ORISE-NETL Participant named winner of 2020 Ignite Off Competition

November 10, 2020

Kristyn Johnson, an ORISE participant at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), has been named the overall winner of the 2020 Ignite Off competition.

Hosted by ORISE, the Ignite Off showcased the talents of interns at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), NETL, and Argonne National Laboratory as they shared their research through Ignite Talks, five-minute presentations designed to engage the audience. Contestants had access to an ORISE professional development course that teaches the process for developing an Ignite Talk.

The virtual finals competition was open to the public. Of the 177 who registered, 91 attended. ORNL Site Office Deputy Manager Michele Branton announced the winner and provided comments, thanking all who participated in the full competition. A recording of the event is available on ORISE’s Vimeo page.

Six finalists—two from each lab—were chosen, and a national panel of judges reviewed their videos. ORNL’s finalists were Trevor McQueen, a fellow in the Innovation Crossroads program, and Jacob Sumner, a participant in the Post-Bachelor's Research Associate Program. Argonne was represented by Enakshi Saha, a participant in the National Science Foundation’s Mathematical Sciences Graduate Internship Program, and Abdullah Kuziez, a participant in the Lee Teng Undergraduate Internship Program. NETL’s other finalist was Tanner Stelmach, a participant in the Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship Program.

Johnson’s winning talk, Rotating Detonation Engine Using Machine Learning, can be viewed on ORISE’s Vimeo page. She is part of the Professional Internship Program at NETL, and her mentor is Don Ferguson. Learn more about ORISE’s Ignite Talks and to see all of this year’s Ignite Off finalists.