Solar-voltaic training in TN

The Tennessee Solar Institute and ARRA funding have helped spawn a new course at the University of Memphis and elsewhere, designed to give students better math and science preparation for jobs in solar-panel installation and related fields. The CA reports.

ARRA stimulates VU research

Former Nashville Banner reporter-cum-longtime Vanderbilt science and medicine writer, Bill Snyder, reports in the VUMC Reporter on on the $148MM that gones to VUMC scientists in the past 18 months, "to buy major equipment, hire additional staff and accelerate their research."

Eastate broadband contract $9MM

East Tennessee institutions and broadband providers will get a boost, as a result of a $9.4 million Stimulus fund award to Huntsville-based Deltacom Inc., which will improve the region's infrastructure. The release is here.

Qsource heads TN health IT push

Memphis-based QSource will receive $7.3 million in federal funding to establish a regional extension center in its Nashville office to help health care organizations transition to electronic medical records. The Nashville center will be one of 70 created nationwide through $1 billion in funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The state of Tennessee is receiving $11.7 million in Stimulus funding to help health care providers transition to the use of electronic medical records, a transition mandated by the federal government. QSource, which is also Tennessee’s Medicare quality improvement organization, will head up the effort. Memphis Bus. Journal has the story.

Early-career awards to ORNL PIs

From an ORNL release, Feb. 4: "Four Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are among the 69 scientists that will receive five-year research grants as part of the Department of Energy's new Early Career Research Program. The $85 million program, funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by the department's Office of Science, is designed to support exceptional researchers during the crucial early career years, when many scientists do their most formative work. ORNL's grants will be at least $500,000 per year to cover year-round salary plus research expenses." Full release with scientists is here.

Stimulus spurs hiring at ORNL

About 400 persons were hired at Oak Ridge NL last year and 120 already so far this fiscal year, as ARRA Stimulus money continues to pour in. The KNS reports.

U.S. Stimulus impact uncertain

The Washington Post reports that while 2 million jobs may have been 'saved or created', the actual impact is somewhat obscured, though data-reporting methods may improve.

Memphis BioWorks workforce grant

Memphis Bioworks Foundation announced it has been awarded a $2.9 million Energy Training Partnership Grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Green Jobs Training Program. The release is here.

SBA loans expanded

Within the past two weeks, the Small Business Administration got another $125MM to extend its 90 percent guarantees, and to waive some borrower fees. Dallas Morning News has it.

ORNL serves other agencies

Although working mainly within the Energy arena as a creature of the U.S. Department of Energy, in FY09 Oak Ridge National Lab earned nearly $500MM from non-DOE angencies, including at least $80MM from Homeland Security. Frank Munger of KNS reports it.

ConnectedTN benefits from Feds' ARRA grant

ConnectedTN is the main beneficiary of a Federal Stimulus grant to the State of Tennessee. Gov. Bredesen announced Dec. 23 that U.S. Commerce's NTIA has granted TN $1.8MM to expand and advance broadband-infrastructure mapping, which has been underway several years by ConnectedTN.

Stimulus funds in TN

The KNS reports on Anderson County's top-15 ranking in ARRA funds among all U.S. counties, with comment on Oak Ridge NL's intake and other data.

Memphis M.D. caveats EMRs

In a letter to the CA, a writer identified as Guy Voeller, M.D., argues there are too many federal officials with industry ties to Cerner, Allscripts, et al, and taht EMRs can pose a danger to patients. He cautions against rampant spending for EHR/EMR.

ORNL funding looks bright in 2010

Thanks to relief through ARRA funds, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's partnerships director Tom Ballard (left) sees good things ahead. R&D reports. Related: KNS columnist Frank Munger reports on uncertainty around decision on extending or competing UT-Battelle contract.

DOE now a VC

The Wall Street Journal reports how the Department of Energy's grants have rekindled progress at a hybrid automobile startup, as part of Stimulus investment push that may have distorted the VC landscape.

Aegis Health urges industry action on health policy

In a white paper promoted this morning in a release, Aegis Health Group CEO Henry Ross urged the healthcare industry not to sit on the sidelines awaiting the outcome of the healthcare policy debate.

ORNL gets more ARRA

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is getting more than $54MM for its new Carbon Fiber Technology Center and for study of ways to make commercial buildings more energy-efficient. The KNS reports.

Small-biz Bail-Out idea

Patriarch Partners Founder-CEO Lynn Tilton (left) brings her proposal for Rescue Loans for small- and medium-sized businesses to the National Press Club, where she'll participate in a Newsmaker briefing, this Thursday, Oct. 15. The Patriarch site is here. She wants to provide rescue loans to small and mid-sized enterprises, which she notes have had "no access to capital." Rescue loans, coupled with new efforts toward innovation, will turn the tide, she says. Either way, she says in a video interview, "It's going to be a long time" til normality returns. The site for her rescue proposal is here.

Solar 'surge' questioned

The Times Free Press' Free-Press editorial staff raise questions about the significance of any investment in Solar, given the huge federal subsidies that are arguably distorting the economics of the sector.

ORNL: $400MM in Stimulus

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason says, when all is said and done, Oak Ridge's Stimulus funding will probably be about $400MM, and the path ahead looks pretty good. The KNS' Frank Munger reports.