ORAU’s Innovation Partnerships Grant (IPG) program is structured to build stronger relationships between university members and ORAU collaborators by focusing on research and education topics that align well with ORAU’s expertise and current priorities. The applications for ORAU funding center around focused workshops/conferences that highlight the university’s strategic STEM research and education growth areas and where collaborations with other member universities would add value. ORAU is specifically interested in funding events that can bring more thought leadership around the topic of building a national strategy for STEM education and workforce capacity building.
Examples of ORAU’s Innovation Partnership Grants for 2024 include:
The University of Michigan’s Harper Academy 4 Future Nuclear Engineers
The Academy was a four-week residential program that exposed students to nuclear engineering careers and prepared them to successfully enroll in a nuclear engineering program. The focus on nuclear energy lends itself to the mission of ORAU’s STEM Accelerator.
During the event, students experienced the independence and challenges of college student life, enjoyed time with other Harper Academy participants discovering what it takes to be a nuclear climate change agent and took part in exciting research opportunities through hands-on activities.
Appalachian State University’s “Understanding and addressing health disparities in rural central and southcentral Appalachia” event at Appalachian State University
The event brought together academic researchers from Appalachian State University, East Tennessee State University, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest University School of Medicine and numerous regional-based public health professionals. During the two-day event, participants were able to engage in great discussion about the assets an
needs of the Appalachian region and to forge new and ongoing collaborative opportunities and partnerships.
The event included breakout presentations centered around key themes impacting northwestern North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and southwestern Virginia region, as well as poster presentations, group discussion, and group collaboration and analysis aimed at forging ongoing partnerships. ORAU Senior Director of Health Policy Brenda Blunt served as a keynote speaker for the event.
The University of Georgia-hosted 2024 Spring Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute
This conference was attended by more than two dozen other ORAU university consortium member schools. The focus area of the conference was the climate and environment—in particular, the specific areas of clean energy technologies development, energy sustainability, environmental justice, emerging technologies, measurement and impact assessment (of air quality), diversity and inclusion, and data science and analytics. ORAU Health Education Specialist Will Artley served as the subject matter expert.
“Having the chance to educate college graduate students was a welcomed challenge,” said Artley. “It provided an opportunity to educate them at the beginning of their careers, which is the best time to start using plain language principles. The Plain Writing Act of 2010 requires federal agencies to use clear government communication that the public can understand and use. This law applies to United States governmental agencies, but it does not apply to non-governmental groups, such as colleges and universities. That does not mean, however, that schools shouldn’t incorporate plain language into their curriculum.”
In total, there were 15 IPG program award recipients for FY24, and it’s important to note that none of this would be possible without strong relationships with university consortium members at the highest levels.
Learn more about ORAU’s Innovation Partnership Grant program.