ORNL’s Dr. Thomas Zacharia Speaks to Chamber Premier Partners
Oak Ridge National Laboratories Deputy Director of Science and Technology Dr. Thomas Zacharia was the featured speaker at an exclusive Premier Partners event sponsored by Blaine Construction Corporation and Partners Development. Dr. Zacharia spoke about an increased partnership between ORNL and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville that is establishing a new Distinguished Fellowship designed to attract top graduate students in science and engineering. The program is jointly funded by ORNL and UT and will provide students with a remarkable opportunity to help with cutting-edge research at both institutions.
“Even though there has been an ORNL and UT collaboration for many decades, I don’t believe we’ve fully mined the potential,” said Dr. Zacharia. “Over the next 10 to 20 years we can transform ORNL and the University of Tennessee. In doing so we can transform the economy of this region and we should have national and global impacts.”
The addition of these graduate positions will have a positive impact on the area's economy by attracting and retaining talented students. Creating additional intellectual entrepreneurial capital around UT and ORNL is what the program is intended to do.
“The technologies that the world uses should be developed here in this valley,” Dr. Zacharia said. “I would like to see this increased collaboration between UT and ORNL create an entrepreneurial infrastructure that enables this to happen.”
For more information about the ORNL-UT Distinguished Fellowships program visit http://distinguished.utk.edu. For more information about ORNL visit the organization’s website: www.ornl.gov.
Premier Partners Events are exclusive to members of the Knoxville Chamber Premier Partners Program. For more information about Premier Partner benefits, contact Michelle Kiely at (865) 246-2617.