Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has launched the Neutron Nexus pilot program with Florida A&M University (FAMU) and Florida State University (FSU) through the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, marking the first program of its kind nationwide. The Nexus aims to broaden and diversify the scientific user community by reaching out to universities and colleges to foster collaboration and scientific advancement. Although a planned two-day ORNL Days event at the college was cut short by Hurricane Helene, the presentations and networking that did occur set the stage for the joint vision of ORNL’s Neutron Sciences Directorate and the host institutions.
“It’s exciting to expand our reach to strengthen already existing relationships, as we have had with FSU and FAMU, and create new partnerships we hope will continue for many years,” said Jens Dilling, associate laboratory director for Neutron Sciences at ORNL. “This is all to the benefit of ORNL, our university collaborators and, most importantly, to the benefit of science. We are thrilled to bring the wonder of neutrons to a new generation of undergraduate and graduate students and help faculty grow their science and technology impact.”
The goals of the ORNL Neutron Nexus program are to foster professional and personal relationships, widen neutron science educational opportunities, organize in-person visits to ORNL for students and faculty, organize on-site presence for remote experiments, increase engagement for technical and scientific support, and set up physical space commitments between ORNL and a regional collection of colleges and universities, including Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), community colleges, and technical colleges.
A planned Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the joint college is part of the inaugural Neutron Nexus, as ORNL “brings neutrons” to northern Florida, enabling new users to leverage cutting-edge neutron scattering and imaging capabilities to transform their research.
The special relationship between the two universities as the “parents” of the nation’s only joint college of engineering, and the unique model of the college itself, benefits the pilot Nexus program.
For More Information: FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Image: FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Dean Suvranu De speaks at the ORNL Days 2024 Power of Partnership Reception held at the High-Performance Materials Institute in the Materials Research Building of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in Tallahassee, Florida.
