DOE's Office of Science Sets up Program to Aid Scientists Displaced by Hurricane Katrina
September 9, 2005

WASHINGTON, DC – The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science has established a program to assist scientists displaced by the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

“Our colleagues in science have historically been a close-knit, generous community,” wrote Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, director of DOE’s Office of Science, in a letter describing the program to:  universities and colleges, including those in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi; professional scientific societies; other government science funding agencies; and DOE National Laboratories.

“The Office of Science would like to help in the effort to ensure that faculty and students displaced by the disaster may continue their research and studies at other institutions,” Orbach said.

The Office of Science program will match interested students and faculty researchers with research programs that currently receive Office of Science grants whose researchers wish to host such displaced individuals.  The displaced students and researchers may be eligible for assistance whether or not they are currently funded by DOE.

The Office of Science has set up a clearinghouse through DOE’s Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education to match displaced individuals with host grant recipients.  The Office of Science will consider on a case-by-case basis modest supplemental funding to existing programs in order to facilitate this process.

Displaced students and faculty researchers from affected universities will be able to indicate their interest in being hosted by a grant recipient and complete their request for assistance forms on-line at a clearinghouse website.  Interested individuals should visit the clearinghouse website at http://www.orau.gov/doeedrelief/.

Dr. Orbach’s letter may be viewed on the Office of Science homepage at http://www.sc.doe.gov/.

This program is just one of the Department of Energy’s responses to Hurricane Katrina.  Additonal information on those responses is available on the Department's web site.  DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the nation and ensures U.S. world leadership across a broad range of scientific disciplines.

Media contact:
Jeff Sherwood, 202/586-5806