ORAU

🏖️ When most people hear the word “corona,” they are likely to think of summer and a cold beer. Veronika Jercic, Ph.D., NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow, thinks about the Sun. ☀️ The corona is the Sun’s outer atmosphere, a turbulent region where enormous structures of plasma, known as prominences or filaments, can erupt with enough force to send billions of tons of charged particles racing toward Earth. “They’re like clouds on the sun,” Jercic said. “Unlike the clouds on Earth, they are much denser, much heavier and colder than the corona in which they are situated.” Those “clouds” are the focus of Jercic’s research at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where she is in the second year of her fellowship. The NASA NPP program is administered by ORAU. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4gm8m1l #FurtherTogether #NASA NPP

We are incredibly proud to host the the first-ever Rural Health Research Innovation Cluster workshop. It’s been a great day so far!

📸 “He is the picture of unflagging hope and of compassionate concern” That was how the Oak Ridger described Dr. Gould Andrews, the second director of the Medical Division operated by the Oak Ridge Institute for Nuclear Studies, now ORAU. 💉 Andrews was a pioneering hematologist who left his mark on nuclear medicine and radiation therapy. His legacy expanded far beyond Oak Ridge and East Tennessee. ⚛️ Learn more: https://bit.ly/4z2Wytb #NuclearMedicine #RadationTherapy #ORAUHistory

Team ORAU showed out for the East Tennessee Economic Council (ETEC) Nuclear Opportunities Workshop. For those who are there, it’s been good to see you across the event and at booth #37. Michelle Goodson, director of the ORAU STEM Accelerator, presented data from the Tennessee Nuclear Energy Workforce Demand Assessment during a session on workforce demand. Goodson was joined by Stephanie Lutz and Emily Livingson from Deloitte, who collaborated on the study. Full results of the assessment will be released by ORAU soon. #NuclearEnergy #WorkforceDemand

🚨NEW ON OUR POD! Vit Ruzicka, Ph.D., is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow who works with hyperspectral satellite images to detect methane signatures in the atmosphere. Methane is a transparent gas that cannot be seen by the human eye but hyperspectral satellites, along with machine learning models, can help determine if there are leaks in facilities or pipelines that store methane. Because methane is a greenhouse gas, detecting large emissions is important. In addition to his research focus, Ruzicka shares his journey from the Czech Republic to the United Kingdom to the United States, and how working for NASA was dream that became a reality. Listen: https://bit.ly/3TG0zUf #FurtherTogether #NASANPP

We look forward to welcoming representatives from 35 members of the ORAU University Consortium to Knoxville for our first ever Rural Health Research Innovation Cluster Workshop on Thursday. Workshop participants will discuss and begin working toward solutions centered on four strategic focus areas: ▶️ Workforce development and retention ▶️ Women’s Health ▶️ Access to Care ▶️ Preparedness and resilience The workshop is the beginning of the conversation around these critical issues. Watch for more to come in the days and weeks ahead. #FurtherTogether #ORAURuralHealth #RuralHealthRIC

Day 1 of ETEC NOW is under way! Look for members of the ORAU team at booth #37 in the exhibit hall. Tomorrow, Michelle Goodson, director of the ORAU STEM Accelerator, is featured speaker and panel moderator for a conversation on Workforce Demand set to begin at 1:10 p.m. We look forward to seeing you this week!

Ashley Stowe has been named ORAU Chief Growth and Partnerships Officer. In his new role, Stowe will work to combine the company’s business development, government services, and research and university partnerships organizations into a single unit focused on strategic growth and partnerships that drive national impact. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3TCa5HZ #FurtherTogether #StrategicGrowth

🤝🏽 Two alumni of the Appalachian STEM Academy returned to Oak Ridge this year to serve as mentors for participating students. ⚛️ Tamari Bailey and Dominick Dos Santos, returned as “near-peer” mentors after participating in ASA as high school students in 2023. Learn more about Bailey’s and Dos Santos’s experience, their plans for the future, and how they contributed to this year’s ASA ▶️ https://bit.ly/4qdsbfP #STEMEducation #AppalachianSTEMAcademy #Mentorship

ORAU awarded five William G. Pollard Scholarships of $2,500 each to students pursuing undergraduate studies for the 2026-27 academic year. The recipients of this year’s scholarships are Caroline Ferguson, Erin Oswald, Nic Reynolds, Jada Robinson and Jonathan Ward. ORAU awards Pollard scholarships annually to employees’ children who display exceptional achievements in their high school or undergraduate studies. To be considered, applicants must submit official transcripts from all high schools and colleges attended, three references (at least two of which must be from teachers), and a 500-word essay describing their professional and personal interests. Learn more about this year’s Pollard Scholarship recipients: https://bit.ly/3TOV1qo #FurtherTogether #PollardScholars #Education