Visiting ORNL Thursday, Seivers said these internships are valuable to both teachers and scientists.
"This is a perfect example of that - how we can use state dollars, federal dollars, higher education and ORNL kinds of resources to build capacity for staff development and professional development for teachers," Seivers said.
The commissioner said Tennessee students need to become more aware of opportunities available to them at ORNL.
"One thing that we can do through these partnerships with teachers is enable not just more educators, but for kids to know that Tennessee has one of the foremost research facilities in the world right here in their backdoor," Seivers said. "Any opportunity they have in math, science, engineering or research is right here in Tennessee. They don't have to go to another state."
ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.