Further Together the ORAU Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 83: ORISE Marks 30th Anniversary: A Conversation with Jim Vosburg Mar 09, 2022

Show notes

This episode of Further Together is an ORISE Featurecast, wherein host Michael Holtz talks with Dr. Jim Vosburg, director of the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. They talk about the great work ORISE does across five performance areas and plans in progress to mark ORISE's 30 anniversary.

Episode 82: ORAU Research in Progress: Developing Computer Simulations for Rural Disaster Preparedness Feb 23, 2022

Show notes

ORAU and the University of Tennessee have partnered on a research project to develop computer simulations for rural disaster preparedness. In this episode we talk to lead researchers Julie Crumly, Ph.D., ORAU research and evaluation specialist and senior scientist, and Tom Berg, Ph.D., from the University of Tennessee, who has a joint appointment to the College of Nursing and the College of Engineering and Industrial and Systems Engineering. They talk about the challenges of building a model that works for every rural community and what they have learned so far. Tune in for a very engaging conversation.

Episode 81: Meet Scott Miller, ORAU Program Director for the NASA NPP Program Feb 16, 2022

Show notes

ORAU assumed management of the $129.7 million NASA Postdoctoral Program at the end of January 2022. In this episode of Further Together, host Michael Holtz talks with Scott Miller, ORAU Program Director for the program. What is the NPP program, why is it important to the NASA enterprise, and how can early and senior career scientists be part of this important research program? Tune in for details, and check out the NASA Postdoc Program website here: https://npp.orau.org/

Episode 80: Alvin Weinberg Archives Project: Making Science Accessible to Everyone Feb 03, 2022

Show notes

Ronnie Bogard has led an effort over the last few years to properly archive, digitize and make available to the public the archives of renowned nuclear physicist Alvin Weinberg. Weinberg, who was administrator of ORNL during and after the Manhattan Project, kept his papers -- letters, commentaries, research projects, photographs, etc. -- in a number of file cabinets and storage boxes. When he came to work for ORAU in 1975, the papers came with him. It was Weinberg's friendship with Selma Shapiro, founder of the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge and Bogard's mother, that led to his papers being left in the care of CMOR. The well-ordered file cabinets and storage boxes were locked in a storage room until Bogard and Beth Shea, CMOR executive director, began assembling a team to properly archive and digitize Weinberg's collection. In this interview Bogard shares how she has gotten to know Weinberg through this project and shares what a truly remarkable man he was.

Episode 79: Ensuring Equitable AI Adoption in Education: A Conversation with Experts from ORAU and MITRE Jan 19, 2022

Show notes

The presence and use of technology in the classroom has accelerated rapidly in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But what does technology look like in the post-pandemic landscape? ORAU and The MITRE Corporation partnered in 2021 on a long-term project to research and ultimately improve equitable adoption of artificial intelligence in education. In this episode of Further Together, Michael Holtz and special co-host Jennifer Tyrell, ORAU senior project manager for K-12 STEM education, have a conversation with Chris Nelson, Ed.D., ORAU program manager for K-12 STEM education; Guido Zarrella, senior principal AI engineer in the AI and Autonomy Innovation Center within MITRE Labs; Bobby Blount, Jr., head of MITRE’s Texas Innovation Hub; and Tracy Glazier, a math teacher at Herndon High School in Fairfax County, Va. Our experts discuss how AI is already being used in the classroom, how technology can save time for teachers while engaging students, as well as the importance of equitable access and the need for collaboration to improve access to AI.

Episode 78: ORAU-Directed Research & Development and its role in our research enterprise Dec 15, 2021

Show notes

ORAU-Directed Research and Development grants is an investment program that provides a path for funding innovative research-based approaches/solutions that fall within the intersection of ORAU's core capabilities and our member universities’ research interests. In this episode of Further Together, we talk with Casey Thomas, ODRD program manager about the program, the priorities for research that joins together the skills of our subject matter experts with the research interests of our university partners, and the process of applying. We also talk with Davyda Hammond and Laura Davenport, two of ORAU's currently funded researchers, who discuss the benefits of the program and what happens next. Look for longer conversations about their research in the coming months.

Episode 77: ORAU at 75: A conversation with Donna Cragle, part 2 Dec 08, 2021

Show notes

Dr. Donna Cragle, senior scientific advisor, has worked at ORAU for nearly 40 years. In the second part of our conversation, she talks about being a woman in science, how ORAU's culture has evolved, her role as corporate ombudsman and more. Her perspective on science and the company will be enlightening, and often humorous.

Episode 76: ORAU at 75: A conversation with Donna Cragle, part 1 Nov 29, 2021

Show notes

In this episode of ORAU at 75, a special series of the Further Together podcast, we talk to Dr. Donna Cragle, senior scientific advisor at ORAU. Dr. Cragle is an epidemiologist who has been part of the ORAU scientific enterprise for decades. This is the first of a two-part interview that focuses on how she pursued an education in epidemiology to how she came to work for ORAU and more. A conversation with Donna Cragle is interesting, enlightening and funny. Enjoy this episode!

Episode 75: The Gratitude Show 2021 Nov 22, 2021

Show notes

Podcast host Michael Holtz considers himself a gratitude evangelist, and Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday of the year. The Gratitude Show episode of Further Together, the ORAU Podcast, has become an annual tradition. We hope hearing from employees across the organization will lift your spirits as much as they've lifted ours.

Episode74: Building on a Legacy: the National Supplemental Screening Program Nov 17, 2021

Show notes

The National Supplemental Screening Program, or NSSP, is a legacy program for ORAU that began in 1996. The NSSP provides free medical screenings to Department of Energy workers who have have been exposed to hazards in the workplace. The NSSP collects data to help identify if those former workers have developed any health conditions related to workplace exposures, as well as any health conditions that arise as they workers age. In this conversation, host Michael Holtz talks with John McInerny, MD, co-principal investigator for the NSSP who has been a practicing physician in various capacities for more than 50 years, and Jamie Stalker, MD, co-principal investigator, who is also medical director for the ORISE Beryllium Lab and has decades of experience as an occupational health and internal medicine physician. As Dr. McInerny heads toward retirement, Dr. Stalker will take the reins at NSSP. We discuss all of that and more in this episode of Further Together, the ORAU Podcast.

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