By HAYLEY HARMON
6 News Anchor/Reporter
MORRISTOWN (WATE) - The first week of class at Walters State Community College kicked off with a big announcement.
The school has signed a partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory that gives students the chance to work with the scientists at one of the world's premier research facilities.
Walters State has been working on this first-time partnership for more than a year.
Physics, chemistry and engineering students will be allowed into ORNL to learn how to conduct expert research.
"Research brings the fourth dimension to education. I say it's the fourth R after reading, writing, and arithmetic, comes research," says Dr. Eugene de Silva, associate professor of physics at Walters State.
The students will also learn what to do with the results. "When they do research, they realize how they could use their knowledge and apply it to their daily activities," Dr. de Silva said.
ORNL has a lot to offer. "It's a unique opportunity, just 50 minutes to an hour down the road at a place that is at the forefront of technology," said Dr. Ian Anderson, director of graduate and university partnerships for ORNL.
The scientists at ORNL are constantly working on problem solving projects, and it looks like this partnership is another avenue for them to do just that.
"We find that we can help the local educational community train the workforce of the future. There is new technology that needs different training skills," Dr. Anderson said.
Walters State freshman Joshua Talley says he's excited to learn from ORNL as soon as he can. "I think it's pretty cool. I hope I get to go. It'd be interesting to see what's there," he said.
There's not a timeline yet for the students to set foot in ORNL to begin work, but school officials say they hope it will be within the next six months.
Right now, the partnership is limited to science students, but Walters State wants to make it multi-disciplinary and open it to other majors in the near future.
