The College of Engineering‘s strong connection to the research, development, and governmental activities of the various facilities in the Oak Ridge area was on display again this week, as officials from UCOR presented Dean Wayne Davis the latest installment in a $250,000, five-year commitment to the college.
“The help from partners like UCOR in our continuous drive to improve our college cannot be overstated,” said Davis. “Having top faculty members is vital to any success we have, and they allowed us to strengthen ourselves by hiring Jason Hayward through their fellowship support.”
UCOR, the federal contractor with the responsibility for cleaning up several sites in the East Tennessee Technology Park, has a keen interest in any development or breakthrough concerning nuclear science.
That focus made Hayward, an expert in radiation detection, nuclear nonproliferation, and imaging, a natural selection for the UCOR Faculty Fellow position.
“As a cleanup contractor of a nuclear site, UCOR is committed to ensuring continued excellence in nuclear education,” said Matt Marston, UCOR chief operating officer. “This fellowship is an important step to fulfilling that commitment.”
The fellowship is one of many recent high points for both the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Hayward, who has brought in more than $9 million in research funding since he came to UT in 2008.
This year alone UT’s nuclear engineering department tied as the country’s number five graduate school—number four for public universities—in US News and World Report’s rankings, signed an agreement with Czech Technical University in Prague, and had nine Nuclear Energy University Programs scholarship winners, the most in the country and a program high.
—
C O N T A C T :
David Goddard (865-974-0683, david.goddard@utk.edu)