ORAU in the News

Oak Ridge Associated Universities has awarded competitive research grants totaling $180,000 to 36 junior faculty from its member institutions. Oakland University, a member university, partnered with ORAU to fund one award, according to a news release. The annual grants are made through the company’s Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Awards program, which provides seed grants to enrich the research and professional growth of young faculty.

The science lab at Halls High School is getting a major upgrade thanks to Oak Ridge Associated Universities. ORAU announced that Abby Rase, Halls High’s science department chair and biology, anatomy/physiology teacher, as the winner of its 2025 Extreme Classroom Makeover competition.

An Oak Ridge nonprofit said a Halls High School teacher would get a $25,000 donation so she could purchase digital microscopes, water distillers, digital pH meters and more for her school's science lab. She was surprised with the donation after her principal asked her to help a fellow teacher in the science lab. Rase went to the lab to help, where she was met with balloons, cameras, around 80 of her students and the $25,000 check.

Abby Rase, Halls High School's science department chair and biology and anatomy/physiology teacher, is the winner of the 2025 ORAU Extreme Classroom Makeover. She'll receive $25,000 in upgraded technology for the lab. Rase learned the news when she walked into a surprise gathering with balloons, a cookie cake and her cheering students.

Athea Steiger of Salamanca, N.Y., was one of 52 middle school students chosen to participate in the recent Appalachian STEM Academy. This one-week summer program allows students to interact and work with scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and other science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) experts. The program is sponsored by the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Dr. Agnieszka Truszkowska, an assistant professor in the College of Engineering at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System, has won a 2024 Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Award. The national honor is a one-year $5,000 commitment aimed at enriching the research skills and professional growth of young faculty members at ORAU member institutions. Truszkowska’s research focuses on multiscale modeling in microtechnology-based devices and porous materials to develop new models that advance these systems with applications in chemical, petroleum and biomedical engineering, as well as biotechnology.

Jenni Hoff, Ph.D., assumed the duties of acting project director for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) on the Energy Employee’s Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). Hoff replaced Kate Kimpan, who retired after 18 years as project director, effective June 8.

Halloween is the busy season for Whitney Granger’s glow-in-the-dark jewelry business. During spooky season, Granger said, there’s a niche group of uranium glass enthusiasts who wear the jewelry to black-light dinner parties. Hosts pull out their fanciest glow-in-the-dark vintage glassware.

Wow factor aside, people are, of course, curious: “Is uranium glass safe?”

Paul Frame, a senior health physicist who specializes in radiation protection and who started Tennessee’s Oak Ridge Associated Universities’ uranium glass collection in the 1980s, said it’s completely safe.

Shan Li, assistant professor at the College of Health and in the College of Education, was selected as one of this year's recipients of the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from ORAU. Li's research focuses on designing intelligent learning and training applications, as well as investigating the mechanisms of learning and behavioral change.

George Mason University's James C. Witte, professor of sociology and director of the school's' Institute for Immigration Research (IIR), and Michelle S. Dromgold-Sermen, assistant director of IIR, received grant funding from ORAU through its Innovation Partnerships Program for their participation in a conference focused on "Refugee Resettlement and STEM Education."

The conference will focus on how STEM-oriented educational opportunities through high schools, registered apprenticeships, community college, and four-year institutions can all play a significant role in addressing urgent humanitarian needs, while also expanding the nation’s STEM workforce. 

Ren Wang, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology, has received a Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) for his research using insights from the human adaptive immune system to make artificial intelligence systems more resilient. 

Daniel Becker, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Biology in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, has received an Oak Ridge Associated Universities Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award for his continued research on bat migration in western Oklahoma.

Danielle Roderick at Catlettsburg Elementary School won several awards that came with over $27,000 in prize money for an extreme classroom makeover. On Friday, Oak Ridge Associated Universities selected the 4th-grade teacher as the 2023 Extreme Classroom Makeover grand prize winner of $25,000.

A Sevier County teacher has earned $27,500 to update her classroom technology through ORAU’s Extreme Classroom Makeover contest. Danielle Roderick, a fourth-grade teacher, was surprised with her win during a pep rally at Catlettsburg Elementary School on March 24. She won both the competition’s $25,000 grand prize and the $2,500 Viewers’ Choice Award for her video submission.

Catlettsburg Elementary School’s Danielle Roderick won $27,500 in the Oak Ridge Associated Universities’ Extreme Classroom Makeover competition. Roderick, who had no clue her fourth grade class won the video contest, was surprised at a pep rally held to make the announcement on Friday. The award goes to teachers who are seeking to incorporate STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) into their classroom.