interdisciplinary research team that includes Florida State University College of Arts and Sciences Dean Joseph Travis, the FSU Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Biological Science and a noted expert in population biology. More...
Alabama A&M University, ORAU Co-Sponsor Nobel Laureate Lecture (September 2006)
Alabama A&M University in Normal, Ala. and ORAU are co-sponsors of a Nobel Laureate lecture, “The Universe is a Strange Place,” on Oct. 20. MIT Physics Professor Frank Wilczek, along with two of his colleagues, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004. Wilczek will present the lecture and sign copies of his book, “Fantastic Realities.” Alabama A&M University is a member of ORAU’s HBCU/MEI Council. For more information on the lecture, including time and location, go to www.physics.aamu.edu/
Consortium Members Receive NSF Partnership Awards To Enhance Materials Research (August 2006)
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced awards for six new Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials (PREMs). The partnerships are designed to link minority-serving institutions with centers and facilities funded by NSF’s Division of Materials Research for long-term research and education collaboration in the material sciences.
Of the six new PREMs, four are ORAU members and one partner is an ORAU member (listed below in bold text):
- Jackson State University (partner: Univ. of CA, Santa Barbara) – awarded $2.75 million
- Howard University (partner: Johns Hopkins University) – awarded $2.75 million
- Tuskegee University (partner: Cornell University) – awarded $2.55 million
- University of New Mexico (partner: Harvard University) – awarded $2.5. million
For more information about the awards, see the NSF press release.
2006 Powe Award Winners Announced (May 2006)
As an investment in the future of science education, Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) has made its annual selection of Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award winners. For the academic year 2006-2007, ORAU has chosen 25 junior faculty from its member institutions. More...
61st Annual ORAU Board and Council Meeting Shines Spotlight on Globalization (March 2006)
In recent years, higher education has become a global enterprise with American universities competing on a universal stage for the best faculty and students and locating campuses in other countries. More...
ORAU Board Welcomes Seven New Universities to Consortium (March 2006)
ORAU welcomed seven universities as the newest members of its consortium during the 61st annual meeting of the ORAU Council of Sponsoring Institutions held in Oak Ridge. More...