ORAU's work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division focuses on climate research, atmospheric chemistry and dispersion, and boundary layer characterization. The Climate Reference Network, in particular, is a series of 100+ stations around the country that collect data to monitor climate.
Since 2002, ORAU and its partners have peformed radiation dose reconstructions under the NIOSH Radiation Dose Reconstruction Project to provide critical information used in adjudicating claims filed under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.
Lakshya Sharma is student coordination manager for the Resource Center of Excellence Greater Atlanta, one of dozens of such centers around the world working to advance the United Nations' sustainable development goals. An ORAU Innovation Partnership Grant was awarded to RCE Greater Atlanta and Georgia Tech to help fund an Urban Horticulture and Permaculture Workshop, which brought together students from Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia, Georgia State, Morehouse College, Spelman College and other institutions across the Atlanta area. In this episode of Further Together, Sharma talks to host Michael Holtz and guest host Tracie Curtright from ORAU's Research and University Partnerships Office about the workshop. Sharma says students learned to incorporate plant life into their daily lives by gardening where they are. Sharma says the series of workshops also focused on the mental health benefits of caring for and having plants in your physical environment. Curtright shared details about the IPG program, and how ORAU's university partners can apply to use these $4,000 grants to grow attendance and dissemination of events like the one Sharma and his team organized. To learn more about the IPG program, visit https://orau.org/partnerships/grant-programs/innovation-partnerships.html
