|
|
| |
ORNL’s mission is to
provide solutions to America’s grand scientific challenges. |
|
| |
A History of Great Science
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the Department of Energy’s largest science and energy laboratory. Managed since April
2000 by a partnership of the University of Tennessee and Battelle,
ORNL was established in 1943 as a part of the secret Manhattan
Project to pioneer a method for producing and separating plutonium.
During the 1950s and 1960s, ORNL became an international center for
the study of nuclear energy and related research in the physical and
life sciences. With the creation of DOE in the 1970s, ORNL’s mission
broadened to include a variety of energy technologies and
strategies. Today the laboratory supports the nation with a
peacetime science and technology mission that is just as important
as, but very different from, its role during the Manhattan Project.
 Laboratory
Director Dr. Thomas E. Mason is an international
leader in the application of neutron scattering techniques to the
study of the structure and dynamics of materials. He led the
construction of one of the nation’s largest science facilities, the
$1.4 billion Spallation Neutron Source, at ORNL. Dr. Mason served as
an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, a Senior Scientist at Risø
National Laboratory in Denmark, and a Postdoctoral Fellow with Bell
Laboratories. He received degrees from Dalhousie University and
McMaster University in Canada. Dr. Mason was most recently Associate
Laboratory Director for Neutron Sciences at ORNL and is a Fellow of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The Lab at a Glance ORNL has a staff of more than 4,200 and annually hosts approximately
3,000 guest researchers who spend two weeks or longer in Oak Ridge.
Annual funding exceeds $1.7 billion. As an international leader in a
range of scientific areas that support the Department of Energy’s
mission, ORNL has six major mission roles: neutron science, energy,
high-performance computing, systems biology, materials science at
the nanoscale, and national security. ORNL’s leadership role in the
nation’s energy future includes hosting the U.S. project office for
the ITER international fusion experiment and the Office of
Science−sponsored Bioenergy Science Center.
World’s Largest Facility for Materials
Research Completed on budget and on schedule, the
$1.4 billion Spallation Neutron Source, combined with the upgraded
High Flux Isotope Reactor, makes Oak Ridge the world’s foremost
center for neutron science research.
A Campus for the Next Generation of
Research ORNL has recently completed a $350 million project
to provide a modern campus for the next generation of great science.
A unique combination of federal, state, and private funds is
supporting the construction of 13 new facilities, including the
Laboratory for Comparative and Functional Genomics, the Center for
Nanophase Materials Sciences, the Advanced Microscopy Laboratory,
the Office of Science’s Leadership Computing Facility for
unclassified high-performance computing, and the state-funded joint
institutes for computational sciences, biological sciences, and
neutron sciences.
Community Service
UT-Battelle has provided $8 million in support of math and science
education, economic development, and other projects in the greater
Oak Ridge region, including a leadership role in the $55 million
renovation of Oak Ridge High School.
Point of Contact:
Billy Stair, Director, Communications and External Relations
Phone: 865-574-4160 • E-mail:
stairb@ornl.gov
www.ornl.gov |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
