2007 ORAU Annual Report - Oak Ridge Associated Universities

Statement from
the President
Against a backdrop of dynamic global challenges and
opportunities, our nation is experiencing critical needs
in areas such as education and workforce development,
occupational healthcare, environmental cleanup,
and national security. Through a network of strategic
partnerships, ORAU continues to offer innovative
solutions to strengthen and secure America.
Our focus for both our university consortium and
business operations is reflected in our value, purposebased
strategy to:
• Strengthen America’s scientific research and
education enterprise to enhance
global competitiveness
• Build public trust and confidence in the
management of worker health and environmental
cleanup initiatives
• Enhance our nation’s preparedness to respond
to emergencies related to terrorist incidents, natural
disasters, and health threats
As a consortium of universities, our thrust is to create
and promote collaborative partnerships that advance
scientific research and education. One of our main areas
of emphasis is to invest in the professional growth of
faculty and students. We continue to offer competitive,
matching research grants for faculty and provide
opportunities for graduate students to expand their
horizons.
We also take great pride in our strategic relationship
with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and UT-
Battelle, the managing contractor for ORNL. Experience
has proven that building meaningful relationships
between and among university faculty and lab
scientists is the foundation that leads to collaboration
on major scientific initiatives. So we focus our efforts
and investment on helping universities establish those
relationships and then supporting further collaboration
where appropriate.
While this annual report highlights some notable
achievements resulting from our consortium operations
during 2007, it also points the way toward some new
initiatives that we started in 2007 and expect to mature
in 2008. During this past year, we have identified
several exciting, emerging opportunities. Battelle
invited us to provide a visiting ORAU scholar to help
in the implementation of the Ohio STEM Learning
Network, a new private sector initiative led by Battelle to
improve STEM (science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics) education at the K-12 level. In addition,
we have been working with the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) to explore how private-public partnerships
can more effectively advance science education. And
with UT-Battelle we are developing a new initiative that
would enable universities to leverage the tremendous
growth in high performance computing that is taking
place at ORNL.
ORAU’s business portfolio reflects our status as a 501(c)3
nonprofit corporation and federal contractor. Our
largest contract is to manage DOE’s Oak Ridge Institute
for Science and Education (ORISE). Federal sponsors of
other major contractual efforts include the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health, the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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