UT-Battelle, LLC, was established in 2000 as a private not-for-profit company for the sole purpose of managing and operating the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy. Formed as a 50-50 limited liability partnership between the University of Tennessee and Battelle Memorial Institute, UT-Battelle is the legal entity responsible delivering the Department of Energy’s research mission at ORNL.
Both UT and Battelle are committed to serving the U.S. Department of Energy by enhancing ORNL's leadership in scientific research, laboratory operations and community service. As ORNL's largest research partner, the University of Tennessee strengthens the Laboratory’s partnerships among state and regional stakeholders. Battelle's founding purpose, “science in service to humanity,” expresses a special responsibility to the pursuit, and the benefits, of scientific discovery.
UT-Battelle places a particular emphasis on promoting science education and has donated more than $8 million to regional outreach initiatives – including $4.5 million for science education – since becoming the managing contractor of ORNL in April 2000. As part of a philosophy of “legacy investments,” UT-Battelle has equipped more than 40 high school science laboratories and recently announced a $100,000 donation to help build new laboratories at Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge campus. UT-Battelle was a leader in the $55 million renovation of Oak Ridge High School, which included a $2 million gift and loaned executives for the project’s design, communication and fundraising efforts.
- A 7,500-person R&D organization, founded in 1929 in Columbus, Ohio, as a non-profit charitable trust with annual revenues of more than $3 billion.
- Manages or co-manages several other major research facilities, including DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (since 1965), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (since 1998), Brookhaven National Laboratory (since 1998) and Idaho National Laboratory (since 2005); corporate laboratories in Columbus, Ohio, and other U.S. and European locations.
- Conducts more than 5,000 current projects for 1,100 government and industrial clients.
- Winner, including those received by its affiliate laboratories, of 191 prestigious “R&D 100” awards given annually by R&D Magazine for the world’s top innovations.
- Winner of 41 Federal Laboratory Consortium Awards for outstanding accomplishments in science and technology.
- Established in 1794, UT has 46,000 students located at five campuses with an annual budget in excess of $1.5 billion.
- The University of Tennessee is classified as a research university with very high research activity (RU/VH) by the Carnegie Commission. The university conducts externally-funded research totaling more than $300 million annually, including some $17.3 million annually in research sponsored by ORNL.
- Areas of joint research with ORNL include the Bioenergy Science Center’s work on cellulosic ethanol; the Center for Computational Sciences partnership with the National Science Foundation; and the Science Alliance, with divisions in biological, chemical, physical, and mathematical/computer science.
- UT/ORNL Joint Institutes and Centers include Biological Sciences, Computational Sciences, Neutron Sciences, Heavy Ion Research and the National Transportation Center.