[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 116 (Thursday, July 31, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S10611]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOGNIZING THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF DR. BILL MADIA
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I wish to recognize the
achievements of Dr. Bill Madia, President and CEO of UT-Battelle, and
Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Bill will be
stepping down in August to take on the new position of Executive Vice
President of Laboratory Operations at Battelle headquarters in
Columbus, OH. Over the past three years Dr. Madia has contributed
greatly to the Lab's many successes, and I would like to thank him for
his leadership and commitment to our State.
ORNL is the largest of the Department of Energy's, Office of Science
multi-program laboratories and to run a facility of its size is no
simple task. Bill joined ORNL with more than 25 years of international
experience in research and research management, including 15 years
leading public and private research labs. He became the director of
ORNL on April 1, 2000 and since then has continued the tradition of
excellence at Oak Ridge.
Bill Madia is a visionary who delivers results. Under his leadership,
construction of the Spallation Neutron Source was initiated. The SNS
will produce the most intense pulsed neutron beams in the world and
will be completed as expected in 2006. It is under Bill's direction
that this project is progressing both on schedule and within budget.
Dr. Madia is also responsible for a major renewal of the Laboratory
through his modernization plan. He has enabled the private
capitalization of several new buildings that will house the
Laboratory's advanced computing assets. Bill also has been instrumental
in building the Laboratory's nanotechnology initiative, and the first
of the DOE's Nanoscience centers, the Center for Nanophase Materials
Sciences, had its groundbreaking earlier this month.
Oak Ridge has an extensive history of linking with universities and
with Bill's guidance has expanded the use of these partnerships. Just
recently, researchers of Oak Ridge, North Carolina State University,
and University of Tennessee discovered how to tune the atomic-level
zone of semi-conductor devices, the building blocks of computing chips.
Additionally, he captured a leadership role in DOE's computational
science initiative for Oak Ridge by building a partnership with
industry to develop the next generation machine and attracting private
sector financing to rapidly build a new facility necessary to operate
world-class supercomputers.
Bill understands the importance of science and the role that science
development plays in our lives and in the future. He has continually
taken the initiative to push forth all projects that Oak Ridge takes
on. Our investments in science driven technology contribute greatly to
the economic growth of this country, and during his tenure the UT-
Battelle team has helped with the creation of 30 new companies through
the ORNL technology transfer program.
Outside of the laboratory in the Oak Ridge community, Bill Madia has
done an outstanding job in promoting economic sustainability and has
been a vigorous promoter of education. In fact, he has remained a
strong supporter of funding for high school science laboratories and
the University of Tennessee's Academy for Math and Science.
The people of Oak Ridge Tennessee and this Nation have benefited from
all his hard work and will continue to benefit from Bill Madia's
dedication as he continues his excellence as a member of the UT-
Battelle Board of Directors. Although, he will be missed dearly in
Tennessee, I am confident that he will continue to make a difference in
the community. I wish him the best of luck in his future
endeavors.
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