Program expands UT's ties to ORNL
Gov. Phil Bredesen announced Friday an initiative to establish a "world-class graduate energy sciences and engineering program" at the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The program would, over the next few years, create 200 UT faculty positions staffed by researchers at the lab and double the number of doctoral degrees awarded by the university.
Bredesen also wants to double UT's research budget to $400 million.
The program would open the lab to up to 400 new graduate students who would be recruited from Tennessee and around the world.
The governor said he will commit about $6 million in seed money in the state budget to jump-start the program. Bredesen also said he would like the program to attract venture capital and federal resources, with a goal of turning UT into a top 25 research university within the decade.
