Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE)

Shaping the Future of Science

Spotlight

  • TEACHERS—Are you looking for professional development courses to keep your skills sharp this summer?

    Group of K-12 STEM teachers engaged in professional development activity

    Register TODAY for our summer STEM courses! ORISE offers a variety of STEM opportunities to equip educators with valuable STEM skills and learning experiences. Our K-12 teacher programs allow educators to research alongside our nation’s leading scientists, explore STEM curriculum resources, and strengthen their classroom instruction.

  • Megan Morris, Ph.D.—Helping empower the next generation of STEM professionals

    Megan Morris, Ph.D.—Helping empower the next generation of STEM professionals

    Megan Morris, Ph.D., a manager with ORISE STEM Workforce Development, oversees multiple workforce development programs administered by ORISE. Before joining ORISE in July 2023, Morris was a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where she served as a mentor for ORISE participants in the Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship Program. We sat down with Morris to learn more about her background in science, her advice for potential applicants and how she likes to spend her free time.

  • Keri Cagle named new ORAU senior vice president and ORISE director

    Keri Cagle named new ORAU senior vice president and ORISE director

    ORAU announced Keri Cagle, Ed.D., PMP, as the new ORAU senior vice president and director of the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), effective immediately. In her new role, Cagle will leverage her vast experience and strategic insight to enhance ORISE’s work in critical scientific research and health initiatives for the U.S. Department of Energy and its laboratory system.

  • Helping students see themselves in STEM careers: An Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Conversation

    ORISE Featurecast logo

    ORISE is at the forefront of helping educate the U.S. scientific workforce of the future. Educators play a key role in this efforts. In this episode host Michael Holtz and special co-host Zachary Minchow-Proffitt have a conversation with two Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellows about the role of educators in helping their students see themselves pursuing STEM careers. Victoria Thomson, an AEF Fellow at USGS, and Jessica Fries-Gaither, an AEF Fellow at the Library of Congress, discuss barriers that students may face in expanding their interest in STEM and the pursuit of careers in STEM, and what they have done as educators to make their classrooms spaces where students gain self-confidence in STEM subjects.

ORISE News

Engineering a Story Lesson Plan Competition

Teachers, it is time to engineer your own stories! It is National Reading Month, and here at ORISE we want you to create a lesson plan that brings together the love of both engineering and reading. Teachers of any grade level or subject are invited to submit a STEM lesson plan that includes engineering and reading. THREE teachers who submit lesson plans will be selected to receive a prize!

STEM Competitions for K-12 Teachers

March Student Challenge: Living Labyrinth Student Competition

Get ready to blend curiosity and creativity by exploring how systems in the human body help us to participate in everyday activities. ORISE is asking you to pick an activity (like running, eating something, crafting, etc) and explain how a system in the human body (endocrine, muscular, lymphatic, etc) helps to complete that activity. THREE prizes will be awarded to each grade band.

STEM Competitions for K-12 Students

Unique Exposures Scholarship Competition

This semester’s research-based challenge for undergraduate students was inspired by ORISE’s experience with beryllium health effects. The challenge is for students to create an infographic that effectively communicates chemical safety risks for any potentially hazardous chemical that can be displayed in the workplace.

Undergraduate Scholarships