Partnerships for Innovation
University Partnerships
ORAU/ORNL HBCU/MEI Summer Faculty Research Program
Dr. Brian Kelley, assistant professor at The University of Texas at San Antonio, spent 10 weeks at ORNL conducting research for his project “4G Radio Location in GPS Denied Environments.”
Each year, Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) co-sponsor summer research appointments for faculty of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority Educational Institutions (MEIs). The objective is to increase the number of collaborations and to foster long-term relationships between ORNL research staff and HBCU/MEI faculty members.
Successful applicants serve appointments of up to 10 weeks at ORNL, and they collaborate with the laboratory’s research staff on a diverse set of research projects ranging in scope from advanced energy, climate change impact, energy storage, national security, neutron sciences, science for extreme environments, sustainable bioenergy, systems biology and ultrascale computing.
Since it began in 2001, the ORAU/ORNL HBCU/MEI Summer Faculty Research Program has accommodated 165 research experiences for faculty representing 45 HBCUs/MEIs. Of those 165 research experiences, 50 percent of faculty participants are from ORAU sponsoring and associate members. Because of the positive relationships established between these faculty members and ORNL scientists and engineers, joint proposals, publications and expanded research collaborations have occurred. During 2011, 40 applications were received representing 29 institutions and 9 faculty members were selected.
As a co-sponsor of the program, ORAU’s University Partnerships office provides a corporate contribution of $25,000. This contribution supports the stipends paid to faculty participants who represent ORAU member universities. For 2011, Dr. Brian Kelley from the University of Texas at San Antonio received ORAU’s corporate contribution.
The research experiences provided through this program benefit the selected faculty members and the institutions they represent in many ways, including:
- Strengthening research ambitions and collaboration network
- Advancing the university’s capacity building goals
- Building awareness among HBCU/MEIs of ORNL’s extensive research agenda
- Enhancing ORAU’s partnership with ORNL
- Exemplifying the strategic mission of ORAU
2011 ORNL/ORAU HBCU/MEI Faculty Summer Research Program
Dr. Brian Kelley
Assistant professor in Communications
The University of Texas at San Antonio, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Project: Worked with ORNL mentor Dr. Stephen Smith on the project “4G Radio Location in GPS Denied Environments.” Kelley had a theory of a new style of radio location that could operate in environments where GPS is not functional, and ORNL provided the opportunity to put theories into practice.
Project Purpose: To develop next generation radio location systems with superior characteristics to conventional GPS radio locations. The system Kelley modeled at ORNL can be deployed using either terrestrial transmitters, geosynchronous satellites, or both. Simulations show that the system has the potential for adaptable sensitivity, an ability to avoid interference, and can operate at low signal powers and fading channels.
On favorite parts of the program: “On Fridays, the faculty researchers had the opportunity to attend lunch-time presentations delivered by many of the directors at ORNL. The information sharing has been fantastic.”
On the experience: “Though I collaborated with many brilliant technologists in industry, I had not had an opportunity to conduct research in a federal research lab since graduate school. ORNL’s staff has an amazing reputation. The experience has been fantastic.”