You’re reading a story from Sidelines 100, a project showcasing a century of student storytelling at Middle Tennessee State University. Sidelines 100 plans to highlight 100 stories from the newspaper archives this fall and spring.
This story originally ran in the Nov. 9, 2005, edition of Sidelines. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay on top of all things Sidelines 100.
MTSU President McPhee and officials from Oak Ridge National Laboratory signed an agreement to become partners in pursuing and enhancing research projects in the areas of science and technology on Mon., Nov. 7.
“The lab attracts world class scientists to its facilities, and it will give us the opportunity for our faculty and our students to work with colleagues in their field who are truly the best around the world,” McPhee said.
Abdul Rao, dean of the College of Graduate Studies was deeply involved in the facilitating of this union. According to Rao, a delegation of scientists from MTSU, including Rao, went to Oak Ridge in the first week of August on a day-long visit and made a presentation on the benefits of combining the strengths of MTSU and Oak Ridge. The memorandum on Monday was a result of that presentation.
Rao said that the collaboration between the two institutions allows for “the ability for our faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students to work in Oak Ridge facilities during the academic year in order to do some research,” among other opportunities. “The faculty [and] the scientists from Oak Ridge, will visit our campus and participate in teaching some courses and giving lectures of various cut ting edge researches,” Rao said.
“I also hope faculty and scientists from Oak Ridge will participate in being mentors to some of our undergraduate and graduate students, particularly doctoral students, as they develop their projects toward a thesis.”
The signing also facilitated the existing relationships with Oak Ridge. According to Rao, there are about 12 MTSU fac- ulty members who have had or currently have collaborations with Oak Ridge. Many students have already spent summers at Oak Ridge doing research. The conjunction did not have difficulty finding support among faculty and political figures.
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