Memo from Interim Vice Chancellor for Research Matthew Mench regarding research continuity during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation.

Reduced Research Activity During Phase 2 Conditions

In their report, the Re-Imagining Fall Task Force made recommendations related to faculty scholarship, including:

• Provide support for faculty success in scholarship, creative activity, and the pursuit of new external funding
• Assist the restart and regrowth of human-subjects research
• Strengthen laboratory safety culture in concert with implementation and sustaining of health safety culture
• Strengthen communication concerning research status, compliance changes, and support opportunities

The Office of Research and Engagement has created an online portal, Research Central, to receive inquiries and requests in response to the recommendations related to faculty scholarship affected by COVID-19. Administrative units within ORE will then collaborate to offer customized support to each inquiry.

As an environmental sociologist working in the field of engineering, Chien-fei Chen thrives on unique, multidisciplinary research questions. In 2018, she became interested in pursuing a multidisciplinary, multi-cultural research project that would explore issues surrounding the equality of renewable energy, specifically the differences between Western and Chinese cultures, and how new energy solutions can impact vulnerable areas.

Chen is director of education and diversity programs at the Center for Ultra-wide-area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks (CURENT), a National Science Foundation-funded engineering research center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; a research associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS); and adjunct faculty in the Department of Sociology.

The U.S. Department of Energy today awarded $20 million to the new Oak Ridge Institute at the University of Tennessee to expand the university’s partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to train the next generation of American scientists and engineers.

“This $20 million federal grant is in support of an institute that is the culmination of 40 years of effort to merge the strengths of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory,” said U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. “The Oak Ridge Institute will be a pipeline for a new supply of American-trained scientists and engineers, which our country sorely needs in this competitive world. It will also combine the resources and experience of the nation’s largest science and energy laboratory and a major research university. Already, the UT–Oak Ridge partnership has 250 joint faculty, five joint institutes and 250 PhD students in jointly administered energy and data programs. With such a strong foundation and such strong current leadership, I am betting that during the next 80 years, the Oak Ridge Corridor brand and the Oak Ridge Institute will be recognized as one of the most important science and engineering alliances in the world.”