2001 Conference Summary

April 6, 2001 

The Environmental Sciences Technical Session included a team of women who work together on projects at ORNL, Ms. Janet Cushman, Ms. Lynn Kszos, and Dr. Marie Walsh.

These women are from the environmental, biological, and social sciences and they work together in a team to develop biomass resources for use as energy and to produce bio-products. The general discussion and presentation followed the research relationship of several initiatives by environmental scientists and economists.  The central issue discussed was renewable energy and policy:  increase amount of energy from renewable plant-based (biological) resources vs. non-renewable with environmental and production impacts for farmers and utilities companies.

Ms. Lynn Kszos described her path to her current position in the Environmental Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  Her interest in science came early and was fostered by her parents who were college professors in earth sciences and nursing.  After receiving a B.A. in biology from the University of Delaware, she hoped to pursue a career in marine biology.  Fate intervened and she studied aquatic biology at the State University of New York College at Fredonia.  Upon receiving her M.S. degree from Fredonia, Lynn was hired as a post-masters student in the Environmental Sciences Division.  Ms. Kszos noted to the group the importance of chemistry in the biology discipline and encouraged the students to work on their writing and speaking skills.  Ms. Kszos described her work at ORNL in the aquatic toxicology laboratory. She described several research projects conducted at the Y-12 Plant which demonstrated the linkages between aquatic biology, toxicology, and chemistry.  One project conducted at Bear Creek at the Y-12 site showed that laboratory toxicity tests provided information on toxicity that was reflected in the fish populations of Bear Creek. During the question and answer session, Lynn pointed out that the skills she acquired during her first 10 years at ORNL are now being applied to a position in a brand new field - growing plants to be used for energy and chemical products.  Good communication skills, a willingness to be flexible, and taking advantage of opportunities are all very important if one hopes to move from one position to another.

Dr. Walsh described her career as one that has evolved from molecular biology to agricultural economics.  After receiving a BS in biology and chemistry, she worked in a variety of laboratory jobs including as a research assistant conducting recombinant DNA research.  An earlier tour as a Peace Corps volunteer generated an interest in international development.  Realizing that lab work really wasn’t her cup of tea, she made a career change and enrolled in a graduate program in agricultural economics.  At the time, biotechnology was just being introduced to agriculture, and her dual background in molecular biology and agricultural economics proved to be worth its weight in gold.  She was selected as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Congressional Science Fellow and spent several years working on agricultural biotechnology policy issues for Congress.  Eventually, she accepted a position at ORNL where she currently conducts economic and policy analysis of biomass energy systems.  She emphasized the diversity of opportunities available to her as a result of integrating a social and biological science background.

Dr. Walsh discussed a project that illustrates how economic and environmental sciences can work together.  She lead a multi-disciplinary team of researchers and administrators from DOE and USDA to evaluate the potential of growing bioenergy crops (perennial grasses and fast growing trees) on Conservation Reserve Program Acres (CRP).  In terms of land area involved, the CRP is the largest environmental program in the U.S.  Production of bioenergy crops on CRP acres has been suggested as a means to help start a biomass energy industry in the U.S.  To evaluate the potential, it was necessary to identify acres that could support bioenergy crop production and determine appropriate management practices so that production would not result in increased erosion and chemical run-off and would maintain wildlife habitat.  The cost associated with implementing these management practices was estimated and combined with various administrative and policy options, and the implications of bioenergy crop production on CRP acres was evaluated.  The analysis has been used by Congress to establish a pilot program.

The Life Sciences Technical Session included three researchers, Dr. Charmaine Foltz, Ms. Barbara Beatty, and Ms. Marissa Mills.

Dr. Foltz, a lab animal veterinarian at ORNL, led off the session by describing the evolution of her career from a 10-year undergraduate to a diplomat of the American College of Laboratory Medicine.  After obtaining her vet degree, she practiced as a cow doctor in Wyoming, but soon decided that doing C-sections on cows in the middle of the night was just not as glamorous as she thought it would be.  Her varied career then took her to a small animal vet practice and to work for a drug company making rabies vaccines.  It was at this point that she met two lab animal vets who encouraged her to go to a formal lab animal training program, which she did at Johns Hopkins.  A life-changing event for her, the cutting-edge medicine merged her vet background with biomedical research. 

She emphasized that veterinary opportunities can be highly varied from private practice to the military to federal agencies like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).  Specialty fields are comparable to the fields in human medicine with internal medicine being the largest, and lab animal medicine the fourth largest.  Lab animal medicine is unique from pet practice in that it is highly regulated, involves induced diseases, deals with unique species and circumstances, and has regular hours with good salary and benefits through employment in government, academia, and industry.  Her job entails upholding the laws and regulations, being an animal advocate, and facilitating and supporting the research.  This type of job involves a leadership role, and she advised the students to work on interpersonal skills as well as the technical skills. 

Ms. Beatty, Chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at ORNL, presented the perspective of someone with a bachelor’s degree in biology and a 20-year hiatus from the lab who reentered the workplace to have a successful career as a science administrator.  Graduating from a small liberal arts college in the 1960’s, she was exposed to immunology through a summer internship with Oak Ridge Institute for Nuclear Studies (ORINS), the predecessor to ORAU.  This internship led to her first job doing technician-type work from which she left to become a research assistant at ORNL in cell biology.  After raising children and moving around the country for her husband’s schooling and career, she returned to Oak Ridge and took a job in the mouse house working with transgenic mice in the new field of molecular genetics.  She became good as a “generalist” and never turned down an opportunity to learn new skills.  This led to her becoming, in her words, a “biology bureaucrat.”

Her advice to the students, especially for those who stop at a BS degree, is as follows: 

• Acquire the basic technical skills.

• Become an expert at being a generalist.

• Develop expertise in one or more areas. 

• Be able to write well.

• Develop people skills

• Develop information management skills.

• Work hard.

Ms Mills, a webmaster and communications specialist for ORNL’s Human Genome Management Information System, described how her job educates people about the human genome project and allows them to see “how it will affect me.”  With an undergraduate degree in journalism, she became involved in this technical arena while a graduate student though a part-time job at ORNL.

Her job puts her in contact with a diverse group of people:  the lay public, magazine and television journalists, congressional staffers, medical and health professionals, and researchers.  She works to develop and maintain websites on the Human Genome Project as well as writes and edits a newsletter for researchers.  She stated she couldn’t emphasize enough how important it is to work hard, experience internships, and volunteer for varied activities.  The opportunities in genomics, she related, are broad, varied, and often interdisciplinary.  These fields include, for example, communication, forensics, agriculture, medicine, pharmaceuticals, and biofuels. 

The Chemistry Technical Session included Dr. Claudia Rawn and Dr. Sharon Robinson.

Chemistry students got an overview of a wide variety of applied research projects at ORNL involving chemistry and chemical engineering from Dr. Sharon Robinson, who is ORNL’s program manager for Separations and Chemical Processing.  She started at ORNL as a co-op student from Tennessee Tech and continued after completing her PhD in Chemical Engineering.   Since she is now working as a manager with rather wide responsibilities, she spoke about a variety of different R&D projects.

Most of the projects involved the development of improved chemical processes for energy efficiency or for environmental management, for example: (1) lab scientists have worked on methods for separating oil from water down in oil wells, something which decreases costs and pollution in the oil industry; (2) other scientists are working to develop non-aqueous enzymes that could be used in a variety of applications, such as taking sulfur out of crude oil before it goes to the refinery.

Materials scientist Dr. Claudia Rawn discussed her own research at ORNL to provide students a more in-depth view of one research area.  Dr. Rawn does research on the atomic structure of materials, using primarily x-ray diffraction and neutron diffraction techniques.  Describing some of her projects in detail, she helped the students understand both the research and the research methods.  In response to student questions, she also discussed dangers associated with x-rays and neutrons, how scientists educate themselves about the risks involved, and the methods they use to minimize the risk to the staff involved. 

Dr. Rawn also explained the character of the user facility, ORNL’s High Temperature Materials Laboratory, in which she assists researchers from universities and industry who travel to ORNL to use specialized research equipment that is too expensive to be distributed widely.

The Mathematics and Computer Technical Session included Dr. Deborah Flanagan and Ms. Betsy Riley, both from the ORNL Computer Science and Mathematics Division.

Both speakers briefly discussed their educational backgrounds and then reviewed their careers by focusing on the various types of activities they have been involved at ORNL.

Ms. Riley was a double major in mathematics and computer science.  In college, she loved topology and proofs of theorems.  At ORNL, she has provided computer support for researchers and for administrative activities.  She has also managed user facilities.  She briefly reviewed how the computer equipment and systems have changed over time and how that has affected her work.

Fairly early in her career, Ms. Riley got involved in computer graphics in support of scientific studies in the Fusion Division.  This led to working with non-scientists in computer graphics, including artists who were not computer trained.  She related how she had to learn to convert computer jargon to language that the artists could understand and to communicate computer techniques/coding procedures to artists.

She discussed examples of computer support at ORNL for research in areas of biological sciences, neutron science, global systems analyses, nanoscale science and engineering, and astrophysics.  She discussed several examples of computer simulation studies including car crashes, catalytic converters, robotics, and CPR health.   She also reviewed some new computing techniques that are being researched including biomolecular approaches to data storage.

Ms. Riley concluded with a discussion of the plans for enhancing the ORNL – UT joint institute for advanced computing with new buildings/facilities and large increases in the interactions with the academic sectors, including more opportunities for student research participation and post graduate studies.

Dr. Flanagan has a PhD degree in statistical and operations research fields.  At ORNL, she is involved in applied research in support of scientists and engineers who need help with applied mathematics, statistics, or computer science aspects of their research.

Dr. Flanagan indicated that the Association for Woman in Mathematics is a great source of information on careers and also on scholarships and grants available to members.  She pointed out that undergraduate math majors can go into a very large number of graduate studies fields and gave many examples.  She indicated that if the students are interested in basic (fundamental) research, then the academic sector is the better career choice.  National laboratories are mostly involved in applied research, at least in the computer science and applied mathematics fields.  She noted that ORNL has opportunities for postdoctorate appointments and more recently for post master’s and post bachelor’s appointments.

She pointed out that the key aspect of her work is working as a team member.  She must learn what the scientist is doing, help develop the data collection needs, figure out how to approach the study and how to do analysis, and then perform the work and participate in preparing the report.

Dr. Flanagan provided many examples of activities in which she has been involved during her career.  She shared that she had be given the opportunity to work in many different areas, use many different types of analysis, and different computing techniques and processes.  She concluded by discussing the importance of thinking about how to do things in different ways and gave an example using parallel processing techniques for a particular application.  She had an idea, discussed it with a parallel processing expert who thought it had promise.  Finally, an undergraduate student was brought in as a summer research participant to work on the idea.

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