A new program designed to bring exceptionally accomplished researchers to Tennessee has signed up nine of the nation’s top scientists in recent months to work jointly at the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The Governor’s Chairs Program,
initiated by Tennessee Governor
Phil Bredesen, set out to exploit and
enhance the synergy between the
state’s flagship campus and the nation’s
leading multipurpose national lab.
The university, founded in 1794, and
ORNL, which grew out of the federal
program to develop nuclear weapons
in World War II, have always shared
academic and research interests and
infrastructure; but the increasing importance
of research and technology to
the well-being of the state’s economy
and environment led the governor to
invest significant state resources in the
relationship.
The program will seek to hire as many as 20 scientists for four existing institutes operated jointly by UT Knoxville and ORNL:
