Given the collaborative research and development relationship UT and ORNL enjoy, the focus of the Knoxville meeting is university-industry-national laboratory partnerships. Attendees will hear from speakers from seven of the U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratories, professors and administrators from several prominent universities, and industry leaders.
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President Obama announced today that UT will lead the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, or IACMI, a $259 million public-private partnership. The Institute reflects a $70 million commitment from the US Department of Energy (DOE) and $189 million from IACMI’s partners.

Supported by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, IACMI is one of five institutes backed by the Obama administration in a recent push to accelerate advanced manufacturing.

The selected team, a 122-member consortium, connects the world’s leading manufacturers across the supply chain with universities and national laboratories pioneering advanced composites technology development and research.

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Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek (left) and CNS President and CEO Jim Haynes sign a Memorandum of Understanding to expand collaboration between the university and CNS. Joining them for the signing are Taylor Eighmy, vice chancellor for research and engagement, and Tom Berg, CNS director of technology development and technology transfer (right). Photo by Brett Pate.

A Memorandum of Understanding signed today by Consolidated Nuclear Security and UT will expand collaborations while making the country safer and more secure. CNS and the university collaborate in areas ranging from joint research to analyzing business operations and pushing more technologies into the private sector.

The partnership between the university and the Y-12 National Security Complex, which began in 2011, combines the leading research talents of the university with Y-12’s successful track record in technology development and application that bolsters national security. Through CNS, the agreement now also incorporates the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.

CNS manages and operates Y-12 and the Pantex Plant for the National Nuclear Security Administration.

“By combining the talents and resources of UT and Y-12, we’ve developed new technologies that are benefiting us inside the plant and have the potential to help manufacturers and others outside of Y-12,” said Jim Haynes, CNS president and CEO. “We will continue to work with some of the university’s brightest students as interns and grads to help us meet our important national security mission. We are also working together to develop a program that’s preparing suppliers for opportunities with the new Uranium Processing Facility, one of the most important projects for Y-12 and the nation.”

Continue reading at tntoday.utk.edu.