The Division of Engineering is working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to forge a partnership that will enable graduate students to gain practical laboratory experience.
ORNL is a multi-program science and technology laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Under the joint program, graduate students at Brown may spend at least a semester at ORNL involved in research in a number of fields, primarily materials science.
The project remains under discussion, without a set timeline. "We are still in the preliminary stages, but I hope the first exchanges can take place during the next academic year," said Clyde Briant, dean of engineering.
Jeffrey Wadsworth, director of ORNL and a member of the External Advisory Board for the Division of Engineering, initiated talks. "Jeff Wadsworth was very encouraging in getting the discussions started, and getting both sides talking. The planning's been going on for nearly a year now," Briant said.
The partnership would have a number of key objectives.
"The main purpose of this program is to bring researchers together from Brown and Oak Ridge, from different fields. We also aim to aid Brown in its educational goals, and to try to recruit the best graduates for our laboratory," said Lee Riedinger, associate laboratory director for university partnerships.
Riedinger said Brown graduate students could take advantage of the technology available at ORNL for research. "We think the students at Brown could use our large-scale supercomputers to run simulations and models in a number of areas," he said.
Briant expects the program to have a modest beginning. "We may start with two or three students going to Oak Ridge. It may expand to more than 10 students eventually, but these programs tend to reach their own equilibrium," he said.
The exchange may work in both directions, with staff members at ORNL also coming to teach at Brown. "The staff at Oak Ridge has tremendous expertise, and on the educational front, it would be good for our undergraduates and graduates," Briant said.
Riedinger noted the partnership with Brown being explored would be "unique" and different from ORNL's existing partnerships with other universities, which include the University of Tennessee, Duke University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Georgia Institute of Technology. "We currently work with eight universities in the Southeast. But Brown would be the first case where it's not geographically near, and where we try to do something special, in part focused on educational goals," he said.
The Herald first reported in January that the University was pursuing a interdisciplinary program with Oak Ridge as part of "a strategic plan" to enhance partnerships with other institutions, which several academic departments have begun to pursue. The Department of Neuroscience will offer a graduate neuroscience program with the National Institutes of Health next fall, while the Department of American Civilization's Master's in Public Humanities program intends to send students on attachments at various museums in the Northeast.
