New Economy Institute Nominated for American Electronics Association Spirit of Endeavor Award
August 21, 2006
The New Economy Institute (NEI) was nominated today for the American Electronics Association (AEA) Southeast Spirit of Endeavor Award in the category of Leadership in Technology Education for its eKnowledgebase program.
From the list of nominations, a panel of experts from the technology industry will select up to five finalists in each of the categories. The awards will be presented on September 14, 2006 at a banquet in the Egyptian Ballroom of the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.
“We are very honored to have achieved this nomination and to receive such recognition in our region,” said Dr. Greg Sedrick, NEI Executive Director. “Tom Carson, our technology curriculum specialist, has done an amazing job putting this program together and we are certainly happy to see his hard work rewarded.”
NEI’s eKnowledgebase program is a powerful tool for spurring innovative thinking in students and teaching teamwork, using Adobe Acrobat Professional software and its Portable Document Format (PDF). Teachers and students use eKnowledgebase as a framework to capture digital repositories of information—text, spreadsheets, artwork, sound, video—in PDF. The result is a searchable resource that teachers and students contribute to and use while exploring topics.
Jim Frierson, director of the Kruesi Center for Innovation and a board member of the Chattanooga Technology Council, proposed NEI for this award.
“In creating and then deploying eKnowledgebase as a hands-on tool for teachers and students, the NEI team has shown truly innovative thinking in our community and impact on the region,” stated Frierson. “Their example is a good match for the spirit of this AeA award and the letter of its criteria.”
“With NEI’s eKnowledgebase, teachers and students are learning powerful lessons for effectively integrating technology into the classroom,” continued Frierson. “Teachers from across the state realize that technology is an excellent conduit for delivering and enhancing the curriculum and motivating students to present their best work. NEI’s eKnowledgebase program is the perfect tool to help them accomplish that goal.”
NEI was founded at Chattanooga State Technical Community College (CSTCC) under the vision of its president, Dr. James Catanzaro. To learn more about NEI or its eKnowledgebase program, please visit their website at www.neiweb.org.
College Grads in Stem Curriculum Dropping Despite Job Gains in Stem
August 01, 2006
Despite the growth in science and technology employment, college students have not followed suit with their career choices. Between 1994-2003, employment in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields rose by 23 percent compared to the 17 percent increase in non-STEM industries.
During the same time period, the percent of college graduates with STEM majors declined from 32 percent to 27 percent. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematical Trends and the Role of Federal Programs, cites inadequate academic preparation, the lack of mentors and U.S. visa policies as barriers in sustaining the nation’s competitive STEM advantage.
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Five-Year High Schools Could Boost Graduation Rate, Bredsen Says
July 30, 2006
Gov. Phil Bredesen says creating five-year high school programs that bundle together a diploma with a community college degree could help stem the state's dropout rate.
Bredesen, a Democrat who is running for re-election this fall, said he would use his second term to explore starting five-year high school programs aimed at graduating students with professional skills.
"If we can put that together, we'll both get high school graduation rates up and get college participation rates up," Bredesen said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
If students spend two years earning an associate's degree while still in high school, they would be much better prepared to enter the job market upon graduation, he said.
One field that could lend itself to the five-year plan could be nursing.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in December projected that registered nursing will create the second-largest number of new jobs among all occupations by 2014.
"If you've got an RN today, you can basically write your ticket," Bredesen said. "It's a very good place to be if you're willing to work."
Bredesen said his thoughts on five-year high schools emerged from round-table discussions with educators about how to best prepare high school students for college. The governor said he was told many seniors weren't taking rigorous coursework in their last year in high school.
Redesigning the high school curriculum to add the courses needed for an associate's degree is easier to do "if there's really kind of an extra year in there anyway," Bredesen said.
The five-year high schools plan is one of several education proposals Bredesen would make in a second term, he said. The governor previously announced his plan to expand the state's pre-kindergarten program to have enough classrooms to accommodate all 4-year-olds whose parents want to send their children.
"The emphasis on that isn't that it happens to be my favorite program or something," Bredesen said. "I just think all the evidence is that it's as good as it gets when it comes to additional investment in education."
Bredesen's likely Republican opponent in November, state Sen. Jim Bryson, wasn't impressed by Bredesen's proposals.
"It's another brass-plate program we don't need until we fix the problems we currently have with graduation rates," Bryson spokesman Lance Frizzell said.
Bryson has suggested that teaching job-specific skills at high schools or offering more Internet-based classes to rural schools would improve graduation rates. He also supports greater access to charter schools and more choice of public schools for parents.
Bryson also is hesitant to expand the pre-kindergarten program, Frizzell said.
"You're creating a bigger program there, when we've yet to figure out how to improve our high school graduation rates," he said.
Bredesen said he also would like to see more financial aid for poor students who want to go to college. The state's lottery scholarship program doesn't reach all good college candidates because it cuts off those who don't have at least a B average, he said.
The lottery scholarship program "pays an awful lot of money to kids whose parents were going to send them to college anyway," Bredesen said.
"And a lot of times people out of lower-income families may not be — because of family history and everything else — the ones with B averages. There's probably some good kids with B-minus averages."
Bredesen also hinted at a possible shake-up in the administration of public colleges and universities.
"I think very much on the agenda for me in a second term is trying to rationalize the higher education system," he said. "We have too much duplication, particularly in graduate programs.
"I don't think we're such a big or rich state that we really can afford to have more than one or two campuses that are real research-oriented," Bredesen said.
For example, other states such as Virginia focus on only one flagship university, Bredesen said. In Tennessee, the governor said, the "system has pretty much grown with every college having its constituency of legislators, and people in government who will fight for them and support that college."
Part of looking at how to streamline higher education in Tennessee will involve tweaking its governance, Bredesen said. The state has the University of Tennessee system, the Board of Regents schools and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.
"The idea for THEC, as an overarching body which helps to do that is an interesting idea," Bredesen said. "It does not work that way in practice."
During his run for office, Bredesen called THEC the "fifth wheel" of Tennessee's higher education program.
"Now that I'm governor, I have to be a little more circumspect in my comments about these things," he said.
UT-Battelle 'Signing Bonus' Helps Recruit Math, Science Teachers
August 17, 2006
UT-Battelle, which manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has announced a plan to strengthen math and science education in East Tennessee, a news release stated.
The company has paid a $10,000 "signing bonus" as an incentive for three teachers, two starting in Union County and one in Morgan County. UT-Battelle also is talking with other area schools in rural communities that have had difficulty attracting qualified math and science teachers.
"This is a great recruiting tool for schools and a terrific career incentive for the teachers," said Barbara Roark, who will teach math under the program at Union County High School. "I look forward to teaching in Union County, and this program is one of the main reasons I'm here."
Union and Morgan counties are the first to participate in the initiative that focuses on schools where math and science teaching positions have been vacant for at least one year. UT-Battelle offers $10,000 up front to certified teachers who agree to teach at least three years.
The financial transaction is between UT-Battelle and the teacher, with no money passing through the county government or the school system.
Jennifer Wilson also joins the faculty at Union County this fall in what will be her first teaching job. The school also recently received $10,000 from UT-Battelle to equip a new science lab.
Rocky Warren, who has a Ph.D. in chemistry and did post-doctoral work at ORNL, will teach chemistry, physics and biology classes in Morgan County. Warren also recently completed the Transition to Teaching program through the Tennessee Department of Education to accelerate teacher certification for professionals in other careers.
UT-Battelle initiated the signing bonus program as one of several efforts to improve math and science education in East Tennessee schools. UT-Battelle also sponsors a variety of science competitions and has provided approximately $350,000 to equip science laboratories in Tennessee schools.
UT-Battelle is prepared to offer five signing bonuses a year and hopes that other Tennessee companies will join their effort.
UT-Battelle manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy.
Greeneville Students and their ETSU and Hands On! Collaborators Declare Their Bubbles-In-Space NASA Project a Success
August 14, 2006
In a specially designed aircraft alternately climbing to great heights and diving rapidly to diminish the effects of gravity, Amanda Weems and Crystal Duggar, both Greeneville High School teachers; Dr. Gary Henson, of East Tennessee State University’s Department of Physics, Astronomy, and Geology; and Amanda Bradley of Hands On! Regional Museum worked diligently and watched proudly as a student-created bubble-making machine churned out soapy bubbles while a camera recorded data.
The ground crew consisted of Greeneville seniors Hilary Ailshie, Kelvin Barner, Lindsey Tunnell, Josh Whaley, and Cameron Wilson. Because of NASA regulations, only adults are allowed to fly, but the entire group spent 11 days in Houston, touring, learning, preparing, and loading their apparatus onto the aircraft.
Students carried out the experiment through all its stages, from hypothesis to research, then to design, and finally, using mathematics and critical thinking, they will interpret their findings.
The apparatus involved, which measures 5 feet by 18 inches, provided an engineering challenge, and the students created 15 prototypes before perfecting their device. Developing just the right soapy liquid also required many trial-and-error mixtures. Finally, the mixture must be sealed inside a container so the liquid does not escape to cover the inside of the airplane, and a small motor must work efficiently to emit puffs of air to create bubbles.
University students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology appreciated the difficulties involved and complimented the Greeneville team on their ingenuity, and a reporter from Channel One interviewed the students for broadcast over the national classroom news program.
When the project data has been analyzed, the Greeneville group will make presentations about their work to local groups, especially elementary schools. This final phase is vital to NASA’s goal of gaining the interest of young students in careers involving math and science.
The students and teachers wrote about their adventures in Houston to share online. Their blog is available at
Students, Teachers from Appalachian States Gain Hands-On Experience at ORNL
July 28, 2006
Building robots, measuring aquatic organism populations and using infrared imaging might not sound like a summer vacation. But that's exactly how a group of high school students and teachers spent theirs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. For two weeks in July, the select group took a break from summer vacation to learn from some of the world's best scientists.
Hailing from New York to Alabama, a select group of 54 students and teachers came to Oak Ridge from 11 different Appalachian states to experience the cutting edge of science and technology. In its 17th year, the Appalachian Regional Commission/ORNL 2006 Math-Science-Technology Summer Institute ran July 8 to 21. Administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), the program gave students and teachers a chance to have fun and conduct research in one of the country's most renowned national laboratories.
During this year's activities, the 44 students divided into eight research groups led by mentors from among ORNL's research staff. One group got a first-hand look at how infrared technology is used to inspect semi-trucks for homeland security purposes. Other students waded through the waters of local streams to study marine organisms. Another group built and programmed table-sized robots and put them to the test in an obstacle course.
Kristen Poorman, a junior at Dover High School in Ohio, participated in a group focused on teaching students the ins and outs of creating a Web site.
“Before I came to ARC I had no idea about technology,” she said. “I feel as if I have learned more here than I have in a year of school.”
The 11 participating teachers didn't let the students have all the fun — they also matched up with veteran ORNL scientists to conduct research experiments. One group studied how computers help scientists visualize the interaction of complex biological molecules. Another set of teachers took to the woods and measured trees to help identify an old growth forest on the Oak Ridge Reservation.
“The ARC-ORNL program has provided me with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work and confer with an assortment of brilliant scientists in a famous and historic facility,” said Leesa Peery, a biology and anatomy teacher at Tazewell (Virginia) High School. “I was intellectually challenged and energized by collaborating with enthusiastic and knowledgeable fellow math and science educators and our gifted mentors from ORNL.”
Participants were also able to experience the local culture and visit attractions throughout East Tennessee. They had a chance to ride thrilling roller coasters during a visit to Dollywood and catch a glimpse of future major league stars at a Tennessee Smokies (AA) baseball game. Students and teachers also had a chance to explore the University of Tennessee and tour the Lost Sea, the country's largest underground lake.
Each of the student participants in the institute were nominated for the ARC-ORNL Institute by their state governors and chosen by ARC based on their academic and leadership potential. Teachers were selected for their dedication to classroom instruction and will have the opportunity to share their experiences in the summer program with colleagues and future students.
The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education is a U.S. Department of Energy facility focusing on scientific initiatives to research health risks from occupational hazards, assess environmental cleanup, respond to radiation medical emergencies, support national security and emergency preparedness, and educate the next generation of scientists. ORISE is managed by Oak Ridge Associated Universities.
The Appalachian Regional Commission is a unique federal-state partnership established by Congress in 1965 to bring Appalachia into the mainstream of the American economy. Through development of the 3,090 mile Appalachian Development Highway System and a range of development programs in areas like education, training, health care, telecom, entrepreneurship, job creation and basic infrastructure, ARC programs help reduce isolation and improve the lives and economic opportunities of the 23 million people living in 410 counties across 13 states that make up Appalachia.
UAH Propulsion Center has Powerful Boosters
Leaders Hope Test Facility will Attract, Keep Engineers Here
The Huntsville Times
August 05, 2006
A newly opened propulsion test facility at the University of Alabama in Huntsville may help attract and keep young engineers and professionals in North Alabama, local leaders said Friday.
The $500,000 test area is part of the UAH Propulsion Research Center and is designed to allow students hands-on experience in Defense Department and NASA research programs by experimenting with different rocket motors.
Huntsville Mayor Loretta Spencer said she hopes the UAH propulsion test stands will help keep smart young engineers in Huntsville "instead of leaving to go to other communities after they graduate," she said.
"We hope it not only attracts new students, but also, it lets us keep those young professionals here to work with" high-tech business, Spencer said.
U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Huntsville, said during a dedication ceremony that the test area continues visionary work started by Dr. Wernher von Braun and his German rocket team, who came to Huntsville and Redstone Arsenal in 1950 as part of an Army rocket research effort.
"It's the partnership UAH has with not only Marshall Space Flight Center, but also other government agencies, that will produce the kinds of graduates companies will need as North Alabama grows," Cramer told a group of about 100 area aerospace businesspeople, students and propulsion engineers.
Cramer and U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, worked in 2002 to get UAH $4.5 million in federal money to pay for the facility, buy equipment and set up propulsion education programs, said Dr. Clark Hawk, director of UAH's Propulsion Research Center.
"This has been 15 years in the making," Hawk said. "It has inched along a little bit at a time until we have what is here today."
The test area has two rocket motor stands that allow UAH students to perform research on solid rocket motors and so-called "air breathing" rocket motors that use oxygen to burn propellants.
Students will be able to research different propellants, rocket motor shapes and other propulsion techniques at the test center, Hawk said.
Dr. Charles Chitwood, deputy director at Marshall Space Flight Center, said new engineers are always better if they come on the job with experience.
"When we look to hire new engineers, there is always a concern if their learning is only from books and computers," Chitwood said. "We always want graduates with hands-on learning."
ARC Helps Small Tennessee Town Offer Free Wi-Fi Service to All
August 08, 2006
The small city of South Pittsburg will soon be a wireless "hot spot" for Internet connections. Mayor Mike Killian says his Tennessee River Valley town of about 3500 people got a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission that will be used to provide the service free. It should be operating in the next few months.
Killian says the city will match the $31,000 grant to provide "WiFi" service. He says many people who live in South Pittsburg have computers, but aren't hooked up to the Internet.
Killian says the city is also looking for ways to get computer access for people who can't afford them -- especially schoolchildren.
The mayor says he knows people aren't going to move to South Pittsburg just because they'll be able to get on the Internet for free. But he says if entrepreneurs are looking for a "quality of life" move anyway, having WiFi wouldn't hurt.
South Pittsburg is about 25 miles west of Chattanooga , near the Alabama state line.
Killian says the city will match the $31,000 grant to provide "WiFi" service. He says many people who live in South Pittsburg have computers, but aren't hooked up to the Internet.
Killian says the city is also looking for ways to get computer access for people who can't afford them -- especially schoolchildren.
The mayor says he knows people aren't going to move to South Pittsburg just because they'll be able to get on the Internet for free. But he says if entrepreneurs are looking for a "quality of life" move anyway, having WiFi wouldn't hurt.
South Pittsburg is about 25 miles west of Chattanooga , near the Alabama state line.
Alabama Launches Online Directory of High Tech Companies
July 25, 2006
The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs has launched a new directory of the state’s high tech companies to share information with firms around the world who may be interested in doing business with Alabama’s growing high tech industries.
The directory contains information on more than 200 Alabama companies categorized in aerospace, automotive, biotech, commercial and industrial machinery, communications, electronics, engineering and testing, information technology, and optical media and equipment industries. The directory serves as a recruitment tool for other high-tech industries and enables existing companies to network with each other. The directory is searchable by county, region or category.
Each listing includes the company name and location, contact information, Web site address, number of employees and a description of the products or services offered. The site is updated regularly to ensure company information is current.
To view the directory, visit http://www.hightechdirectory.alabama.gov/
Alabama's Work-Force Training Gets Top Ranking
Site-Selection Consultants Say State Program Best in Nation
The Huntsville Times
August 11, 2006
Alabama's work-force training program has been ranked again as the best in the nation, according to a poll of site-selection consultants conducted by Expansion Management magazine.
The report is in the magazine's August edition.
The program, Alabama Industrial Development Training, or AIDT, was ranked second last year and No. 1 in 2004. It's been ranked among the top 10 state training programs for the past eight years.
"Alabama has become a national leader in many areas, especially when it comes to our economy,'' Gov. Bob Riley said in a prepared statement. "This award is further proof of the successes we're having and the strides we've made. A high-quality work force is our state's No. 1 selling point when it comes to recruiting companies.''
AIDT, part of the state's two-year college system, provides comprehensive work-force recruiting and training for employers that commit to create jobs in Alabama. Since 1971, AIDT has customized training for more than 250,000 Alabamians seeking employment with more than 4,000 organizations.
"Nobody does it quite the way we do,'' said Phyllis Wesley, AIDT's public information officer. "Some states don't recruit, and some states don't train. AIDT does both recruiting and training.''
Wesley said when a company is going to create at least 10 jobs paying at least $8 per hour, AIDT assigns a project manager to work with the companies. "Our training is designed to meet the needs for both the employer and the employee.''
Neal Wade, director of the Alabama Development Office, said one of the biggest incentives companies find in coming to Alabama is the quality of the state's work force and its development program.
"We frequently hear from CEOs and other business leaders that although it is easy to find a site, a trainable work force with a strong work ethic is harder to find," Wade said. "AIDT ensures that our industries have the best and the brightest."
Georgia, Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina's training programs were ranked behind Alabama's.
Alabama's unemployment rate in June held steady at 3.6 percent, below the national average of 4.6 percent.
A national publisher of work-force training materials, Worldwide Interactive Network, recently named the Alabama Office of Workforce Development as the nation's top employee development agency.
TVA Considering Options for Building Power Plants
August 11, 2006
With power demand growing in the Tennessee Valley, TVA officials say they are looking at adding nuclear reactors in both Tennessee and Alabama and possibly buying some distressed natural gas plants from other producers in the South.
But TVA leaders insist that in adding new power generation sources they won’t repeat the utility’s costly mistakes of the past.
"In the past, we had too many units being built at one time and, as my mother used to say, we bit off more than we could chew," TVA President Tom Kilgore said in an interview Wednesday with editors of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "This time, we’re looking at adding new units one at a time."
A generation ago, TVA launched the nation’s biggest nuclear plant construction program with plans for 17 reactors. Only five of those units ever were completed, and the last one ended up taking 22 years to finish and cost more than five times its original projection.
TVA completed America’s last new commercial nuclear reactor in 1996 when the Unit 1 reactor at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near Spring City, Tenn., was activated. In the next year, TVA plans to spend $20 million for an engineering study to determine the feasibility of finishing the second reactor at Watts Bar by 2014. The utility also has entered into an agreement with the Southern Co. to pursue building two next-generation nuclear reactors at the site of the abandoned Bellefonte plant in Hollywood, Ala., perhaps as soon as 2015. In the meantime, TVA officials said they also may use the $90 million budgeted next year in a new generation fund to buy a natural gas plant. Although the fuel costs for such plants sometimes are above TVA’s rates, gas plants can be used to meet peak demands and some of the facilities now are in financial trouble and may be bought at deep discounts, Mr. Kilgore said.
On the hottest days this summer, TVA is buying up to 20 percent of its power from other sources. This summer’s heat wave, combined with economic growth in the Tennessee Valley, has pushed TVA’s load demand to record highs, including 13 of the utility’s top 20 power peaks.
"We’ve really got a problem, and that’s kind of what we have to face as a board," TVA Chairman Bill Sansom said.
TVA estimates its power demand is growing nearly 2 percent, or about 600 megawatts, a year. At such a pace, the utility must build the equivalent of a new reactor every other year.
"Watts Bar is likely to be the next one for us," Mr. Sansom said. "If you see our shortage, it’s clear that TVA needs that power."
The TVA chairman said preliminary estimates indicate that finishing the Unit 2 reactor at Watts Bar will cost about $2.5 billion. But once finished, the unit could be run with only about 125 more employees than the number now employed at Watts Bar. Nuclear fuel costs are only one-fourth as much as those of coal-fired plants and, at current prices, only about 7 percent that of the fuel costs for natural gas plants.
Mr. Kilgore said TVA will have to replace the original controls and switches on the Unit 2 reactor after suspending work there more than a decade ago.
"But the long lead-time items, including the reactor vessel, steam generators and other major pieces of equipment, are already in place," he said.
The Watts Bar unit could be the last nuclear reactor of its type finished in the United States.
TVA is among a dozen utilities looking at building new reactors under a new and more streamlined regulatory review and construction process. At Bellefonte, TVA has joined with NuStart Energy Development LLC to seek a license by October 2007 to build a new Westinghouse AP-1000 plant with two 1,100-megawatt reactors.
NuStart President Marilyn Kray said Thursday that initial site studies have reaffirmed that Bellefonte is well suited for the new plant. She said NuStart should submit a construction and operating license application next year. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has promised to review the application within three years to allow construction to begin on the new plant by 2010, pending approval of the Westinghouse design and the financial backing of utility owners.
"When you see the demand for power continuing to increase and more concerns about air pollution and global warming caused by fossil fuel plants, then I think it’s pretty clear that nuclear needs to be part of our future energy mix," Ms. Kray said.
Mr. Kilgore said the partnership at Bellefonte would allow Southern Co. to take advantage of some of the new loan guarantees and production tax credits available for private companies.
Mr. Sansom said T VA uniquely is positioned to make long-term investments in new nuclear generation because of its government ownership.
"TVA is in a great place not to have to worry so much about quarterly results for shareholders that we shouldn’t have to worry so much about it," he said.
But TVA leaders insist that in adding new power generation sources they won’t repeat the utility’s costly mistakes of the past.
"In the past, we had too many units being built at one time and, as my mother used to say, we bit off more than we could chew," TVA President Tom Kilgore said in an interview Wednesday with editors of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "This time, we’re looking at adding new units one at a time."
A generation ago, TVA launched the nation’s biggest nuclear plant construction program with plans for 17 reactors. Only five of those units ever were completed, and the last one ended up taking 22 years to finish and cost more than five times its original projection.
TVA completed America’s last new commercial nuclear reactor in 1996 when the Unit 1 reactor at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near Spring City, Tenn., was activated. In the next year, TVA plans to spend $20 million for an engineering study to determine the feasibility of finishing the second reactor at Watts Bar by 2014. The utility also has entered into an agreement with the Southern Co. to pursue building two next-generation nuclear reactors at the site of the abandoned Bellefonte plant in Hollywood, Ala., perhaps as soon as 2015. In the meantime, TVA officials said they also may use the $90 million budgeted next year in a new generation fund to buy a natural gas plant. Although the fuel costs for such plants sometimes are above TVA’s rates, gas plants can be used to meet peak demands and some of the facilities now are in financial trouble and may be bought at deep discounts, Mr. Kilgore said.
On the hottest days this summer, TVA is buying up to 20 percent of its power from other sources. This summer’s heat wave, combined with economic growth in the Tennessee Valley, has pushed TVA’s load demand to record highs, including 13 of the utility’s top 20 power peaks.
"We’ve really got a problem, and that’s kind of what we have to face as a board," TVA Chairman Bill Sansom said.
TVA estimates its power demand is growing nearly 2 percent, or about 600 megawatts, a year. At such a pace, the utility must build the equivalent of a new reactor every other year.
"Watts Bar is likely to be the next one for us," Mr. Sansom said. "If you see our shortage, it’s clear that TVA needs that power."
The TVA chairman said preliminary estimates indicate that finishing the Unit 2 reactor at Watts Bar will cost about $2.5 billion. But once finished, the unit could be run with only about 125 more employees than the number now employed at Watts Bar. Nuclear fuel costs are only one-fourth as much as those of coal-fired plants and, at current prices, only about 7 percent that of the fuel costs for natural gas plants.
Mr. Kilgore said TVA will have to replace the original controls and switches on the Unit 2 reactor after suspending work there more than a decade ago.
"But the long lead-time items, including the reactor vessel, steam generators and other major pieces of equipment, are already in place," he said.
The Watts Bar unit could be the last nuclear reactor of its type finished in the United States.
TVA is among a dozen utilities looking at building new reactors under a new and more streamlined regulatory review and construction process. At Bellefonte, TVA has joined with NuStart Energy Development LLC to seek a license by October 2007 to build a new Westinghouse AP-1000 plant with two 1,100-megawatt reactors.
NuStart President Marilyn Kray said Thursday that initial site studies have reaffirmed that Bellefonte is well suited for the new plant. She said NuStart should submit a construction and operating license application next year. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has promised to review the application within three years to allow construction to begin on the new plant by 2010, pending approval of the Westinghouse design and the financial backing of utility owners.
"When you see the demand for power continuing to increase and more concerns about air pollution and global warming caused by fossil fuel plants, then I think it’s pretty clear that nuclear needs to be part of our future energy mix," Ms. Kray said.
Mr. Kilgore said the partnership at Bellefonte would allow Southern Co. to take advantage of some of the new loan guarantees and production tax credits available for private companies.
Mr. Sansom said T VA uniquely is positioned to make long-term investments in new nuclear generation because of its government ownership.
"TVA is in a great place not to have to worry so much about quarterly results for shareholders that we shouldn’t have to worry so much about it," he said.
K-25 Cleanup Plans Change
New Policies Increase Safety Measures; Trice Named Project Manager
The Oak Ridger
August 21, 2006
Kelly Trice once managed the cleanup of "the most dangerous building in ," a plutonium-laden facility at the Rocky Flats warhead plant in
Now he's tackling something bigger: the K-25 plant in Trice will oversee the dismantling of the mile-long, U-shaped structure built during World War II to process uranium for atomic bombs. At the time of its construction, K-25 was the world's largest building under one roof. Sixty years later, it's just a big mess.
The nuclear behemoth was shut down in the 1960s and largely neglected since then. It is loaded with deposits of fissile U-235 and fraught with potential pitfalls.
Trice's assignment as project manager comes as Bechtel Jacobs Co., the Department of Energy's cleanup contractor, revamps its strategy at K-25 to bolster safety. The changes were prompted by an accident earlier this year when a sheet-metal worker fell through a weakened floor at the old building.
"We've had the concerns for some time, but that led us to do a better analysis," Trice said.
The 43-year-old engineer, with a background in the Navy's nuclear submarine program, joined Bechtel a couple of years ago and came to "This is my 13th DOE site," he said, including the aforementioned Building 771 at Rocky Flats.
Under the revised K-25 plan, machines will replace humans in a major way. The cleanup work force, once expected to reach 1,200, will now peak at about 600-700, Trice said.
Instead of using workers to physically dismantle much of the 100 miles of piping and associated components within the maze of uranium-enrichment equipment, Bechtel Jacobs plans to bulldoze it into a manageable heap - along with tons and tons of construction rubble.
The key to this strategy will be locating potentially dangerous deposits of highly enriched uranium so sections of equipment can be removed before the demolition begins. Those high-risk sections will be taken to "segmentation shops," where the U-235 can be removed and transported to the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant for safekeeping.
The concern is that if deposits of highly enriched uranium are left in place during demolition, it could create unsafe conditions and possibly cause a criticality accident - an unplanned, uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction and release of radiation.
Therefore, an exhaustive effort will be made to locate and remove any significant quantities of fissionable uranium, Trice said. About five different methods will be used in the nuclear treasure hunt, including snakelike cameras to view the innards of pipes, he said.
John Owsley, who oversees the He said the biggest issue is whether DOE and its contractors can properly track and verify the waste contents - including the amount of uranium - when mixing the contaminated processing equipment and construction rubble.
"They have to be able to document any anomalies," Owsley said, noting the possibility of uranium deposits being masked by chunks of concrete and other debris. So far, state officials have not received enough assurances, he said.
Bechtel Jacobs officials would not release an estimate of how much U-235 remains lodged inside the K-25 equipment, apparently because that information is classified. They confirmed that previous campaigns undertaken years ago identified and removed some of the larger deposits.
Much of the processing equipment will be injected with foam to stabilize the contamination before the demolition takes place.
Because of the January accident, which underscored the building's deterioration - especially concrete panels on the second floor - very few workers will be allowed upstairs. Also, a series of nets and barriers will protect downstairs workers from falling debris.
The change in cleanup strategy requires Bechtel Jacobs or subcontractors to install a new criticality alarm system, and there will be a huge investment in heavy machinery armed with an array of shears and grapples, loaders and misters. Redundant machines may be required at as many as seven different demolition areas at a time once work gets fully charged.
The new investments, however, are offset by an overall reduction of 1.3 million hours in labor costs, according to Trice.
The estimated cost of the K-25 project, which includes the demolition of the nearby K-27 building, has declined slightly from $501.6 million to $493.7 million, Bechtel Jacobs said.
If the new plan enhances worker safety, improves efficiency and still saves money, why wasn't that strategy chosen in the first place?
"I don't know. I can't answer that," Trice said. "Given the deteriorating of the building and the safety we're trying to attain, this is the best approach now."
Demolition work on the west side of the K-25 building is scheduled to begin in April 2007. Work is to be completed in August 2009, based on the latest planning documents.
Bechtel Jacobs was originally scheduled to have the K-25 project completed by October 2008. The federal contractor stands to lose millions of dollars in fees for the delays, but Trice said that would not affect the decision-making.
"Right now we're interested in doing this as efficiently and safely as we can," he said. "We've got a very hard task to do. It's definitely a challenge for our workers."
ETSU's Research Foundation Receives $227,240 State Grant
July 24, 2006
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen and Economic and Community Development (ECD) Commissioner Matthew Kisber recently announced the approval of a $227,240 FastTrack Infrastructure Development Program (FIDP) grant to the East Tennessee State University Research Foundation.
The award will fund infrastructure improvements that will immediately benefit ProteoGenesis, Yasoo Health, and BioInventions, all start-up biotech companies based in the ETSU Innovation Lab. Future tenants will benefit as well.
The FIDP monies will supplement a $1 million grant awarded in 2005 by the U.S. Economic Development Administration and a cash contribution of over $800,000 from the ETSU Research Foundation for the addition of an 11,000-square-foot wing to the Innovation Lab. The state funds will be used toward the construction of six “wet labs” in the new addition. These wet labs are specialized spaces equipped with the plumbing and ventilation required by biotech companies engaged in research or testing. When completed, these labs will be the first of their kind in a business incubator in
The new wing will also house four “dry labs” suitable for electronics or light manufacturing, seven office suites, a conference room, and a tenant breakroom. The overall $2 million effort will increase the capacity of ETSU’s business incubator by up to 15 companies and support the creation of some 90 new jobs in
FIDP, formerly the Tennessee Industrial Infrastructure Program, was authorized by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1988 and is administered by ECD. Funds are used for infrastructure improvements, job-specific workforce training, or other economic development projects for
The ETSU Research Foundation applied for the grant with the support of Johnson City Mayor Steve Darden and the following state legislators: Sen. Rusty Crowe, Rep. David Davis, and Rep. Matthew Hill.
Arnold AFB Supports Department of Defense Assured Fuels Initiatives
August 17, 2006
The U.S. Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) is taking a leading role in supporting the Department of Defense’s Assured Fuels initiative which aims to steer the military away from its reliance on foreign oil.
A team from the center took their technical expertise and specialized equipment on the road to assist the Air Force in fielding time-critical alternative fuel testing at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.
“We had been asked to provide exhaust gas analysis for the TF33, the engine powering the B-52 Stratofortress,” said Paul Jalbert, an Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA) emissions system engineer at AEDC who was among those assisting with the tests at Tinker. “We were asked to quantify the exhaust gas emissions from that engine when it was burning baseline JP-8 fuel and when it was burning a 50 percent blend of synthetic Fischer-Tropsch (FT) fuel and JP-8. We were looking for the differences in those emissions from the same engine from two different fuels.”
ATA is the support contractor at AEDC, and is a joint venture between Jacobs Sverdrup, Computer Sciences Corp. and General Physics Corp.
The AEDC team’s continuous sweep emission measurement system provided conclusive evidence that there were no significant differences in either atmospheric emissions or engine performance with the JP-8/FT blend fuel from the straight JP-8 fuel.
The test results will help to support the Air Force’s plans to test fly a B-52 powered in part by the blend of the synthetic fuel and JP-8 later this year.
The urgency behind the Air Force’s motivation to test FT, which is derived from natural gas, was driven largely by the same concerns shared by industry and consumers with the nation’s high dependence on foreign oil, according to Don Gardner, ATA’s Technology and Analysis Branch lead on the project. A limited supply of available FT fuel also meant the team doing the work had to perform the measurements and data quality checks in near-real time to complete the test matrix.
In 2004, the team at AEDC had first demonstrated the continuous sweep emissions measurement system as a means to reduce the cost of emission measurements by reducing the amount of time required to obtain them. This system includes a water-cooled probe rake assembly that sweeps back and forth across the engine nozzle exit in approximately two minutes. This allows the engineers to measure a full cross section of the exhaust gas emissions from the engine in a relatively short period of time. The gases are drawn through probes and flow through heated lines to fast-response gas analyzers.
“The analyzers were located about 80 feet away from the engine,” Jalbert said. “We pull in the exhaust gas samples as well as ambient air samples because we want to be able to separate what came out of the back of the engine from any pollution or contamination that may have entered the front of the engine. We try to quantify all of the exhaust gases that are either considered to be aircraft pollution or indications of aircraft engine performance.
“As our probe rake traverses continually behind the engine collecting exhaust gas samples, those samples are processed by analyzers, which look for things like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. The data set is analyzed and processed by computer so that within a three-and-half-minute time period from the start of each rake traverse, we can provide our customers with a complete digital representation of what the exhaust plume looked like.”
The test was a collaborative effort between representatives from AEDC, the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio and Tinker Air Force Base.
Caption for d0608562: The probe rake of AEDC’s continuous sweep emission measurement system, the taller vertical structure to the left, is seen in this video still taken during the alternative fuels testing of the B-52 engine at Tinker Air Force Base.
Editorial Note:
Arnold Engineering Development Center is the nation’s largest complex of flight simulation test facilities. The center was dedicated in June 1951 by President Harry Truman and named after 5-star General of the Air Force Henry ‘Hap’ Arnold, visionary leader of the Army Air Forces in World War II and the only airman to hold 5-Star rank. Today, this $7.8 billion complex has some 58 aerospace test facilities located at Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn., and the center’s remote operating location Hypervelocity Tunnel 9 in White Oak, Md. The test facilities simulate flight from subsonic to hypersonic speeds at altitudes from sea level to space. Virtually every high performance flight system in use by the Department of Defense today and all NASA manned spacecraft have been tested in AEDC’s facilities. Today the center is testing the next generation of aircraft and space systems. For more information on AEDC visit the center’s Web site at www.arnold.af.mil.
Hydrogen Fuel Cells for Cars ‘On Track’ for 2020
July 18, 2006
The partnership among the government, the auto industry and energy companies to develop a hydrogen economy is making progress but still faces challenges to meet its goals, a Bush administration official said Monday.
Energy Undersecretary David Garman told a Senate panel that the partnerships to develop hydrogen are "on track" to meet technical goals within the next nine years and to have hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles in showrooms by 2020.
Researchers have reduced the high-volume cost of automotive fuel cells from $275 per kilowatt in 2002 to $110 per kilowatt in 2005 and lessened the cost of producing hydrogen from natural gas.
But Garman said more research is required to meet the cost target of $30 per kilowatt, improve hydrogen storage capacity and lower the expense of producing hydrogen.
"We need time. More money doesn't necessarily help. There is a learning process that has to happen," he told a subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said lawmakers are trying to work with industry to help develop the hydrogen economy, given the increase in fuel prices and the need for long-term energy solutions.
"Anything that has promise for reducing our dependence on oil from overseas is welcome," said Alexander, who is chairman of the Senate panel.
President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address proposed a five-year, $1.2 billion program to develop hydrogen fuel technologies, including the production, storage and delivery of the fuel.
With gasoline prices reaching $3 per gallon, automakers view the technology as a way to move away from a fossil-fuel based system, noting that hydrogen only emits water and can be made from a variety of sources such as natural gas, coal, water and biomass.
But the research and fostering of the technology is extremely expensive, and the long-term needs have prompted automakers to seek incentives from the government to develop the industry.
"Since low volume equals high cost in the automotive business, early vehicles even at moderate volumes will still be expensive," said J. Byron McCormick, executive director of fuel-cells activities for General Motors Corp. "So we face the proverbial 'valley of death' for new technologies as we attempt to grow the market."
Efforts to Clean Up Air Earn Scientist DOE Recognition
August 07, 2006
Jonathan Overly, UT researcher and executive director for the East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition, was named “Coordinator of the Year” by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities Program. He was picked among 90 Clean Cities coordinators nationwide for his endeavor to improve air quality in the East Tennessee region and reduce the country’s dependency on foreign petroleum through promoting alternative fuels.
DOE Clean Cities is a program designed to reduce petroleum consumption and improve air quality by introducing alternative fuels and alternative-fuel vehicles. The initiative comprises local alternative fuel organizations throughout the U.S.
Leading the Clean Fuels Coalition since 2002, Overly has been effective in introducing biodiesel, a renewable fuel made from plant oils and animal fat, into East Tennessee’s fuel market. Biodiesel, generally a mixture of 80 percent petroleum-based diesel and 20 percent biodiesel (B20), burns cleaner than traditional diesel fuels. Diesel vehicles can run on biodiesel with no alterations to their engines, Overly said.
Stalled Missile Program at Redstone May Get a Second Chance
Revival of $5.5B Contract Could Bring 200 Jobs
The Huntsville Times
July 26, 2006
A stalled Redstone Arsenal missile program is under review and may be revived, possibly bringing 200 defense jobs to Huntsville, according to defense leaders.
In limbo over the past year, the $5.5 billion Joint Common Missile contract was canceled late last year when Army money ran out. If developed fully, the missile would be used by all the services and would replace several older tactical missile programs.
The program had been gearing up to put 200 military workers and defense contractors in Huntsville, with about 100 already working on the program.
Today, about 20 Army civilian workers perform some technology development and test work on the program, said Dan O'Boyle, Redstone spokesman.
Today, about 20 Army civilian workers perform some technology development and test work on the program, said Dan O'Boyle, Redstone spokesman.
The program is managed by the Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space on Redstone. Lockheed Martin Corp. is under contract to develop and test the missile, which was intended to join the Pentagon's armory by 2010.
The Redstone-based program is under review by the Army and the secretary of defense, said Col. Mike Cantor, program manager for the Joint Attack Munition Systems Project Office on Redstone.
In June, the Redstone program office held an extensive review for Pentagon leaders to help determine the program's future.
A decision is expected by Oct. 1, O'Boyle said.
Lockheed was awarded an initial $53 million contract in May 2004, but that money ran out late last year. The Army has been using research and development money to keep some technology work on the missile going in the short term, O'Boyle said. Congress has provided about $35 million for the development work.
Typically when the Pentagon cancels a contract but the program is restarted, the program would be reopened for competition among contractors. Lockheed has not been informed if the contract would be rebid, company spokesman Craig Vanbebber said.
Vanbebber said Lockheed has not been notified of any Pentagon decision concerning the program since the June review.
U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Huntsville, said Monday that the Joint Common Missile has been under fire by White House budget-cutters for a couple of years. Cramer said the program's value has yet to be understood by Washington decision-makers.
"The Joint Common Missile program is a valuable tool that will enhance our defense capabilities in the future," he said. "Over the last two years, I have worked to continue funding for the Joint Common Missile after the (Bush) administration had proposed reducing the program's budget to zero."
Cramer helped persuade members of Congress last year to put $30 million in the budget for the program and, this year, to put in another $35 million.
Lawmakers recently attempted to boost the program's budget by trying to add $300 million to the Pentagon's fiscal 2007 proposed budget of $439.3 billion. That budget is under consideration in Washington.
To free up money for the war in Iraq, some Pentagon planners wanted to eliminate the missile program in late 2004, even though it had been under development for almost a decade.
Initial Pentagon plans were to buy more than 70,000 missiles at $80,000 to $120,000 each.
The missile would replace the Army's Tube-guided Optically-tracked Wire-guided, or TOW, missile and the multiservice Maverick missile, both developed in the 1970s.
NanoDetection Technology and Leading Centers of Excellence Announce Partnership to Develop Onsite Avian Flu Detection System
Company is Collaborating with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Oak Ridge National Laboratory
PRNewswire
August 01, 2006
Today, NanoDetection Technology, an in vitro diagnostics company that has a patented system for detecting the presence of specific genes or pathogens within a biological or environmental sample, and its partners announced that they are collaborating to develop an avian influenza (avian flu or "bird flu") test and mobile detection product. Collaborators include: The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The combination of a specific test and a rapid, sensitive, handheld detector creates a solution for onsite detection of bird flu, an approach that the World Health Organization (WHO) states is the most effective method for preventing, or at least slowing, a global avian flu pandemic.
"Rapid, sensitive and accurate diagnostics are critically needed to improve preparedness and reduce catastrophic fatalities and economic losses that can be expected if a serious infectious disease spreads quickly," said Malak Kotb, Ph.D., tenured professor at the Departments of Surgery and Microbiology/ Immunology at the University of Tennessee, Senior Research Career Scientist at the VA Medical Center, and Director of the MidSouth Center for Biodefense and Security, who collaborates on this project. "This need is particularly acute given the imminent threat of an avian flu pandemic and the possible emergence of new and dangerous infections," added Kotb.
From January 1, 2004, through June 20, 2006, the WHO reported 232 confirmed human cases of Avian Influenza A (H5N1); of these, 134 (or 58%) were fatal. In economic terms, a U.S. Congressional Budget Office study estimated that an outbreak of avian flu would lead to a 5% reduction in U.S. GDP or a $600 billion economic loss, but, according to the study, this does not account for the long-term economic value of lives lost.
At the heart of NanoDetection's detector is a patented biochip that detects light (i.e., photons) -- produced as a result of a chemical reaction (DNA hybridization or protein conjugation) of a "positive" test -- and simultaneously converts the photons into an electrical signal. Uniquely, the detector is chemistry and sample agnostic meaning that the same biochip can conduct multiple, simultaneous tests and can use most biological and environmental samples.
"The test is 'cowboy simple'," said Charlie Barnett, CEO of NanoDetection Technology. "Because our system does not produce a test result that must be analyzed by a Ph.D.-level operator, our detector can be readily used by farmers and others with just a simple demonstration. We believe the product being developed may form the backbone of a distributed, early-warning surveillance and diagnosis network as called for by the Homeland Security Council's National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza."
In addition to the avian flu and agribusiness applications, the detector has the potential to be used in agriterrorism and bioterrorism surveillance, enabling soldiers in the field to quickly and easily detect harmful pathogens. The technology originally was developed as a screening device for use in the doctor's office.
"St. Jude is contributing its extensive knowledge of influenza structure and immunology to the work with this multi-disciplinary team," said Richard Webby, Ph.D., from the Department of Infectious Diseases at St. Jude. "The aim of such a test is to reduce the time it takes to identify an outbreak of H5N1 and respond to such an event." Webby has been recognized by Scientific American as a leader in the Public Health and Epidemiology category for his work in reverse genetics -- a technique for custom-making vaccines in as little as 14 days. Neither Webby nor the other members of the St. Jude and UTHSC team own stock in NanoDetection Technology or have any financial interest in this project.
About NanoDetection Technology: NanoDetection Technologyis an in vitro diagnostics (IVD) company that has a patented Biosensor Detection System for detecting the presence of specific genes or pathogens within a biological or environmental sample. Integrated within NanoDetection's detector is a patented microchip biosensor based on multiple, discrete, integrated photodiodes. At its most basic level, the biochip detects light emitted as a result of a chemical reaction caused by DNA hybridization or protein conjugation and converts the light into a digital signal for immediate diagnosis. The 'R&D 100 Award' winning biochip was developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. NanoDetection is one of the first few companies to leverage biochip technology for diagnostic purposes in veterinary diagnostics, bioterrorism and food safety, currently served by NanoDetection's benchtop detector.
Uranium from Argentina Arrives at Y-12
Effort is Part of Strategy to Curb Availability of Weapons Materials
The Knoxville News Sentinel
July 20, 2006
About 3.7 kilograms of weapons-grade uranium recovered from Argentina have been shipped to Oak Ridge for secure storage, and staff members at the Y-12 National Security Complex played a key role in the project, officials confirmed Wednesday.
The project in Argentina is part of an overall U.S. strategy to reduce the worldwide availability of materials of potential use in nuclear weapons.
The enriched uranium was contained in 24 fuel assemblies, which were removed from a research reactor in Buenos Aires, repackaged, and delivered to Y-12 earlier this week.
Morris Hassler, manager of Y-12's Global Nuclear Security Group, said Y-12 workers participated in every stage of the project over the past 18 months: contract negotiations, characterizing the nuclear materials at the Constituitentes nuclear complex in Buenos Aires, packaging the uranium for safe shipment, and arranging the high-security transportation to Oak Ridge.
Trent Andes of Y-12 was the project manager, Hassler said.
The National Nuclear Security Administration announced the project in Washington after the material had safely arrived in the United States, but there was no mention of Y-12 or the Oak Ridge involvement.
According to Hassler, there were a number of project delays while dealing with various issues through the U.S. State Department.
"We had shipping containers on the ground (in Buenos Aires) last September, but we got the export license out of Argentina just this last week," the Y-12 official said in a telephone interview from Nashville, where he was attending a conference.
The project was a joint effort between the National Nuclear Security Administration and Argentina's National Atomic Energy Commission.
Argentina has been cooperating on a number of nonproliferation projects, the NNSA said.
In a prepared statement, NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks said the shipment of enriched uranium was part of a "broad global effort to reduce the risk of terrorists acquiring nuclear material." He applauded Argentina's move to eliminate weapons-making materials from civilian programs.
The fuel assemblies containing highly enriched uranium were removed from an inactive nuclear reactor, and the United States is helping Argentina convert another reactor to use low-enriched uranium fuel, which cannot be used for a nuclear weapon.
Instead of weapons-grade uranium - 90 percent U-235, the fissile isotope of uranium - the new reactor fuel will be 19.75 percent U-235, Hassler said.
Y-12 is the principal U.S. repository for highly enriched uranium. The Oak Ridge facility provided the previous uranium to Argentina and it will make available future quantities for fuel at the lower enrichment, Hassler said.
Hassler would not comment on whether McGhee Tyson Airport was used for delivery of the uranium from Argentina, citing security concerns. However, he confirmed that the air transportation was commercial. The uranium was trucked to Y-12 Tuesday, he said.
The Oak Ridge plant has received nuclear materials from foreign countries in the past, including high-profile projects involving Kazakhstan and Libya.
"There will be more of these to come," Hassler said.
He declined to specify countries involved in the nonproliferation projects, but he said some are in negotiations.
Oak Ridge Institute’s Chief Likes to Keep a Low Profile
July 17, 2006
Ron Townsend, president of Oak Ridge Associated Universities and director of the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, isn't one to brag and shout and puff out his chest.
That's not his style.
"I make a distinction between visibility and exposure," Townsend said. "I find it to be really advantageous for ORAU and ORISE to just be quiet and subtly do some good things for the nation and pop up every once in a while."
Townsend is content when U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., refers to the institute as the "fourth" Department of Energy facility in Oak Ridge - behind Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Y-12 National Security Complex and the East Tennessee Technology Park.
"I really like that role," he said.
However, if you catch him at the right time, he'll be happy to share with you a success story that's been building in the 21st century.
"If you go back over the past five years, we've virtually doubled as a corporation," Townsend said. "We've gone from an annual expenditure of $100 million to now we're in excess of $200 million a year. When you include all categories of employees, we've gone from 600 employees to 850. That means temporary employees, post-docs, any category."
Townsend will be the first to admit that ORAU and ORISE can be confusing organizations to the public. ORAU, a consortium of 96 doctoral-degree-granting universities, manages the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education for DOE.
ORAU signed a new contract with DOE in December. It's for five years with an option for another five on top of that.
Townsend said recent growth has come from focusing on core areas, particularly science education.
For the nation to be competitive in the future, science education has to be successful, and Townsend said ORAU's goal is to make the Department of Energy the leader in that regard - with a high profile in Oak Ridge.
He cited the PACE (Protecting America's Competitive Edge) legislation pushed by U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander as a funding mechanism for some of these programs - K-12, undergraduate, post-doctoral, the entire spectrum.
"It's kind of interesting; the most enduring and consistent program we've had in the history of ORAU has been science education," Townsend said.
One of the strengths of ORAU and ORISE is bringing together people - students, faculty, researchers - with resources, such as those facilities at national laboratories. And that work is growing in a big way, particularly the relationship with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
During the first 50 years, from 1947-97, ORAU (or its predecessor, the Oak Ridge Institute for Nuclear Studies) supported 14,000 participants in science education programs. In the next eight years, 1998-2005, the number was 16,000. In this year alone, ORAU programs will support 5,000 participants in science education.
"One of the things that excites me is that based on the sheer breadth and depth of our science education programs, we're a national leader," Townsend said. "Our goal is to help establish the Department of Energy and the (DOE) Office of Science in particular as the premier national leaders in science education."
As part of its commitment to DOE in acquiring the new 10-year contract, ORAU promised to build a new facility that will house the science education programs and showcase that national effort.
Townsend said it will be situated between ORAU's other facilities on Badger Avenue - including a new office structure completed two years ago - and the K-25 Credit Union building.
The new facility doesn't have a name yet, but it will have about 40,000 to 50,000 square feet of space and cost $12 million to $14 million, Townsend said.
ETEBA considering name change to ... ETEBA ETEBA plans to stick around a while, but it may change its name - and those two things go together.
The East Tennessee Environmental Business Association's board has recommended changing the name to Energy Technology and Environmental Business Association.
The name change, if approved by the 130-plus member companies, would sort of change the geography of the association as well as broadening its focus.
"One of our goals is diversification," said Alice Murphy, a Department of Energy veteran who became the group's executive director early this year.
Over the past 18 years, ETEBA has emphasized support of the DOE programs in Oak Ridge, either waste management or environmental cleanup. Those federal programs won't last forever, however, and the companies are looking for other business.
"We want to help our companies sustain their presence by helping them grow their base into other areas and also look outside East Tennessee (for work)," Murphy said. "We want them to stay in East Tennessee, but we want them to be stable."
Many of the current cleanup activities are scheduled for completion in 2008, when Bechtel Jacobs' contract expires as environmental manager.
But ETEBA is helping promote a plan, known as the "integrated facilities disposition plan," that would bring another $1.5 billion to Oak Ridge over about a five-year period to decommission (or, in some cases, demolish) old nuclear facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex.
"That is our top priority," Murphy said, noting that she and some ETEBA board members were in Washington recently to talk about the plan with DOE and members of Congress.
Instead of seeing funding drop off in the next couple of years, ETEBA would like to see the cleanup money for Oak Ridge stay at about $550 million annually, she said.
"Our message is, 'Don't let it dip,' " she said.
Negotiations with steel workers set to begin The Oak Ridge labor contract between Bechtel Jacobs Co., DOE's environmental cleanup manager, and the United Steel Workers, Local 9-288, expires Aug. 31.
Negotiations were expected to get under way in the second week of July in an attempt to secure a new contract.
The Steel Workers merged last year with PACE (the Paper, Allied-Industrial Chemical and Energy Workers International Union). The full name of the union is now the United Steel, Paper, Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy and Allied Service Workers International Union.
According to Bechtel Jacobs, the existing agreement covers 232 workers who are removing excess equipment at the East Tennessee Technology Park (the former K-25 uranium-enrichment site) and electrical work in support of the Knoxville Building & Construction Trades Council, which is handling most of the decommissioning and decontamination at the government complex.
Bechtel Jacobs' contract with the Department of Energy is supposed to end in 2008 at the same time cleanup and closure activities at K-25 are expected to be finished. It's not clear if the steel workers contract will be negotiated to coincide with that.
While it wouldn't appear that the union has a lot of leverage for work that's coming to a close, Bechtel Jacobs can't really afford any work stoppages that could jeopardize cleanup schedules and sabotage its incentive-laden contract.
Dennis Pennington is president of the steel workers local. Mike Hughes is president of Bechtel Jacobs.
Polishing shoes for the D.C. visitors Key staff members of the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee visited the government's Oak Ridge facilities June 28-29.
Majority clerk Kevin Cook and minority staff assistant Dixon Butler toured the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex, getting briefings on high-profile projects - including the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility at Y-12.
Staff members - especially those associated with the appropriations process - get the royal treatment, sometimes even more than their elected bosses. That's because their influence can make funding a reality.
GAO skewers waste in sick-worker program The Bush administration was soaked by a wave of criticism early this year after word leaked out that the White House wanted to scale back the compensation for sick nuclear workers, including those in Oak Ridge.
A General Accounting Office now reports there have been millions of dollars in questionable payments to Energy Department contractors in the six-year-old compensation program. These activities included resource centers set up to assist workers in filing claims and the research of worker exposures at the federal nuke facilities.
"GAO identified $26.4 million in improper and questionable payments for contractor costs. These improper and questionable payments represent nearly 30 percent of the $92 million in total program funds spent through Sept. 30, 2005, but could be even higher given the poor control environment and the fact that GAO only reviewed selected program payments."
Oak Ridge contractors score at small-biz awards Oak Ridge had its share of winners in late June at the Department of Energy's Small Business Conference in Seattle.
ORAU received the diversity achievement award and had the overall highest percentage of diversity in subcontract awards to all socioeconomic categories for small businesses.
BWXT Y-12, which manages the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, shared the Mentor-Protege Team Award with G2 Engineering and Management Inc., an Oak Ridge firm co-founded and majority-owned by Michael Twine that does work for the plant.
Feds bowing out on a successful note With the construction of the Spallation Neutron Source essentially complete after seven years of work, the project's federal overseers are taking it to the house.
David Wilfert, the deputy federal director on the $1.4 billion project, retired in early June after 34 years with the Department of Energy, and more recently his boss, Les Price, announced he was retiring.
Price provided federal oversight on the SNS since 1999, and all told, he had 42 years of government service.
ORNL Scientists Noted for Nanotechnology
July 20, 2006
Two Oak Ridge National Laboratory inventions - NanoFermenation and a high-temperature superconducting wire technology - have won their first nanotechnology awards in separate contests.
R&D Magazine's inaugural MICRO/NANO 25 award recognized NanoFermentation, a new approach for producing extremely fine, uniform and highly crystalline powders useful for magnetic media, ferrofluids, xerographic toner, catalysts, pigments, water treatment and coatings. The process also is one of six ORNL technologies to receive the magazine's 2006 R&D 100 award.
The method works at or near room temperature and uses conventional equipment, a straightforward fermentation process and natural rather than genetically engineered bacterial strains.
It promises to allow production of tailored nanomaterials in economic quantities, potentially stimulating interest in the development of new and expanded applications.
NanoFermentation was developed by Tommy Joe Phelps of the Environmental Sciences Division, Lonnie Love of the Engineering Science and Technology Division, Adam Rondinone of the Chemical Sciences Division, former ORNL researcher Bob Lauf, now a consultant, and post-doctoral researcher fellows Yul Roh, Chuanlun Zhang and Ji-Won Moon.
Early project funding came from the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research with more recent funding coming from DOE's Fossil Energy office and the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency.
ORNL's high-temperature superconducting wire technology, referred to as "HTS Wires Enabled via 3D Self-Assembly of Insulating Nanodots," has received a Nano 50 Award from Nanotech Briefs, a digital magazine for design engineers. The ORNL technology offers a method of sustaining high supercurrents in the presence of a large applied magnetic field.
The technique creates columns of self-aligned "nanodots," made of nonconductive material, within the superconductor. These nanodots, in effect, pin down the naturally occurring vortices caused by magnetic fields, which disrupt energy distribution and counteract the wire's superconductive properties. The technology could allow superconductors to be used in motors, generators, air defense systems and other applications where a large applied magnetic field is present.
Developers of this technology were Sukill Kang, Amit Goyal, Jing Li, Sung-Hun Wee, Keith Leonard, Patrick Martin, Albert Agcaoili Gapud, Frederick Alyious List III, Eliot Specht, Lee Heatherly, Maria Varela del Arco, Anota Ijaduola, James Thompson, David Christen, Stephen Pennycook and Dominic Lee in the Materials Science and Technology Division, and Parans Paranthaman in the Chemical Sciences Division at ORNL.
The research was sponsored by the Department of Energy's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.
UT-Battelle manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy.
UT, ORNL Physicists Take Major Step in Superconductivity Research
July 25, 2006
University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory physicists in collaboration with scientists from the National Institute of Science and Technology and the University of Maryland have answered a key question about what high-temperature superconductors have in common.
High-temperature superconductors — materials that conduct electricity with incredibly high efficiency at higher-than-normal temperatures — have applications in fields from medical imaging to power transmission. In the long term, superconductors could potentially help solve the world's significant energy issues.
The UT research is published in this week's issue of the journal Nature, one of the world's top scientific journals.
Scientists have struggled to understand superconductivity since the early part of the 20th century. While they knew that some metals were able to conduct electricity with incredible efficiency, it only occurred at temperatures too cold to be useful. It was only 20 years ago when researchers discovered materials — copper oxides — that had superconductivity at temperatures exceeding the liquid nitrogen boiling point (-319 F).
But science still does not understand why.
The UT research, led by associate professor of physics and astronomy Pengcheng Dai, shows that a type of electron spin motion known as magnetic resonance is common across different classes of copper oxides. This represents a significant step towards understanding these potentially useful materials.
"This work tells us that resonance must play a role of some kind in superconductivity," said Dai, a UT-ORNL joint faculty member. "Knowing this common trait will move the research forward significantly."
The research indicates that the resonance energy in a material is proportional to the temperature at which a metal is superconductive.
"The higher the temperature at which a material is superconducting, the more possible applications it has," said UT physics graduate student Stephen Wilson, the paper's lead author.
The superconducting material they used in their experiment, known as PLCCO, is a crystal grown in the laboratory at UT. Dai and Wilson both point to the fact that in the past, the crystal would have been from Japan through collaborative programs, but that UT's campus now has the capacity to grow these crystals.
The experiments for this research were carried out at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR).
The next step in this research is to try to understand whether the common trait of resonance is the cause of, or just caused by, the superconductivity — in essence a "chicken or an egg" dilemma, according to Dai and Wilson.
The researchers pointed to the new Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and continued collaboration with NCNR as critical to continuing their work.
"The SNS will have a real impact," said Dai. "It takes research that would have been impossible and makes it possible."
Between the ability to grow the crystals in the lab and analyze them at SNS, in the future, their entire research could be completed in East Tennessee.
NCNR, located in Maryland, is a leading national user facility for neutron research, used by more than 2,000 scientists annually.
Joining Wilson and Dai as authors of the paper are UT postdoctoral research fellow Shiliang Li and graduate student Songxue Chi, along with H.J. Kang and J.W. Lynn of NIST. NIST, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation funded the research.
Marshall Sets the Bar Really Low for Telescope
Test Chamber for Framework will Drop to 300 Below Zero
The Huntsville Times
August 11, 2006
Marshall Space Flight Center engineers hope a super-cold vacuum test chamber will show them how to build the framework for the mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope - the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Marshall workers moved a test section of the metal framework into the three-story vacuum chamber Wednesday morning. The chamber temperature will be lowered to more than 300 degrees Fahrenheit below zero to study how the 10-foot section will react to the extreme cold of space, said Kevin Russell, Marshall project manager for the Webb Space Telescope.
A sturdy framework will be needed to hold 18 highly polished mirrors in place, Russell said.
"The test will show deformations in the test article," he said. "It's in the nanometers, and that's atoms across. It's not something you could look at and appreciate with the naked eye."
The infrared James Webb Space Telescope is NASA's successor to Hubble, which was designed and managed by Marshall in the 1970s and early '80s.
While Hubble looks at the cosmos mostly in visible light, the Webb telescope will use infrared light to cut through interstellar dust and take pictures of galaxies and stars. The Webb telescope is scheduled for launch in 2013, and it will be placed in an orbit a million miles from Earth.
"It's a place in space that's far way and super cold," said Jeff Kegley, manager of the X-ray Calibration Facility, where the testing is under way. "That's why they need this special chamber to perform the work."
The $50 million X-ray Calibration Facility was built in 1989 and 1990 to test parts of the Chandra X-ray Space Telescope. In 1999 and 2005, NASA spent about $2.5 million improving the facility to run tests on other types of instruments, Kegley said.
The metal framework is to be tested at Marshall for three weeks, Russell said, and it will take about a week or so to drop the three-story, 5,400-cubic-foot test chamber to more than 300 degrees below zero.
Marshall engineers will cycle the piece through very cold temperatures, Russell said. It will start at room temperature, he said, "then go down to the really cold temperatures of (more than 300 below) and then we will bring it back up again and go back to super cold again."
"The challenge is building structures to hold these mirrors," said Scott Texter, telescope manager for Northrop Grumman Corp., the prime contractor on the project. "As the spacecraft is in orbit, its attitude to the sun changes, and temperatures change slightly. Even though it is extremely cold in space, there is enough change to cause expansion like joints in a road."
Unless engineers design the framework with that movement in mind, that expansion could damage the mirrors, designed to collect the infrared light of billion-year-old star systems, Texter said.
Russell said all 18 segments of the mirror will undergo similar temperature tests at Marshall during late 2007 and throughout 2008.
The Magic of Nanotechnology: Experts, Researchers Describe Promises, Challenges of Industry
August 24, 2006
In describing the potential of nanotechnology for the manufacturing industry, researcher J. Storrs Hall drew on a quote from British author Arthur C. Clarke. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," Clarke wrote.
The things Hall described sure sounded like magic: a "utility fog" consisting of tiny robots the size of human cells that can morph from solid to liquid to gas and generate just about anything - furniture, clothing, roads - on demand. Hall used the utility fog, which he first described in a research paper in the early 1990s, as an example of how nanotechnology - roughly defined as the study of matter at extremely small dimensions - could revolutionize the way things are manufactured.
The things Hall described sure sounded like magic: a "utility fog" consisting of tiny robots the size of human cells that can morph from solid to liquid to gas and generate just about anything - furniture, clothing, roads - on demand. Hall used the utility fog, which he first described in a research paper in the early 1990s, as an example of how nanotechnology - roughly defined as the study of matter at extremely small dimensions - could revolutionize the way things are manufactured.
Hall was the keynote speaker Wednesday at a forum titled "The Next Industrial Revolution: Nanotechnology and Manufacturing." The event at Pollard Technology Conference Center in Oak Ridge concludes today.
Some 40 participants listened as researchers and experts described the promises and challenges of nanotechnology. In the afternoon, the group toured the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences and the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, followed by a reception at Technology 2020 where U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., was to speak.
Patti Glaza, CEO of Small Times Media, discussed nanotechnology applications in different sectors, including energy, medicine, computing and consumer products. Semiconductors used in computer production are the hot market now for nanotechnology, according to Glaza. She said companies are looking to use the technology for applications like improving battery performance, making solar power cost-effective, restoring bone tissue and targeting delivery of drugs. It's also being used to manufacture protective gear, explosive detection devices, coatings and catalytic converters. Glaza said about $300 million worth of deals were done in the nanotechnology industry in the second quarter of 2006. She said investments in the sector have been on the rise, but the industry has trouble attracting startup funding because venture capital firms are reluctant to make a long-term commitment. Institutional investors have had little interest in the industry, which means there have been few initial public offerings of stock, Glaza said.
Charlene Bayer, principal research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, sounded a cautionary note, saying that nanotechnological research and development is outpacing our understanding of the environmental and health impacts. She pointed out that some sunscreens, deodorants and makeup already contain nanoparticles. "You're putting them on your body because you want a more effective product, but do you know what they do to your body?" she asked. Bayer compared nanotechnology to notorious health and environmental hazards like asbestos, DDT and leaded gas. She said legal protections for nanotechnology workers are outdated, and researchers need to consider whether the benefits of their work outweigh the costs.
David DePaoli, a group leader for separations and materials research at ORNL, outlined a 2003 research and development "road map" for the design of nanomaterials. The vision for the road map, DePaoli said, is to move from a system of discovery-based product development, where research breakthroughs drive the commercialization of technologies, to a system of application-based problem solving, where industry needs drive research and production.
The road map is a product of Vision2020, a chemical industry-led public-private partnership. The goal of the group is to identify research and development priorities to help guide government funding.
For more information about nano technology in east Tennessee, visit the Innovation Valley Nano Alliance website at www.nanovalley.us.
Schedule for Lunar Trips Puts Marshall Engineers to the Test
Center Busily Gathers Data on Engine that Will Power Upper Stage of Ares I Rocket
The Huntsville Times
August 04, 2006
Another rocket engine test was checked off in Huntsville on what Marshall Space Flight Center engineers say is a crowded schedule for astronauts' next quarter-million-mile journey to the moon.
Green and orange flames and 20,000 pounds of thrust spewed out of a Marshall test stand for about 10 seconds Thursday as part of 50 tests to provide data on engine parts and the overall design of the J-2X engine. The J-2X will power the upper stage of NASA's Ares I moon rocket for astronauts.
"That's 42 tests left and one more down on the way back to the moon," said Jim Snoddy, J-2X program manager.
Marshall engineers for two months have been testing different fuel mixtures to see how a rocket engine fuel injector plate will react under the stress of launch, Snoddy said. This series of tests is expected to end in September.
Across Marshall, about 540 people are developing elements of the Ares I crew launch vehicle and the Ares V heavy cargo lift vehicle - rockets to be used to return astronauts to the moon - said Steve Cook, Marshall's director of the Exploration Launch Projects Office.
"This is going back to the roots of our being the Rocket City. It's going back to the Apollo era since we've had that kind of responsibility," Cook told reporters.
Marshall engineers are also designing and testing lightweight, strong materials and developing manufacturing techniques, such as improved welding methods, to produce the rockets and possibly tools and structures that could be used on the moon.
The space agency isn't without challenges in building rockets and sending astronauts back to the moon, said Jeff Hanley, the NASA manager overseeing development of lunar flight hardware and missions.
Hanley said the J-2X engine is one reason the Ares I rocket probably would not be completed before 2012. NASA managers have said they hope the rocket is ready to ferry crews to the International Space Station by 2010, when the space shuttle is retired.
"We couldn't throw enough money at it to carry humans" by 2010, Hanley said.
Even though it is an Apollo-era design, the J-2X engine is an improved Saturn V upper-stage engine that never flew on a mission. Cook said the J-2X still faces a lot of design and test work.
"Engines and propulsion are always the pacing items on any program development," he said.
The senior NASA managers are confident that plans to return American astronauts to the moon will not wither as such plans have in the past. Cook said the program has money coming from Congress, where earlier, similar efforts had no support from Capitol Hill.
The schedule to return to the moon is tight even though 2014 is eight years away, Cook said. NASA plans a test flight of the Ares I by April 2009. Marshall engineers plan to test the first-stage solid rocket booster on a launch of a dummy upper stage for that flight, Cook said.
"We've got less than 33 months before we have a test flight," Cook said. "That's not a lot of time left for us to get our work done."
President Bush Names Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation Officer to National Board
August 03, 2006
President George W. Bush is appointing Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer L. Ray Moncrief to the Community Development Advisory Board.
This national board advises the director of Community Development Financial Institutions Fund on policies regarding activities and programs.
Through monetary awards and tax credits, the fund helps promote access to capital and local economic growth in urban and rural low-income communities.
In Kentucky last year, the amount exceeded $68 million.
“I am honored to be appointed to the national board of CDFI, which has made such important investments in Kentucky,” Moncrief said. “CDFI and KHIC have a long history of working together in Southeastern Kentucky to create successful economic development opportunities.”
Moncrief also has board and/or management roles for several other entities affiliated with KHIC, including Mountain Ventures, a Small Business Investment Company (SBIC); the Southern Appalachian Fund, a New Markets Venture Capital (NVMC) Company; and Meritus Ventures, L. P., a Rural Business Investment Company (RBIC).
Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation, founded in 1968 to stimulate economic growth in nine counties in Southern and Eastern Kentucky, now serves 22 counties in the region and has created 10,197 jobs.
Chattanooga Technology Council Creates Start-Up Investor Capital Connection
Chattanooga Technology Council Announces "Capital Connection" for Early-stage Companies and Investors
The Chattanoogan
July 31, 2006
The Chattanooga Technology Council announced the formation of the Chattanooga Capital Connection which will have as its goal to connect early-stage entrepreneurial firms with interested and qualified investors.
The first Capital Connection event will be held during the fourth quarter of this year. The deadline for interested firms to apply for consideration as presenters at a forum of Capital Connection investors is September 15.
"Many entrepreneurs have a viable business concept that has shown traction in developing a product or acquiring customers, yet they need additional capital beyond 'family and friends' to grow and succeed," said Andy Novobilski, president of the Chattanooga Technology Council. "These early equity requirements are often difficult to find, but they may ultimately determine success or failure for very promising companies."
"The Chattanooga Capital Connection is another example of how the Chattanooga Technology Council is supporting economic growth in southeast Tennessee," said Eric Cromwell, Director of the Technology Development Division of the State of Tennessee. "Capital and talent are two requirements to build an innovation economy and entrepreneurial culture that lead to economic expansion, and this new program will help increase the availability of both in and around Chattanooga."
"With this Chattanooga Connection, the Chattanooga Technology Council is making a significant contribution in addressing a critical requirement for sustainable economic growth," said John Riddell, Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, Vice President, Center for Entrepreneurial Growth.
Interested companies are invited to go to the website www.chatc.org to complete the application for consideration. Companies selected by the Capital Connection screening panel will be invited to give a presentation to a group of qualified, high-net worth individuals who are interested in investing in start-up and early-stage companies.
While the targeted investment per company is $500,000, individual situations and requests may be modified to suit the needs of the applying companies.
It was stated that the Chattanooga Capital Connection was formed as an initiative of the Chattanooga Technology Council to create and promote a forum in which local and regional early stage companies can access local and regional capital sources. To facilitate this connection, the Chattanooga Capital Connection will, two to three times a year, invite potential investors to a forum in which several pre-selected companies will present their businesses and investment opportunities.
The Chattanooga Technology Council, Inc. (CTC) is a non-profit organization devoted to promoting the growth of technology businesses and education throughout the greater Chattanooga area. Membership is open to individuals, companies, non-profit institutions, education facilities, and other organizations that are interested in supporting the growth of the technology sector and applications in the Chattanooga region. The CTC is supported by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. For additional information, please visit www.chatc.org.
The first Capital Connection event will be held during the fourth quarter of this year. The deadline for interested firms to apply for consideration as presenters at a forum of Capital Connection investors is September 15.
"Many entrepreneurs have a viable business concept that has shown traction in developing a product or acquiring customers, yet they need additional capital beyond 'family and friends' to grow and succeed," said Andy Novobilski, president of the Chattanooga Technology Council. "These early equity requirements are often difficult to find, but they may ultimately determine success or failure for very promising companies."
"The Chattanooga Capital Connection is another example of how the Chattanooga Technology Council is supporting economic growth in southeast Tennessee," said Eric Cromwell, Director of the Technology Development Division of the State of Tennessee. "Capital and talent are two requirements to build an innovation economy and entrepreneurial culture that lead to economic expansion, and this new program will help increase the availability of both in and around Chattanooga."
"With this Chattanooga Connection, the Chattanooga Technology Council is making a significant contribution in addressing a critical requirement for sustainable economic growth," said John Riddell, Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, Vice President, Center for Entrepreneurial Growth.
Interested companies are invited to go to the website www.chatc.org to complete the application for consideration. Companies selected by the Capital Connection screening panel will be invited to give a presentation to a group of qualified, high-net worth individuals who are interested in investing in start-up and early-stage companies.
While the targeted investment per company is $500,000, individual situations and requests may be modified to suit the needs of the applying companies.
It was stated that the Chattanooga Capital Connection was formed as an initiative of the Chattanooga Technology Council to create and promote a forum in which local and regional early stage companies can access local and regional capital sources. To facilitate this connection, the Chattanooga Capital Connection will, two to three times a year, invite potential investors to a forum in which several pre-selected companies will present their businesses and investment opportunities.
The Chattanooga Technology Council, Inc. (CTC) is a non-profit organization devoted to promoting the growth of technology businesses and education throughout the greater Chattanooga area. Membership is open to individuals, companies, non-profit institutions, education facilities, and other organizations that are interested in supporting the growth of the technology sector and applications in the Chattanooga region. The CTC is supported by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. For additional information, please visit www.chatc.org.
New Series of Briefs on Challenges in Rural America
August 01, 2006
The Rural Sociological Society, in connection with the Southern Rural Development Center and three other Regional Rural Development Centers, recently released a series of briefs based on its book, Challenges for Rural America in the Twenty-First Century.
The six briefs, each drawn from a different chapter, stress the importance of promoting collective community action and developing the capacity of people and organizations to meet the special needs of rural communities.
The six briefs address the following topics:
1) The changing face of rural America; 2) The challenges of rural poverty; 3) Tourism and amenity-based development in rural communities; 4) Competition, cooperation, and local government; 5) Improving rural educational attainment; and 6) Catalytic community development.
All are available for download at http://www.ruralsociology.org.
The six briefs, each drawn from a different chapter, stress the importance of promoting collective community action and developing the capacity of people and organizations to meet the special needs of rural communities.
The six briefs address the following topics:
1) The changing face of rural America; 2) The challenges of rural poverty; 3) Tourism and amenity-based development in rural communities; 4) Competition, cooperation, and local government; 5) Improving rural educational attainment; and 6) Catalytic community development.
All are available for download at http://www.ruralsociology.org.
Chattanooga Chamber Helped Create Over 2,000 Jobs in One Year
July 26, 2006
The Chattanooga Area Chamber’s Tell the World! effort played a direct role in projects announced from July 2005 to June 2006 that will create 2,056 new jobs, according to the Chamber’s Chief Economic Development Officer Trevor Hamilton.
"These 2,000 jobs represent more than five times the number of jobs the Chamber assisted in 2003, the year before Tell the World! began,” Hamilton said. “The job creation and investment numbers related to the projects the Chamber works directly are perhaps the best indication of the tremendous impact the region’s first comprehensive economic development strategy is having on our economy.”
For that reason, the Chamber is adjusting its goals to better reflect its direct efforts in job growth projects during Chattanooga CAN DO, the $10 million, second phase of the Chamber’s initiative to grow the Chattanooga area economy. Chattanooga CAN DO will be conducted from July 2007 to June 2011.
The Chamber is setting four goals that will result from the Chamber’s direct assistance to existing companies considering expansion and out-of-market companies considering where to invest. The goals are to achieve the following during the 4-year initiative:
-Public announcements of job growth projects by 60 companies,
-That they will invest a combined $500 million,
-To create 7,500 new jobs,
-That they will invest a combined $500 million,
-To create 7,500 new jobs,
-With wages averaging $37,466, which is 10% above Hamilton County’s last available confirmed average wage of $34,060 as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Linking the public announcement of Chamber-assisted projects with the resulting economic impact helps us provide the public accountability that has been a hallmark of our economic development strategy since the launch of Tell the World,” Hamilton said. “Only the projects we assist directly will count toward achieving the goal. We will also continue to track the net total jobs in the region and other announced projects to offer our investors and the community at large the full economic picture.”
Hamilton also pointed out that comparing the new goals to the benchmark of 20,000 net new jobs set for the first phase of the economic development campaign is “an apples and oranges proposition.” According to Hamilton, Tell the World!’s net new jobs goal had the advantage of giving a bird’s-eye view of the local economy as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS), but the BLS numbers do not accurately reflect the Chamber’s efforts.
“There were two problems with the original goal,” Hamilton said. “First, the net new jobs number is influenced by business closures and other factors over which the Chamber has no control. Second, the projects we work and announce today will take 3-5 years on average to reach the full employment numbers which the BLS tracks. As a result, the BLS numbers lag several years behind what we are accomplishing right now. Increasing the overall jobs and flow of commerce in our economy is our ultimate aim, and I think it’s clear that the Chattanooga region has been achieving greater and greater momentum since the launch of Tell the World!, but the federal numbers come too late to give our investors and citizens an accurate, real-time accounting of our efforts.”
According to Hamilton, the newly established Chattanooga CAN DO goals appropriately focus on the Chamber’s efforts to support high-wage job creation.
“For the last three years, the Chamber has led the region in competing to recruit new manufacturing and office operations while keep existing companies growing,” Hamilton said. “That won’t change during the next phase of our comprehensive economic development effort, but our goals will better reflect what we do every day.”
Research at Redstone to Receive a Boost
Outgoing SMDC Chief Says Satellite Work to be Priority
The Huntsville Times
August 18, 2006
The Army's Space & Missile Defense Command will increase its focus on research and development as the major part of the Missile Defense Agency moves to Redstone Arsenal, the command's outgoing leader, Army Lt. Gen. Larry Dodgen, said Thursday.
Space & Missile Defense headquarters and much of the Missile Defense Agency's work are scheduled to move from Arlington, Va., before 2011 as part of a 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission decision.
Dodgen said the Space & Missile Defense Command, or SMDC, already works closely with the Missile Defense Agency, or MDA, and with the Air Force in areas such as research and development and satellites, but more research work will come to Huntsville to support new Army programs such as the Future Combat System.
The Future Combat System would be a family of aircraft, tanks and robots that will be linked by satellite communications. SMDC research is a cornerstone of these weapons, many of them taking soldiers out of the threat of battle.
Dodgen, who has headed SMDC since 2003 but soon will cede command to Maj. Gen. Kevin T. Campbell, spoke to military and defense leaders at the close of this week's Space Missile Defense Conference at the Von Braun Center.
Dodge said that over the next five years more space-related research and development, and purchase or acquisition work, will be required of SMDC engineers, mostly in Huntsville. The goal is to provide tools that soldiers need to use satellite networks in combat.
SMDC satellites move critical information such as the location of friendly and enemy troops to commanders across the battlefield, and constellations of Army-controlled satellites provide voice, data and video to military leaders and decision-makers.
Dodgen said SMDC is the only Army command that supplies the satellites and other "space-based" tools to soldiers.
"One thing that belongs solely to SMDC is space control for the Army," Dodgen said. "We need to ensure that our space capabilities serve the United States Army, and we also need to make sure the Army is not held hostage to others' space" capabilities.
Other agencies may have different priorities and could leave Army soldiers in the lurch during battle. Dodgen said SMDC was formed in 1997 to make sure that did not happen.
"The idea then was that there are very important (space) missions not at the forefront of Army business," Dodgen said. Army leaders "did not want to lose out on that potential when they formed this command."
Dodgen plans to meet with the previous eight SMDC commanders by the end of the month and use their experience and knowledge to map out strategies for the command's future, he said. "We do that every year," he said.
The command also has overall responsibility for the soldiers who run the Global Missile Defense system in Colorado Springs, Colo., which is designed to counter missile threats from North Korea and Iran.
Col. Roger Mathews, deputy commander for SMDC operations in Arlington, told the conference Thursday that the July 4 launch of North Korean rockets worked as a test of the ground-based missile defense system.
"We learned so much from that, and we have a better system today because of it," he said.
Keeping a missile defense edge will rest more and more with Huntsville workers, Mathews said.
"With a larger footprint in Huntsville," he said, "there will be more responsibilities locally for SMDC."
Opening New Facility in Kentucky, Creating 255+ Jobs
July 31, 2006
Datatrac Information Services, Inc. (Datatrac), a leading solutions and services provider to the Federal Government, has been awarded a multi-year contract by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), to support its digitization of and electronic access to all Alien-File (A-File) data that resides within the different USCIS offices.
Datatrac, along with its subcontractor Anacomp, Inc., will assist in USCIS’ efforts to create, standardize, and implement digitization processes and technologies, providing the foundation for electronic capture and management of critical agency data.
In the initial phase of the contract, Datatrac will provide records/document management for the electronic capture of more than one million USCIS A-Files. This will include physical and electronic records management, document scanning, metadata capture, and creation of information to integrate with the USCIS document management environment. This phase is called Integrated Digitization Document Management Program (IDDMP) Alien-File Digitized Enterprise Solution.
Jackie Kropman, Director of Operations Support Solutions at Datatrac, said, "This contract is a strategic win for Datatrac and will be pivotal in expanding our Operations Support Solutions Line of Business." Kropman went on to say, "We are especially excited to be expanding the Datatrac service offerings in Kentucky."
For the award of this Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) and performance of the first call under it, Datatrac is standing up a new facility in Williamsburg, Ky. The estimated value of the program is $150 million over the five-year period.
"I am incredibly pleased to welcome Datatrac to Williamsburg," said Kentucky Fifth District Congressman, Hal Rogers. "Any time new jobs come into our region is a cause for celebration. We have a strong work force, a good quality of life and a network of support for businesses that makes this area a good place to locate. This is yet another example of how our region is demonstrating that it can compete for the high-tech jobs of the future."
About Datatrac
Since its inception in 1987, Datatrac has enjoyed enormous growth in providing services to Federal Government clients. Today, Datatrac remains a privately held company and has more than 1,500 dedicated employees across seven states and the District of Columbia. Datatrac is a Native American and women-owned company that provides citizen-centric solutions to government agencies in the core areas of operations support, contact centers, secure document personalization and information technology. Datatrac is headquartered in Richardson, Texas. Additional information about the company can be found at www.Datatrac-DC.com.
Tri-Cities Gains 4,144 Jobs In Second Quarter
August 21, 2006
The Tri-Cities metropolitan area gained more than 4,100 jobs in the second quarter this year, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of employment growth in the region.
According to the latest labor market report issued Thursday by East Tennessee State University, the Tri-Cities added 4,144 jobs in the quarter, an increase of 1.85 percent in employment levels from the same period a year ago.
Meanwhile, the region's unemployment rate fell 6.48 percent to 4.89 percent. Some 11,719 people were counted on the jobless rolls in the quarter vs. 12,531 people in the year-ago period.
ETSU economist Steb Hipple said the regional labor market patterns are following a familiar track.
"The first quarter was very good - we saw strong performance in both the region and nation, and the second quarter is pretty much a repeat," Hipple said.
He said employment growth is concentrated in the service industries, while the goods-producing sectors are lagging behind.
"That is a problem, but we're getting such good performance out of the service sector that overall employment is going up very nicely," Hipple said.
Job gains were led by education and health services, government, other services, retail trade, information services, transport and utilities, professional and business services, and wholesale trade.
Job losses were reported in construction, durable and non-durable manufacturing, finance, and leisure and hospitality.
Employment levels remained unchanged in the mining sector.
The area's individual labor markets reflected the region's strong performance.
Kingsport added 653 jobs in the quarter, while its unemployment rate fell a whopping 10.11 percent to 5.02 percent.
Johnson City led employment gains in the period, adding 1,461 jobs, while its unemployment rate declined by 6.45 percent to 4.76 percent.
And Bristol gained 299 jobs in the quarter, while its unemployment rate dropped 7.20 percent to 4.93 percent.
Hipple said the strong regional labor market mirrors the national market.
Nationally, job creation has registered well above the 1 percent rate for the past eight quarters, while employment gains averaged 2 percent in the last four quarters.
"And this pace of job expansion has substantially reduced the number of unemployed workers and has resulted in very tight labor markets," Hipple said.
He warned that such a high level of job creation and low unemployment is not sustainable.
"The national labor force grows about 1 percent each year in line with overall population growth. The nearly 2 percent job growth over the past year must lead to a tighter labor market, generating ‘cost-push' pressures on the inflation rate," Hipple said.
He noted the Federal Reserve System is monitoring the labor market and energy market conditions to keep inflation in check.
The labor market report is based on the 2005 Benchmark of the Current Population Survey of the U.S. Department of Labor.
The report is available online at http://faculty.etsu.edu/hipples.
Alabama Leaders Salute Lockheed Expansion
$30M building will be firm's 8th in Research Park
The Huntsville Times
August 16, 2006
Local, state and federal officials joined Lockheed Martin Corp. at a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for Lockheed Martin Huntsville Operations' $30 million, 166,000-square-foot office building on its Bradford Drive campus.
The company was the first to build in Cummings Research Park and started with 12 employees in 1962, said Bob Drolet, director of Lockheed Martin Huntsville Operations, which now employs nearly 550. Growth of at least 15 to 20 percent is expected over the next year, he said.
When the company became the first landowner in Cummings, few could envision what would happen with the Huntsville operation 40 years later, said Dr. Bob Trice, senior vice president, business development with Lockheed Martin. The new building, Building 406, represents the bright future "we see in Huntsville," he said.
"This is a great economic development benefit for this community and this state, and for that I'm very appreciative," Gov. Bob Riley said.
Riley praised Lockheed Martin employees "for what you do for our fighting men and women." The company's work helps make "the fight for freedom a reality," he said.
Lockheed Martin Huntsville Operations provides program management and engineering for key missile defense contracts and is the site of the company's Battle Management Center of Excellence.
Others making remarks at the groundbreaking were U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile; U.S. Reps. Bud Cramer, D-Huntsville, and Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville; Huntsville Mayor Loretta Spencer; and Madison County Commission Chairman Mike Gillespie.
Construction of the office building is scheduled to start later this month, subject to final negotiations between Lockheed Martin and Sunnyvale II development group of Huntsville.
The building will be the eighth at Lockheed Martin's 80-acre campus on Bradford.
Wamp Urges Strong Leadership
August 24, 2006
U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp on Wednesday challenged East Tennesseans to provide leadership in the next century, ensuring the region stays successful even as the world faces great challenges.
“We’ve got to step up,” said Wamp, a Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge.
Wamp, who is running for re-election in November, was the keynote speaker at an East Tennessee Regional Leadership’s Association economic-development luncheon. The lunch was held at Wackenhut Services’ Oak Ridge office.
Wamp said the nation faces great challenges, like an aging population.
But he pointed to the past as a sign of what is possible with good leadership. Look at what was accomplished in less than 100 years from man’s first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk to the first space-shuttle flight, he said.
“Where are we going to be in 90 more years?” Wamp asked. “It comes right down to leadership. That’s what leadership is all about.”
He said the region has three significant economic-development opportunities: advanced transportation, alternative energy and security. And there are going to be winners and losers in those three areas, Wamp said, emphasizing the need for leadership.
In Oak Ridge, Wamp singled out the $1.4 billion Spallation Neutron Source, a world-class science research facility completed on-time and on-budget.
“This is good government,” he said. “This is accountable government.”
Frist, Alexander, Wamp, Duncan Applaud Selection of Local Site as Finalist for Homeland Security Research Lab
Tennessee/Kentucky Consortium One of 14 Finalists for National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility
Press Release from the Office of Senator Bill Frist
August 09, 2006
U.S. Sens. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today joined Reps. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) and John J. Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.) in applauding the announcement by the Department of Homeland Security that a local site is a finalist for the location of a new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF).
The site in Pulaski County, Ky., was nominated by the Kentucky/Tennessee NBAF Consortium, which partners the University of Tennessee and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory with the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, and other university and industry partners.
The new national lab will research biological threats involving human, zoonotic and foreign animal diseases. DHS estimates the facility will contain approximately 500,000 square feet of lab space, with construction costs running upwards of $450 million. Once operational, the facility is expected to directly support over 400 jobs with an annual payroll of $30.5 million. The effort to bring the facility to the region is supported by the governors and congressional delegations of both Tennessee and Kentucky.
“East Tennessee has a long tradition of research that benefits homeland security, and today’s announcement brings us one step closer to adding to that impressive legacy,” Frist said. “Locating this research facility in the region would create jobs, benefit the local economy and further cement East Tennessee’s standing as a one of the nation’s premier scientific research communities. I commend the consortium for their efforts and will continue to work with them and the congressional delegation to bring this opportunity to the region.”
"This is very good news, and I am proud of the work in Tennessee and Kentucky that has gone into this effort,” Alexander said. “Tennessee’s capabilities for performing innovative work in this area are unique and growing. I expect the proposal from the Kentucky-Tennessee partnership for siting this new national lab to be very competitive. I applaud Hal Rogers for his leadership at the federal level on this important effort."
“The strong partnership of the University of Tennessee and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory would give any consortium the strength to compete for a major mission in Homeland Security or research of this nature,” Wamp said. "I appreciate the leadership of Chairman Hal Rogers in putting these great institutions together. We are committed to this partnership and hope to stay competitive throughout this process."
“We have many valuable scientific resources in our region and I am pleased that DHS recognizes East Tennessee’s potential to further our nation’s bio-defense research,” said Duncan. “I look forward to working with my colleagues and the consortium to bring this facility to our area.”
DHS will continue to evaluate and conduct site visits to the 14 proposed sites and could announce a final selection early next year.
Kentucky One Step Closer to Landing New Homestead Security Research Lab
August 09, 2006
U.S. Representative Harold “Hal” Rogers announced today that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has selected Pulaski County, Kentucky as one of fourteen nationwide finalists for location and construction of a new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF). The Pulaski County site, located approximately ten miles northeast of Somerset, received high marks from an initial DHS review committee and now proceeds to the next phase of this ongoing competition.
Pulaski County was nominated by the Kentucky/Tennessee NBAF Consortium as the preferred location for this effort. This extraordinary two-state consortium, created with the help of Congressman Rogers, is pursuing an uncommon opportunity for regional development that could position Southern Kentucky and East Tennessee as a hub for homeland security scientific research. The KY/TN consortium partners include the University of Kentucky, the University of Tennessee, the University of Louisville, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and other supporting university and industry partners. It is supported by both governors and the congressional delegations serving Kentucky and east Tennessee.
“This is obviously great news, and puts us one step closer to our goal. I am proud of our team and the case we have made to locate this new federal research laboratory in Southern Kentucky,” said Rogers. “We have assembled an extraordinary Consortium that combines the assets of Kentucky and Tennessee and highlights the resources of our region. We are up against very strong competition, but as the selection process indicates, we are effectively competing for this facility.”
Rogers continued, “This proposal has unparalleled support from local governments, business and civic groups, and statewide organizations. It is now up to scientists and government experts to determine if Southern Kentucky will ultimately be the best fit for this new national lab.”
In an effort to replace the aging Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York, DHS announced plans in early 2006 to build a new national lab to serve as an integrated human, foreign animal and zoonotic disease research, development and testing center. DHS estimates the facility will contain approximately 500,000 square feet of lab space, with construction costs running upwards of $450 million. Once operational, the facility is expected to directly support over 400 jobs with an annual payroll of $30.5 million.
Other federal and state government leaders also joined Rogers today in offering praise for the Consortium’s efforts and DHS’ latest decision.
“Today’s announcement recognizes the unique qualifications of our states to fulfill this vital homeland security need,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. “I thank Chairman Rogers for his efforts and will continue to work with the Consortium to bring this important project to our region.”
“Today’s announcement is further proof that Kentucky is being recognized for its ability to be a leader in the field of bio research and testing,” said Governor Ernie Fletcher. “I sincerely thank Congressman Rogers, Governor Bredesen and all the consortium members who are working diligently to bring the National Bio and Agro-Defense facility to Kentucky. I look forward to continuing our efforts to bring this project home to Kentucky.”
The list of finalists announced today by DHS cover fourteen proposals located in eleven states. Over the next few months, DHS will be conducting site visits and gathering more information. Based upon those results, DHS will continue the process of narrowing down the field of possible sites. The next down-select decision could come by early next year.
More detailed information regarding the NBAF selection process is available by calling the DHS Public Affairs Office at 202-282-8010.
North Alabama Rolling Out the Red Carpet for BRAC
August 04, 2006
About 60 representatives from cities and counties across North Alabama and southern Tennessee trekked to Springfield, Virginia and Ft. Belvoir last month to entice BRAC-impacted employees of the U.S. Army Materiel Command and U.S. Army Security and Assistance Command to accept a transfer and move to the region. The trip was coordinated by the Tennessee Valley BRAC Committee.
"We're very happy with the results," said Joe Ritch, committee chairman and vice chair of governmental affairs for the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County . "We've heard nothing but positive responses so far."
Dave Hargrove, chairman of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce and spokesperson for the BRAC committee touted the area's outstanding quality of life. Information about housing prices, education and recreational opportunities was offered to hundreds of attendees.
Many city and county officials attended including mayors Loretta Spencer of Huntsville, Sandy Kirkindall of Madison, Frank Lee Cox of Arab, John Ed Underwood of Fayetteville, Dan Deason of Scottsboro, Samantha Lemley of Grant and Bob Hembree of Guntersville. Also part of the BRAC trip were Huntsville City Councilman Richard Showers; Madison County Commission Chairman Mike Gillespie; Col. John Olshefski, Redstone Garrison commander; Dr. Mary Jane Caylor of Huntsville, a member of the Alabama school board; and officials with school systems across the region.
The Army Materiel Command headquarters will move from Fort Belvoir and bring 1,746 jobs. The headquarters for the U.S. Army Security and Assistance Command will bring around 150 jobs from Fort Belvoir. Additionally, the Missile Defense Agency will move the bulk of its missile work from the Washington, D.C., area and relocate 2,248 jobs here.
Sixteen Companies Selected to Present at the 10th Annual Tennessee Valley Venture Forum
August 21, 2006
Technology 2020 announced last week that 16 companies have been selected to present their business plans at the 10th Annual Tennessee Valley Venture Forum, which is scheduled for September 27-28 at the Knoxville Convention Center. The Annual Venture Forum is one of several efforts supported by the Tennessee Valley Corridor to attract more venture capital support and new business investment to the Corridor region.
"We are very pleased by the caliber of the companies presenting at this year's Venture Forum," said Tech 2020 President and CEO Tom Rogers. "They are a very diverse group of companies from five southeastern states, including companies from all of Tennessee's grand divisions. The presenting companies are involved in information technology, biotechnology and energy, and also represent many stages of development, seeking funding from Series A through Series C. We are also pleased to have three companies from North Carolina presenting for the first time in the conference's history."
The Tennessee Valley Venture Forum offers both institutional and individual investors the opportunity to hear 16 business plans over the course of two days. The conference begins Wednesday afternoon, September 27th and concludes by noon on Thursday, September 28th. Presenters will have exhibit booths to display their products and services as well as to answer questions and make connections with the conference attendees. In the past several years, approximately one-third of the presenting companies have closed investments as a result of their participation in the conference.
The companies selected to participate this year are:
BBR Wireless Management Louisville, KY
The Documentary Channel Nashville, TN
Epic Secure Solutions, Inc. Bristol, TN
Filekeeper, Inc. Knoxville, TN
InRAD, LLC Knoxville, TN
Jenkin Biosciences, Inc. Research Triangle, NC
LiveCargo Greensboro, NC
Pathfinder Therapeutics Nashville, TN
PetroGreen Athens, TN
Piedmont Pharmaceuticals Greensboro, NC
SemiSouth Starkville, MS
Signal Mountain Networks Alpharetta, GA
Sunlight Direct Oak Ridge, TN
Telesensors Knoxville, TN
Tier 1 Performance Solutions Covington, KY
Vanick Group Memphis, TN
The Documentary Channel Nashville, TN
Epic Secure Solutions, Inc. Bristol, TN
Filekeeper, Inc. Knoxville, TN
InRAD, LLC Knoxville, TN
Jenkin Biosciences, Inc. Research Triangle, NC
LiveCargo Greensboro, NC
Pathfinder Therapeutics Nashville, TN
PetroGreen Athens, TN
Piedmont Pharmaceuticals Greensboro, NC
SemiSouth Starkville, MS
Signal Mountain Networks Alpharetta, GA
Sunlight Direct Oak Ridge, TN
Telesensors Knoxville, TN
Tier 1 Performance Solutions Covington, KY
Vanick Group Memphis, TN
The 10th Annual Tennessee Valley Venture Forum is co-hosted by Tech 2020, the City of Knoxville and Knox County.
For more information or to register on-line to attend the Tennessee Valley Venture Forum, please visit www.tvvf.biz.
For more information, contact:
Tom Rogers
President and CEO
Technology 2020
865-220-2020
rogers@tech2020.org
President and CEO
Technology 2020
865-220-2020
rogers@tech2020.org