Brian Anderson is the new director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Enrichment Science and Engineering Division.
Dr. Brian Anderson is the new division director of the Enrichment Science and Engineering Division at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Anderson has served in various research and leadership positions within DOE’s national lab system for nearly 20 years. Since 2010, Anderson has been at ORNL, where he has worked as a group leader in nuclear security and led the establishment of the Ultra-trace Forensic Science Center. Over the last year, he led an intense assessment of ORNL’s enrichment science program.
In his new role, he will oversee ESED, a new ORNL division that will act as the national steward for research, development, and demonstration of centrifuge technology innovations; advance electromagnetic isotope separations technology; and deliver stable isotopes for medical, industrial, and DOE mission-critical applications.
“I have had the pleasure to work with Brian for several years, and during that time he has grown as a leader and strengthened the plans for ORNL’s enrichment research and development,” said Alan Icenhour, associate laboratory director for ORNL’s Isotope Science and Engineering Directorate. “Brian is ready to lead this diverse organization and to serve the nation in helping advance ORNL’s enrichment technology and stable isotope efforts.”
While at ORNL, Anderson has been principal investigator or co-principal investigator on numerous scientific programs for the National Nuclear Security Administration and was awarded a 2014 Laboratory Directed Research and Development project probing the basic chemistry and physics of hydrated uranyl compounds. He has worked as an adjunct associate professor in the Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, since 2010 and as an associate professor for the Bredesen Center since 2015.
“East Tennessee has a significant history in enrichment science. ORNL’s recent establishment of this division will allow the lab to continue addressing America’s needs in this area,” Anderson said. “I look forward to working alongside some of the world’s premier scientists and engineers.”
Prior to ORNL, Anderson was a senior fellow scientist in the Nonproliferation Technologies Section at Savannah River National Laboratory and a principal research scientist at Cargill Inc. in Cordova, Tennessee. He began his career as a scientist with Westinghouse Savannah River Company.
After completing a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Central Washington University, he completed a doctoral degree in analytical chemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle.
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