ORISE in the News

Noah Creany, an ORISE postdoctoral fellow with the U.S. Forest Service, was a speaker at the 2025 Backcountry Symposium where the topic of how land managers can mitigate the effects and still maintain backcountry access to the wild places people love.

Researchers at the University of Oregon found that the rollout of genetically engineered corn in the early 2000s, followed by exponential increases in glyphosate-based herbicides, “caused previously undocumented and unequal health costs for rural U.S. communities over the last 20 years.” Their results “suggest the introduction of GM [genetically modified] seeds and glyphosate significantly reduced average birthweight and gestational length.” The authors of this study, Edwin Rubin, PhD, and Emmett Reynier, are researchers at the University of Oregon Department of Economics. Mr. Reynier is a current PhD candidate in environmental economics and a Fellow at the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. 

The Department of Energy (DOE) has successfully completed the 2022 Beryllium-Associated Worker Registry (BAWR) Dashboard, further advancing its efforts to monitor the health of workers exposed to beryllium. On October 7, 2024, the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) team published the updated dashboard following approval from the DOE BAWR Program Manager, with notifications sent to stakeholders.

Recognizing the translational potential of studies in simpler animal models, a team of scientists led by Randy D. Blakely, Ph.D., at Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine and FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute, have taken an important step that may lead to treatments for human neurodegenerative disorders. Chelsea Gibson, Ph.D., of ORISE contributed to the study.

As a National Nuclear Security Administration Minority Serving Institutions Internship Program (NNSA-MSIIP) participant, Myla Worthington, optimized a rapid test for a parasitic infection and reviewed literature on neurotoxins.

Demand for nuclear energy is rising fast. Whether there are enough new recruits to keep the industry humming is another question. Between 2012 and 2022, the number of students graduating with bachelor’s degrees in nuclear engineering in the U.S. fell by 25%, according to the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, with the class of 2022 seeing only 454 students graduate with a degree in the field. 

A team of researchers, including two Penn State agricultural economists and an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) fellow, were awarded a two-year, $300,000 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a new method for accurately measuring innovation activity in small geographic regions. Their project endeavors to shed light on the factors that promote or hinder innovation among firms in different U.S. locations, as well as facilitate more targeted and effective local interventions to foster economic growth and social well-being.

Juan Gomez, a research participant with the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, co-authored a study with CDC scientists that analyzed data from the 2012–2022 National Immunization Survey-Child (NIS-Child) to assess trends in vaccination coverage by VFC program eligibility status, and to examine differences in coverage among VFC-eligible children by sociodemographic characteristics.

It’s not often that high school students get to spend part of their summer exploring a new part of the country, touring national laboratories, meeting research scientists, and creating memories that will last a lifetime. That was the reality for the participants of this year’s Joint Science and Technology Institute (JSTI). From June 8–21, ORISE hosted JSTI at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Also known as JSTI West for its location, this two-week, fully-funded, residential STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) research experience allows U.S. high school students to engage in research projects mentored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory research scientists and other subject matter experts.

In partnership with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) hosted a battlebots competition at the John Hope Envision Center on Friday. The competition marked the final event of the CIA Robotics Academy’s week-long day camp where a cohort of 23 rising seventh-ninth grade students used hands-on skills to learn how to build, test and refine robots.

This week proved to be a transformative experience for a group of local students who eagerly participated in the CIA Robotics Academy, hosted by the John Hope Envision Center on Larkin Street. The CIA Robotics Academy, managed by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, aims to foster interest in robotics and coding among young learners. 

A group of Georgia middle schoolers are competing in a CIA-sponsored STEAM competition. Robots are a week in the making, built, designed and tested by a group of seventh to ninth grade students. Each student went through an application process to be in the program, which is sponsored by the CIA. Twenty-four students were chosen. The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education hosted the event. They are funded by U.S. Department of Energy.

Fifteen K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers from across the United States have been named 2024-2025 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellows. Selected Fellows will spend 11 months serving in a federal agency or U.S. Congressional office in Washington, D.C., engaged in the national STEM education arena.

Joe Giove is a mentor with the DOE, where he puts himself front and center as an inspiring source of counsel for students learning about finance and business in STEM.

As an intern with the Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy High Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) Internship Program, Emily Corcoran takes her mathematical knowledge to the medical field, where she has been researching how machine learning can influence medical imaging for the better.

When Oak Valley Elementary library media specialist Pam Krecek talked with some of her students in January about entering a contest, little did they know what would happen three months later.

In fact, Krecek won the $30,000 prize from the Central Intelligence Agency’s Mission Possible: Makerspace Nation Competition.

HotHog, a new smartphone application that predicts heat stress in pigs, is now available for download and use, a team of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service and university scientists recently announced. The HotHog app was developed, tested and released with collaborators from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana; and the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Kansas City educators can win a $30,000 makerspace for their classroom in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Mission Possible Makerspace Nation competition. A makerspace is a designated area of a classroom where students can use various materials and tools to create something unique, often to solve a problem of some nature.

For students who are about to complete their Ph.D. and wondering whether to postdoc or not to postdoc, authors Brian J. Rybarczyk and Chris Smith highlight some helpful resources including the platform Zintellect, which allows applicants to search for postdoc fellowship positions (and other roles) at multiple national labs and federal agencies.

Conner Beckwith talks about his experience as a public affairs participant with the U.S. Army Environmental Command through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE). The ORISE program places individuals from the academic community (students, recent graduates, and faculty members) in research projects under the Department of Defense. This program is one way to ensure a steady influx of scientists and engineers to meet the DoD’s future STEM needs. This collaborative approach leverages a young STEM professional with new, unique perspectives and ideas with the initiative U.S. Army and offers valuable job training for participants.

Pennsylvania State University sophomore William Hervey, of San Antonio, an ORISE intern assigned to Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU) San Antonio’s Biomedical Systems Engineering and Evaluation Department, briefed his research titled “Development of a Trauma Manikin for Test and Evaluation in Extreme Cold Environments” to NAMRU San Antonio researchers and leadership at the Battlefield Health and Trauma Research Institute.

Zac Lamas, postdoctoral fellow at ORISE, inspects bees for the parasitic mite Varroa at a hive in the backyard of University of Maryland bee researcher Nathalie Steinhauer, in College Park, Md. A new survey says America's honeybee hives just staggered through the second highest death rate on record. The mites are a factor why bee deaths are on the rise.

In a new study, researchers from North Carolina State University detected elevated PFAS levels in the blood of pet dogs and horses from Gray’s Creek, N.C., including dogs that only drank bottled water. The work establishes horses as an important sentinel species and is a step toward investigating connections between PFAS exposure and liver and kidney function in dogs and horses. Theresa C. Guillette, an ORISE research participant, co-authored the study.

The CIA — yes, that CIA — wants to give one Chicago Public Schools teacher $30,000 to help inspire the next generation of STEM and STEAM professionals. The goal of the CIA's competition is to get students interested in the fields science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.

A teacher and students in Washington, D.C. just won $30,000 from the agency and a celebratory freakout like the one they had is coming to a Chicago classroom this year. The Mission Possible competition is open to third through twelfth graders. Video entries should explain how $30,000 will promote science, technology, engineering, art, or math learning.

Szarria Thomas loves working with geriatric patients. The Class of 2025 College of Pharmacy student looks forward to a career where she can provide exceptional care and knowledge to the geriatric community, and her pursuit of a pharmacy education is a big step towards that future.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has highlighted several fellowship projects that will advance food safety and help to inform FSIS decision-making.

Five fellows who are working towards their Ph.D. were selected through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education program. The fellows will work in collaboration with FSIS scientists.