Further Together the ORAU Podcast

Recent Episodes

Episode 80: Alvin Weinberg Archives Project: Making Science Accessible to Everyone

Posted February 3, 2022 • 00:35:56

Ronnie Bogard has led an effort over the last few years to properly archive, digitize and make available to the public the archives of renowned nuclear physicist Alvin Weinberg. Weinberg, who was administrator of ORNL during and after the Manhattan Project, kept his papers -- letters, commentaries, research projects, photographs, etc. -- in a number of file cabinets and storage boxes. When he came to work for ORAU in 1975, the papers came with him. It was Weinberg's friendship with Selma Shapiro, founder of the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge and Bogard's mother, that led to his papers being left in the care of CMOR. The well-ordered file cabinets and storage boxes were locked in a storage room until Bogard and Beth Shea, CMOR executive director, began assembling a team to properly archive and digitize Weinberg's collection. In this interview Bogard shares how she has gotten to know Weinberg through this project and shares what a truly remarkable man he was.

Episode 79: Ensuring Equitable AI Adoption in Education: A Conversation with Experts from ORAU and MITRE

Posted January 19, 2022 • 01:00:40

The presence and use of technology in the classroom has accelerated rapidly in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But what does technology look like in the post-pandemic landscape? ORAU and The MITRE Corporation partnered in 2021 on a long-term project to research and ultimately improve equitable adoption of artificial intelligence in education. In this episode of Further Together, Michael Holtz and special co-host Jennifer Tyrell, ORAU senior project manager for K-12 STEM education, have a conversation with Chris Nelson, Ed.D., ORAU program manager for K-12 STEM education; Guido Zarrella, senior principal AI engineer in the AI and Autonomy Innovation Center within MITRE Labs; Bobby Blount, Jr., head of MITRE’s Texas Innovation Hub; and Tracy Glazier, a math teacher at Herndon High School in Fairfax County, Va. Our experts discuss how AI is already being used in the classroom, how technology can save time for teachers while engaging students, as well as the importance of equitable access and the need for collaboration to improve access to AI.

Episode 78: ORAU-Directed Research & Development and its role in our research enterprise

Posted December 15, 2021 • 00:25:02

ORAU-Directed Research and Development grants is an investment program that provides a path for funding innovative research-based approaches/solutions that fall within the intersection of ORAU's core capabilities and our member universities’ research interests. In this episode of Further Together, we talk with Casey Thomas, ODRD program manager about the program, the priorities for research that joins together the skills of our subject matter experts with the research interests of our university partners, and the process of applying. We also talk with Davyda Hammond and Laura Davenport, two of ORAU's currently funded researchers, who discuss the benefits of the program and what happens next. Look for longer conversations about their research in the coming months.

Episode 77: ORAU at 75: A conversation with Donna Cragle, part 2

Posted December 8, 2021 • 00:25:32

Dr. Donna Cragle, senior scientific advisor, has worked at ORAU for nearly 40 years. In the second part of our conversation, she talks about being a woman in science, how ORAU's culture has evolved, her role as corporate ombudsman and more. Her perspective on science and the company will be enlightening, and often humorous.

Episode 76: ORAU at 75: A conversation with Donna Cragle, part 1

Posted November 29, 2021 • 00:29:08

In this episode of ORAU at 75, a special series of the Further Together podcast, we talk to Dr. Donna Cragle, senior scientific advisor at ORAU. Dr. Cragle is an epidemiologist who has been part of the ORAU scientific enterprise for decades. This is the first of a two-part interview that focuses on how she pursued an education in epidemiology to how she came to work for ORAU and more. A conversation with Donna Cragle is interesting, enlightening and funny. Enjoy this episode!