ORNL Recruitment

ORISE Helps Bring the Next Generation of Student and Faculty Researchers to Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Since 1992 when it was established as an official U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) institute, the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) has operated research participation and science education activities for Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

ORNL, which is recognized as DOE’s largest science and energy research laboratory, is home to 12 world-class scientific user facilities, more than 3,000 guest researchers each year and employs research scientists from more than 80 different countries. The lab receives more than $1 billion in annual funds for science-related projects, which includes those focused on energy, high-performance computing, national security, neutron science, advanced materials, and biological systems.

More recently, however, a heightened national focus on the development of clean energy—coupled with a large percentage of the science and technology workforce nearing retirement age—has increased the need to develop an even more aggressive recruitment strategy for attracting top scientific talent to ORNL.

Through its partnership with ORNL, ORISE administers research programs that serve more than 1,100 students, faculty and postdoctoral participants annually from colleges and universities across the U.S. and around the world. These programs allow ORNL staff to pass along their knowledge to researchers in the early part of their careers, while also providing a means for ORNL to identify and retain the top talent among the next generation of science and engineering students and faculty.

To learn more about the ORISE-managed research programs at ORNL, please visit the Science Education Programs at ORNL website.