The Oppenheimer Science and Energy Leadership Program, or OSELP, has selected Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Yarom Polsky and Jim Serafin as fellows for its 2024 cohort.
Polsky is division director of the Manufacturing Science Division, and Serafin is the interim division director of the Facilities Management Division.
“The Oppenheimer program is a unique opportunity for fellows to learn more about our sister laboratories and identify opportunities for greater collaboration across the complex,” said ORNL Director Stephen Streiffer. “This experience will not only benefit Yarom and Jim, but ORNL will also benefit from the insights they gain in going through the program."
Polsky and Serafin join the seventh OSELP cohort, which consists of 31 people in technical, operational and strategic positions representing Department of Energy national laboratories.
Established in 2017, OSELP is a distinguished fellowship program that includes a series of sessions and site visits for exceptional leaders to explore and gain an in-depth understanding of the national laboratory system and its partners.
Named for J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific leader of the Manhattan Project, OSELP represents a collective commitment from all 17 national laboratories to cultivate the leaders needed to sustain long-term impacts throughout the complex. The program focuses on providing fellows with the following:
- A systems-level understanding of the DOE lab system and the strengths, challenges and dynamic nature of this system.
- A rich understanding of the organizational, operational and partnership dimensions of the DOE lab system.
- Mentorship on career development, diversity, equity and inclusion.
- The ability to critically assess the DOE lab system through candid dialogues with senior lab and DOE leadership.
- A network of leaders across the labs, DOE and stakeholders.
Seven ORNL employees are alumni of the Oppenheimer program including Jens Dilling and Christian Petrie from the 2023 cohort; Brian Egle, Julie Mitchell and Robert Wagner from the 2022 cohort; Tara Pandya from the 2020 cohort; and Eric Pierce from the 2019 cohort. Dilling is the interim associate laboratory director of the Neutron Sciences Directorate; Petrie is a group leader in the Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division; Egle is a section head in the Enrichment Science and Engineering Division; Mitchell is a division director of the Biosciences Division; Wagner is a division director of the Buildings and Transportation Science Division; Pandya is a group leader in the Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division; and Pierce is the division director of the Environmental Sciences Division.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
