2007 ORAU Annual Report - Oak Ridge Associated Universities

ORAU Partners with Oak Ridge National
Laboratory to Inspire Young Scientists to Pursue
Science and Math in College
Image Information
As part of a five-week orientation for students from the
Tennessee Governor’s Academy for Mathematics and Science,
ORAU arranged for the class to visit ORNL’s Exploratory
Visualization Environment for REsearch in Science and
Technology (EVEREST) at the Center for Computational
Science. EVEREST, a large-scale immersive venue for data
exploration and analysis, is used to investigate the intricacies
of global climate change simulations.
ORNL faces the same workforce challenge as many
organizations today—large numbers of employees
approaching retirement age. The future of the
scientific workforce at the national lab depends
on stimulating interest among students who are
choosing their career paths. The initiatives outlined
in the America COMPETES act are intended to help
address this issue, and, as ORNL’s partner in science
education, ORAU is prepared to collaborate with
ORNL in implementing the programs spelled out in
the Act.
While ORAU and ORNL have continued to administer
programs for students at the college, postgraduate,
and postdoctoral levels, this past year the two worked
together to implement new programs that reach out
to high school students, with the goal of encouraging
them to select a science or math focus in college.
Tennessee Governor’s Academy for Mathematics
and Science
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen initiated the
Governor’s Academy for Mathematics and Science
to give the state’s best and brightest students a
top-notch math and science education. The first
22 high school juniors to enter the academy
began classes in August 2007 on the campus of
the Tennessee School for the Deaf in Knoxville.
A key element to the program is the time they
are spending at ORNL, involved in real research.
ORAU coordinated the initial five-week orientation
program in Oak Ridge and matched each student
to a research project so that they can spend one
day a week at the lab under the mentorship of an
ORNL scientist.
“Governor Bredesen and ORNL agree that it
is critical to the development of these future
scientists to immerse them in real laboratorybased
research,” said ORNL’s Director of
Communications and External Relations Billy
Stair. “This experience will enhance the academic
program of these students and keep them
engaged in science so that they can become part
of our future workforce. We have the worldrenowned
research and scientists, and our partner
ORAU brings the administrative processes to make
this work.”
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The inaugural class of the Tennessee Governor’s Academy poses with
local celebrity Bill Landry, who had just performed his one-man
show in which he brings Albert Einstein to life through a theatrical
presentation about the genius’s life, philosophies, and work.
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