Georgia Tech Group Visits Oak Ridge to Discuss Technology–Policy Issues and Potential Collaborations

The Georgia Tech Sam Nunn School of International Affairs visited Oak Ridge, Tenn., recently and met with representatives from the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) about technology and its relationship to government policies. ORAU organized the Georgia Tech visit.

Specifically, the discussions centered around the Oak Ridge weapons complex transformation and the nuclear renaissance, determining how governmental policy matters can be integrated into current research programs, and identifying areas for education and research collaborations relative to technology and policy.

Bernie Gourley, program manager for the Sam Nunn Security Program of the Center for International Strategy, Technology, and Policy, said that a key contribution that Georgia Tech can make is in helping technical personnel frame their language in a way that will be persuasive to the U.S. Congress, most of whom are lawyers.

Gourley noted that while Y-12 has superb uranium technical knowledge, it faces the challenge of both protecting secrets and communicating about nuclear nonproliferation, which requires some transparency about the technology involved.

Tom Berg, director of integration and partnerships at Y-12, said that working with Georgia Tech makes good sense for Y-12 in its effort to be proactive and educate its scientists and engineers in matters of policy. He explained that Y-12 could work to become policy experts on their own, but the better approach is to engage an organization like Georgia Tech, which already has the policy experts.

The Sam Nunn School is composed of faculty, a mid-career Fellow, and graduate students from various disciplines: aerospace/space systems, electrical and computer engineering, physics, international affairs and others.

Joy Brathwaite, a graduate student in aerospace/space systems, said, “One of the things I think I’ve derived is a broader knowledge of what ORNL does.”

She explained that she had viewed ORNL as mostly being focused on nuclear energy, but she learned that they are involved in cybersecurity, nanotechnology and many other endeavors.

Brathwaite said the Y-12 visit strongly emphasized to her the need for engineers who are policy knowledgeable.  She added that while the experience fueled her interest in the policy–energy relationship, her field lies in military acquisitions.

Georgia Tech faculty member Adam Stulberg said the visit to Oak Ridge was especially rewarding to the students because the weapons complex is in the midst of transition and transformation. He explained that not only can the students see how practitioners operate, but also how they adapt to change. He added that relative to national laboratories, students can see that they do not have to be nuclear engineers to play a role in addressing national security issues.

One of the speakers during the ORNL visit was Alan Icenhour, director of the Global Nuclear Security Technology Division at ORNL. “I think it’s very exciting that they [the Sam Nunn School] are here and sharing their interests,“ Icenhour said. “I believe we can find some areas in which we can collaborate with them. This is another area of outreach for the lab to work closely with universities to help build the next generation of experts, as well as find opportunities to move forward in areas of policy and technology.”

Said Cathy Fore, director of collaborative initiatives in the University Partnerships Office, ORAU: “This visit serves as a good example of how ORAU engages its member universities in emerging science and technology issues of national importance.”

Georgia Tech Sam Nunn School of International Affairs—Oak Ridge Visit Attendees

Name	Discipline	Status
Joy Brathwaite	Aerospace – Space Systems	Pre-doctoral Fellow
David Fredenburg	Materials Science and Engineering	Pre-doctoral Fellow
Bernard Gourley	Economics / Decision Science	Program Manager
Nolan Hertel	Mechanical Engineering	Professor
Stephen Horst	Electrical and Computer Engineering	Pre-doctoral Fellow
Jonathan Huang	Science, Technology, and International Affairs	Ph.D. Student
Joseph Iacobucci	Aerospace – Systems Engineering	Pre-doctoral Fellow
Margaret Kosal	International Affairs	Assistant Professor
William Kulp	Physics	Mid-Career Fellow
Edward Phelps	Bioengineering	Pre-doctoral Fellow
Adam Stulberg	International Affairs	Program Faculty
Vytautus Valancius	Computer Science	Pre-doctoral Fellow