FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 21, 2002
FY02-36
Regis College and ORISE Celebrate 25-Year Association
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. –Every year for 25 years, Sister M. Cabrini Angelli brought a group of her students from Regis College in Weston, Mass., to Oak Ridge for the Student/Faculty Training Program, facilitated by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education’s Professional Training Programs (PTP).
Cabrini, now retired, expresses her gratitude for a quarter century of PTP instruction in the acknowledgements of a radiation textbook she recently prepared:
“I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the Professional Training Programs of ORISE in Oak Ridge, TN, whose zealous and resourceful faculty have enriched my background in nuclear science and radiation these past 25 years of student/faculty visits. They are truly special to me and experts in their field. Regis College is indeed privileged to have the Oak Ridge connection!”
Patricia Mayer, a former student of Cabrini’s, presented a copy of the textbook and a notebook of newspaper clippings and letters commemorating the 25 trips to ORAU President Ron Townsend in a special ceremony held at Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU).
“This is about a long-term relationship we have valued,” said Townsend.
In the preface of the textbook, Cabrini describes how the PTP program helped her negotiate teaching radiation at a small liberal arts college with no radiation laboratory. “To circumvent this problem, at the completion of one semester of lectures from this text, I take my students to the Professional Training Programs of ORISE,” she writes. “Using the most up-to-date equipment, the students cover more than a semester of radiation experiments during the two-week period.”
During the program, students received 80 hours of instruction in nuclear and radiation science and techniques for handling and using radioisotopes. They conducted basic nuclear experiments with the $2.5 million scientific equipment available.
“I think I can speak for everyone when I say we got a ton of information from the course,” said Mayer.
Many of the more than 300 women (Regis is a women’s college) Cabrini brought to the program, including Mayer, went on to have careers in science.
The program, which had been funded by DOE, was discontinued in 1997.
ORISE is a U.S. Department of Energy institute 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.