For ORAU, 2025 was one of the most challenging years in the company’s nearly 80-year history, including federal budgetary impacts, programmatic shifts, organizational restructures, contractual adjustments, staffing changes, a government shutdown and the appointment of new President and CEO Meghan Millwood.
Millwood said despite the challenges, ORAU continued to deliver outstanding performance for our federal agency customers. In her message to readers of ORAU Story, 2025 (.PDF), she writes, “While 2025 had its challenges, there was good news, including a handful of new contracts and the extension of ORISE (Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education) and NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) contracts through the 2026 fiscal year.”
Millwood and her executive leadership team developed a new strategic plan for ORAU within her first 90 days as president and CEO. A key component of the strategic plan is the ORAU Brand Story, which is built around the lifecycle of a scientific and technical worker, and encompasses these distinct phases:
- Discover (kindergarten through high school): ORAU sparks curiosity in young minds through hands-on STEM activities, competitions, educator lesson plans and tools for career exploration, fostering a lifelong love for science and technology.
- Develop (college and early career): ORAU equips emerging professionals with internships, research opportunities, and training programs, preparing them to thrive in STEM and technical careers.
- Connect (mid-career professionals): ORAU connects mid-career professionals with expert networks and collaboration opportunities, fostering innovation and advancing scientific discovery.
- Support (seasoned professionals): ORAU supports seasoned professionals in sharing their knowledge and continuing their contributions to STEM and technical excellence.
- Strengthen (worker health and community well-being): ORAU safeguards the health and resilience of workers and communities by addressing occupational health challenges, enhancing emergency preparedness, advancing public health research, and promoting safer working and living environments.
Content for ORAU Story, 2025, is organized around the brand story phases. Connection is marked with profiles of Ashley Stowe, Ph.D., chief research and university partnerships officer, and Chelsea Hill, manager of Workforce Solutions. Also featured is the Nuclear Energy Academic Roadmap, which was developed by the ORAU-led Partnership for Nuclear Energy and published in 2025.
Content in the Development phase focuses on the ORISE Research Participation Programs and the NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. Several NASA Postdoctoral Fellows are involved in various aspects of the Artemis Missions, which aim to achieve manned spaceflight to Mars.
Support phase content includes a profile of Keri Cagle, Ed.D., who was appointed ORISE director in 2025. There is also a story about the ORISE Peer Review Resource Hub, which aims to enhance the capabilities of peer reviewers and provide more meaningful evaluations for the U.S. Department of Energy and other agencies.
Content in the Strengthening phase spotlights the National Supplemental Screening Program, which provides health screenings for former energy workers, and the NIOSH Dose Reconstruction Program, which reconstructs radiation doses for former DOE and atomic weapons employees as part of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. Another story focuses on ORAU’s efforts to help mitigate the health worker shortage crisis by supporting various educational programs in East Tennessee.
Discovery content focuses on ORAU’s Extreme Classroom Makeover and Education Grants programs. ECM served as the blueprint for Extreme Trades Makeover: Future Welders, a program to strengthen the U.S. Maritime Industrial Base workforce. In fiscal year 2025, ORAU also opened the Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity in Pollard Center.
Throughout the year, ORAU continued to support important community organizations like the Dollywood Foundation’s Imagination Library, Free Clinic of Oak Ridge, Man Up to Cancer and Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee along with many more. Employees helped reach ORAU’s goal for our annual giving campaign, which supports United Way and Community Shares.