ORAU Sending 10 Young Scientists to Meet Nobel Laureates

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 21, 2004
FY04-29

OAK RIDGE, Tenn.—Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) is sponsoring 10 outstanding graduate research participants to attend the 54th Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates and Students in Lindau, Germany, June 27–July 2.

Since 1951, Nobel Laureates in chemistry, physics and physiology/medicine have annually convened in Lindau to have open and informal meetings with students and young researchers from around the world. The meetings rotate by discipline each year. This year’s event will focus on physics.

Participants were selected from ORAU’s university consortium members to participate in activities relating to physics with Nobel Laureates. They are joining 48 other students to represent the United States along with over 500 other international students at the meeting. The other students representing the United States are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Participants are traveling to Washington, D.C., for a meeting at DOE headquarters on June 25. Then, they depart on an overnight flight to Munich, Germany, where they are transferring to buses to take them to Lindau. On June 27, the students will tour Lindau, a historic medieval island city rich in western European culture and located at the common border of Austria, Germany and Switzerland. That evening, they will attend the opening ceremony for the 54th Lindau Meeting.

Each day, Laureates will lecture on topics of their choice related to physics during morning sessions. The primary purpose of the meeting is to allow participants—most of whom are students—to benefit from informal interaction with the Nobel Prize winners. Therefore, in the afternoons, Laureates will preside over informal roundtable sessions exclusively for students. During lunches and dinners, Laureates will join participants at local restaurants for additional informal discussions. Various social events are also on the agenda, including an evening dinner gala, to allow participants to meet attendees from other countries around the world.

On July 2, participants will travel by ferry to Isle of Mainau for the closing ceremonies at the baroque Mainau Castle, the residence of Swedish patron Count Lennart Bernadotte who began the Lindau meetings in 1951. That afternoon, U.S. participants will return to Munich for the flight home or continue traveling through Europe on their own.

“Getting a chance to hear the perspectives of scientists who had truly made it, with respect to their careers, was a source of personal encouragement and a grounding experience for me, “ said Sara Aton, an ORAU-sponsored delegate to the 2003 Nobel Laureates meeting. “Meeting these men and women gave me a better sense of the long road ahead for myself and my colleagues who are just getting started in our careers in science.”

A Web site has been set up to post daily information while students are attending the meeting. Each day, photos and a summary of events will be posted. The URL for this year’s meeting is http://www.orau.gov/lindau2004.

The Web site and travel arrangements for these participants are being administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, which is managed by ORAU for the Department of Energy.

Oak Ridge Associated Universities-Sponsored Participants:

• Kristine Carlson, University of North Dakota
• Dina Eldin, Michigan State University
• Erik Emmons, University of Nevada, Reno
• Tehani Finch, Howard University
• Heidi Hester, Tulane University
• Burl Peterson, Alabama A&M University
• Matthew Quinn, University of Notre Dame
• Teri Robinson, Jackson State University
• Adrienne Wells, Duke University
• Briggs White, University of Florida