ORAU works in partnership with NOAA to perform advanced weather and climate research. ORAU’s atmospheric scientists at ATDD provide engineering expertise on the development and deployment of instrumentation and data analysis for short intensive campaigns to multi-decade, nationwide climate monitoring stations and systems.
ORAU is excited to announce the return of its annual Extreme Classroom Makeover, a $25,000 competition aimed at empowering East Tennessee educators to revolutionize STEM education through the integration of modern technology.
Sara Howard, Ph.D., is an epidemiologist in the Health Studies group at ORAU who earned her doctoral degree in 2025. For part of her dissertation, she used machine learning techniques to analyze data from the National Supplemental Screening Program, which ORAU manages with several partners for the U.S. Department of Energy, to examine the link between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and occupational exposures. While we often think of COPD in the context of smoking, Howard wanted to look at the potential to be exposed to something other than smoking. Her dissertation, An Epidemiologic Study of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in the United States, was published by the University of Tennessee in 2025. In this conversation, Howard talks about data in the context of epidemiology and the rising use of Artificial Intelligence and how, when used correctly, it can be transformative for data analysis.
