When you think of the U.S. Department of Energy  (DOE), what do you think of?  The national laboratories?  DOE’s leadership role in reliable, clean and affordable energy?  Scientific discovery and innovation?  Nuclear security?  DOE has a role in all of these things, and more.  Now, do you think about DOE’s connection with higher education?  Probably not, but we want to change that. 

EDUconnections is a year old project, and through it we celebrate our university partners, spotlighting a different higher education institution every month.

DOE supports a diverse portfolio of research at colleges, universities, research facilities and institutions across the nation.  Big science and interdisciplinary teams are balanced with investments in research projects.  DOE also supports graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, and almost half of the Department’s Office of Science's research funding goes each year to support research at more than 300 colleges, universities and research institutions nationwide.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) connects with university research departments and libraries across the nation to increase awareness of DOE's valuable scientific and technical information.  Since 1947 OSTI's mission has been to advance science and sustain technological creativity by making research and development findings available to Department of Energy researchers, the American public and internationally.  OSTI believes that shared knowledge is the enabler of scientific progress, and that accelerating the sharing of knowledge will accelerate discovery.  The internet has had a large impact on access to research; our databases are the largest national sources of energy and science R&D information in the world and can be used by anyone who has access to the internet.  Through .EDUconnections, OSTI "spotlights" individual universities with connections to DOE scientific research programs.   We encourage everyone to visit the "Spotlight" Page to see the wide variety of universities that are supporting and advancing scientific research and discovery.

In August we featured Michigan State University.  For over 150 years, Michigan State University has advanced knowledge and transformed lives through innovative academic programs, research and outreach. MSU is recognized internationally as a top research university and as a leader in international engagement, and he progress made on the conceptual design and research and development at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams is a prime example of this leadership and expertise.

.EDUconnections is expanding and improving every month as we receive feedback from our university partners. MSU enthusiastically responded to its Spotlight by announcing it on Twitter and on Facebook (with several positive comments and over 100 “Like” responses).  In addition, it was highlighted  at http://research.msu.edu/inthenews/edu-connections-michigan-state-university by the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies at Michigan State University and by a letter from MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon. 

We thank the Spartans for their enthusiastic support and hope to continue to work with them in the future.  Mesalands Community College is spotlighted in September…stay connected to .EDUconnections to see when your institution is spotlighted.

By:  Karen Spence, Assistant Director, Office of Information Systems, OSTI

        Kate Bannan, Communications and Outreach Specialist, OSTI