The University of Tennessee—through its managing partnership with UT-Battelle of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and with enthusiastic and substantial support from the state of Tennessee—manages $3 billion in research facilities, equipment and expertise in East Tennessee. This infusion of resources—including the Spallation Neutron Source, a $1.4 billion science project; the world’s largest unclassified supercomputer; joint research centers; state tax exemptions; and funding for faculty appointments—forms the basis for the UT-Oak Ridge partnership and is unique and uniquely successful.
The UT-Oak Ridge partnership recently received an “A” in its latest performance evaluation by the U.S. Department of Energy. The infusion of scientific capability the partners bring to the region provides a critical mass to address today’s and tomorrow’s most pressing scientific questions. Because of the close proximity of UT’s flagship campus and the national laboratory, the research and academic linkages are strong. To illustrate this point, the partnership has more than $6 million in funding for the 35 faculty with joint appointments to UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
By linking faculty expertise to world-class facilities, the potential is enormous. In key areas like high-performance computing, neutron scattering, nanotechnology and materials science, this partnership has put together the facilities, expertise and vision to be among the world leaders. It is critical that our higher educational system take a leadership role in marshaling these resources, partners, and vision so our nation can remain competitive in science and research. That’s more true than ever today as we face growing international challenges from China and India and elsewhere around the world.
The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences (JICS) is the first state-owned building completed on a national laboratory campus. Already home to two of the 50 fastest computers on the planet – one of which is the fastest non-classified computer in the world—UT and ORNL will soon be home to two new machines that will shatter the petascale barrier, performing more than a thousand trillion calculations per second. One of these was awarded to UT, in partnership with ORNL, in fall 2007 as part of a $65 million research grant—the largest in the university’s history.
The $11.6-million Joint Institute for Biological Sciences (JIBS) will be a fast-growing center of bioenergy and biofuels research. UT and ORNL also will manage a new $125-million bioenergy research center that will search for ways to produce alternative forms of gasoline to place the state of Tennessee as the leader in the nation’s efforts toward a reduced dependence on fossil fuels. The results of this research will be used in the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative, source of a 5-million-gallon-per-year pilot plant for demonstrating switchgrass-to-ethanol conversion.
The Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences (JINS) places UT and ORNL in a global leadership position in developing new materials. With the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) and an upgraded High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), the research community will have access to both state-of-the-art pulsed and steady-state neutron sources which largely will impact the areas of biomedical research, aircraft transportation and much more.
Co-located with the Spallation Neutron Source, the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS) offers a tremendous opportunity for UT-ORNL collaboration. The CNMS addresses the national need for facilities and methods to support research on nanoscale materials, structures, and phenomena. Within its research focus areas—and by developing strong collaborations—the center will provide access to the full range of design, synthesis, characterization, and theory/modeling/ simulation capabilities, accelerate the pace of discovery and support nanoscience research education.
Over the next few years, the $45-million Joint Institute for Advanced Materials (JIAM) will be developed as a signature building on UT’s new Cherokee Farm campus, building upon a broad and growing research partnership between the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to become one of the world’s foremost centers of materials research, expanding America's skilled labor force in multidisciplinary research and transferring that technology to the private sector. Together, UT and ORNL house some of the world's most advanced facilities in neutron scattering, nanophase materials, and high-performance computing.
The Joint Institute for Heavy Ion Research (JIHIR), founded in 1982, is a partnership between the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Vanderbilt University. The research conducted by JIHIR scientists is critical to developing an understanding of how new matter is created. By looking specifically at the role heavy ions play in the explosions of stars, researchers seek to answer questions about the formation of the basic building blocks of life on earth.
The focus of applied research in this field meshes directly with a number of strategic national priorities. A better understanding of exotic nuclei could lead to safer and more efficient nuclear power and new approaches to nuclear medicine that will allow for better medical imaging with less radiation.
In fact, the recently passed America COMPETES Act, which was spearheaded by Sen. Lamar Alexander and Rep. Bart Gordon, specifically calls for an increase in the number of students studying nuclear science to ensure that the workforce is available to support growth in the nuclear industry.
