Why ORNL's new director couldn't pass up a chance to come to Oak Ridge
Stephen Streiffer became the 12th director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Oct. 16, taking the helm of the nation's largest science and technology lab and its 6,500 staff members. In his first week, Streiffer made clear his commitment to ORNL's expansive mission and its people, according to a Q&A released by the lab.
ORNL announced in July that Streiffer, a materials scientist and national lab veteran, would be its next leader. Streiffer spent 24 years at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, where he helped establish and directed the Advanced Photon Source, a user facility that studies materials using X-rays.
User facilities are federal research facilities open to scientists from other labs, universities or companies. Streiffer's experience made him a logical fit for director of a lab with its own user facilities that house the world's fastest supercomputer, a world record-setting particle accelerator and the nation's strongest reactor-based neutron source.
Streiffer brings focus back to Oak Ridge's people
In the lab's Q&A with Streiffer, he said he was impressed with ORNL's impact in Tennessee and the entire Southeast. In addition to the lab's scientific mission, which extends from national security to medical breakthroughs and clean energy, he wants to focus on the people who make the mission work.
"At the end of the day, it always comes back to people and having great people. And that's something I really look forward to here at Oak Ridge," Streiffer said. "We need to be able to do our work and be at that absolute cutting edge of research and development, engineering and technology. But we have to do it safely."
His stated focus will be to support researchers to do their best work, maintain awareness of the lab's long history and address significant scientific challenges.
ORNL's history spans 80 years, back to when the X-10 Graphite Reactor first converted uranium to plutonium in 1943 during the Manhattan Project. Now, the lab is a sprawling multiprogram campus working in nearly every field of science and technology.
"There are critically important challenges that the nation and the world are facing, and the whole point of the national laboratory system and mission for Oak Ridge is to answer those challenges,” Streiffer said. “One of the things that attracted me here is just how broad the mission really is and the capabilities that the lab brings to bear. There's so much that goes on here.”
Streiffer is now part of a lineage of directors that steered ORNL through times of great transition. In partnership with the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management, the largest cleanup project in the world, and contractor UCOR, the lab is busy demolishing World War II-era facilities to make space for future projects.
The chance of a lifetime for a lifelong scientist
Streiffer grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and watched the Apollo moon landing as a young boy. More than 50 years later, he is head of a lab that partners with NASA.
"This left a lifelong impact on me, not just about the excitement and joy of discovery science, but on the crucial role that engineering and delivery play in achieving the mission," Streiffer said. "To explore the frontier, you first have to build the tools that will take you there, and succeed in the journey."
Streiffer has received calls and texts from around the country congratulating him on his new role. In the lab's interview, he listed some of the innovative work coming from from the lab on artificial intelligence, climate change, nuclear science and supercomputing, to name a few. Many of the lab's projects take scientists to the very origins of the universe.
It was a long road from star-struck child to the top of the largest national lab.
Streiffer got his bachelor's in materials science from Rice University and his doctorate in materials science and engineering from Stanford University. After 24 years at Argonne National Laboratory, he co-directed the Department of Energy's National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory, a consortium of national labs that studied the COVID-19 pandemic.
His last role before coming to ORNL was interim director of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a Department of Energy facility operated by Stanford.
ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the largest supporter of physical sciences research in the U.S. ORNL is the largest of the office's 10 national labs.
When asked about his path to ORNL director, Streiffer answered in part with a question: "How could one pass up a chance to come to Oak Ridge?"
Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email daniel.dassow@knoxnews.com.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Oak Ridge National Laboratory director Stephen Streiffer takes reins
