FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2003
FY03-24
ORAU Sending Seven Students to Meet Nobel Laureates
Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) is sponsoring seven outstanding graduate research participants to attend the 53rd international convention of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany, June 30–July 4.
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.
Participants were selected from ORAU’s university consortium members to participate in activities relating to biology and medicine with Nobel Laureates. They are joining 21 other students to represent the United States along with over 400 other international students at the convention. The other students representing the United States are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine and the University of Arizona.
Participants are traveling to Washington, D.C., for a meeting at DOE headquarters on June 27. Then, they depart on an overnight flight to Frankfurt, Germany, where they are transferring to buses to take them to Lindau. On June 29, 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.
The meeting begins June 30 with welcoming ceremonies and an evening dinner and gala. The following three days, Laureates will lecture on topics related to biology or medicine, including biochemistry, biotechnology and biophysics in the mornings. In the afternoons, Laureates will preside over informal roundtable sessions. During lunches and dinners, Laureates will join participants at local restaurants for additional informal discussions.
On July 4, 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 Nobel Laureates program in 1951. That afternoon, U.S. participants will return to Frankfurt for the flight home or continue traveling through Europe on their own.
“My interactions with the laureates reminded me that the most important trait for good science is an eye for detail, and the ability to boil a problem down to its essential details,” said William Marion, an ORAU-sponsored delegate to the 2002 Nobel Laureates meeting. “I'll never forget it.”
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 www.orau.gov/orise/edu/lindau2003. The Web site and travel arrangements for all participants representing the United States are being administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, which is managed by Oak Ridge Associated Universities for the Department of Energy.
ORAU-Sponsored Participants
- Sara Aton, Washington University
- Denise Edwards, Alabama A&M University
- Jamie Frenz, Florida Atlantic University
- Kristopher Keuseman, University of North Dakota
- Denise Kothe, University of Alabama at Birmingham
- James Newcomb, Georgia State University
- Jonathan Vande Geest, University of Pittsburgh
Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) is a university consortium leveraging the scientific strength of 88 major research institutions to advance science and education by partnering with national laboratories, government agencies, and private industry. ORAU manages the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education for the U.S. Department of Energy.