Notice of FORNL Annual Meeting and Election
February 8, 2022
12:00 noon
The FORNL Nominating Committee nominates the individuals listed below for election to the FORNL Board of Directors.
Returning Members to be reelected
- Bob Compton
- Dave Mullins
- Ellen Smith
‘New’ Member s to be elected
The Board recommends the individuals listed below for the respective offices.
- President - Herb Krause
- Vice President – Ellen Smith
- Secretary – Fred Peretz,
- Treasurer - David Mullins
The Annual Meeting will take place at the beginning of the regular Technical Membership Meeting on February 8, 2022. The meeting will be via Zoom as has been the case for the past year.
The link is below.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82002844039?pwd=MGdkK1hoM05HZzRUak52ellaQjVGQ…
The slate of candidates selected by the Nomination Committee will be presented and the membership will be asked if there are additional nominations. Voting on all issues will be visual; please raise your hand while votes are counted.
Service Recognition for Board Members and Officers
We extend our sincere appreciation to retiring Board members Chuck Coutant and John Gunning 😊 who have completed three consecutive two-year terms and are thus not eligible to run again. The board thanks officers Ellen Smith, Chuck Coutant, Dave Mullins, and John Gunning 😊 for serving as officers during the 2021-22 year.
Dr. John E. Gunning
John E. Gunning
President – Friends of ORNL
Nominating Committee Convenor
The bios for the nominated Board Members follow.
Ellen Smith
Ellen Smith graduated from Carleton College (B.A. in Geology, 1974) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (M.S. in Water Resources Management, 1979). She retired from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in August 2018 after 36 years on the research staff of the Environmental Sciences Division, where she enjoyed the opportunity to contribute to addressing variety of technical and societal challenges related to energy technology, waste management, and activities of the Department of Energy and other government agencies. Her principal areas of expertise are geology, hydrology, waste management, and environmental impact assessment, but she usually just calls herself “an environmental scientist.” Ellen is an elected member of the Oak Ridge City Council (2007 to 2012 and 2014 to present), was previously a member of the city’s Environmental Quality Advisory Board, has been active for many years as a citizen volunteer engaged with diverse environmental concerns in and around East Tennessee, and currently serves on the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Advocacy Committee of the National League of Cities. Her current local civic activities include board service or memberships in Advocates for the Oak Ridge Reservation, TORCH, Keep Anderson County Beautiful, the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge Altrusa, Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club, and Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning. She joined FORNL in 2018 upon her retirement from ORNL, after having attended FORNL luncheons and lectures on an occasional basis during her ORNL career. She was elected to the FORNL board in 2020, for a two-year term
Robert Compton
The Compton family moved to Oak Ridge in 1943 during WWII where his father worked at Y-12 on the Manhattan Project. He received degrees in Physics from Berea College (BA), the University of Florida (MS) and the University of Tennessee (PhD. He was a Senior Corporate Fellow at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 1965 to 1995 and has been a Professor of Physics and Zeigler Professor of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee until retirement in 2015. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Aarhus, University of Paris, and the FOM Institute in Amsterdam. In 2001, he was an Erskine Fellow at the University of Christchurch, New Zealand. He is a Fellow of the APS, AAAS, and OSA. He also received the Jesse Beams Award from the APS and the Meggers Award Member.
Fred Peretz
Fred Peretz grew up in Milwaukee and obtained bachelor and master’s degrees in nuclear engineering at the University of Wisconsin. Fred began working at ORNL in 1977, initially in Central Engineering Services and then in the Chemical Technology Division and later in nuclear and engineering technologies divisions. Fred led and participated in projects ranging from the Advanced Neutron Source design and the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment remediation to medical isotope separations, liquid waste and effluent management, and reactor and radiochemical facility decommissioning. He retired from the lab at the end of 2017 and began performing occasional consulting work. Fred lives in Farragut with his wife Jean and enjoys trips to Montana to visit their daughter Annie. He volunteers at the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, the American Museum of Science and Energy, Tennessee Achieves, the local section of the American Nuclear Society, and Farragut Presbyterian Church. His hobbies include bicycling, sailing, hiking, astronomy, and reading
Herb Krause
Herb was employed by ORNL in the Chemistry Division from 1970 to 1982 and then in the Physics Division until his retirement in 2008. He holds a B.S. degree in physics from Drexel University (1965) and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Pittsburgh (1970), specializing in experimental atomic and chemical physics. As a Senior Research Staff Member at ORNL, he studied a wide variety of fundamental physical mechanisms by which low-velocity neutral atoms and molecules or swift moving ions interact with other gaseous or solid matter using particle accelerators at ORNL and other facilities such as the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. He has authored or co-authored 171 refereed scientific publications (listed in Google Scholar) in the fields of atomic, molecular, chemical, electron, surface, and laser physics that involve phenomena occurring at a collision energy from 0.03 eV to 33 TeV (an energy range of 15 orders of magnitude).
Herb was a founding board member for the Montessori School of Oak Ridge, and has served on the boards of the First Presbyterian Church of Oak Ridge and the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association. He was a recent president and board member of the Oak Ridge Chorus. He has been a judge at area science fairs and has tutored students in mathematics, physics and chemistry at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge. He and his wife, Carolyn, live in Oak Ridge.
Herb was an elected FORNL board member and served as FORNL secretary from 2012 to 2017, and as a non-voting adjunct board member from 2018-2020. He was not on the FORNL board in 2021, so according to FORNL by-laws, he is eligible to be elected to a two-year term in 2022.
Dave Mullins
David Mullins received his BS degree in Chemistry from the College of William and Mary in 1978 and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin in 1984. He came to ORNL as a Post Doc in 1986 and joined the staff in the Surface Science and Catalysis group in 1988. He retired from the lab in 2018. His research interests focused on using synchrotron radiation for studying chemical processes on powdered catalysts and single crystal surfaces. He was the developer of, and spokesperson for, a soft x-ray beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) and served several terms on the NSLS Users Executive Committee. He is a fellow of the American Vacuum Society (AVS) and served as Treasurer of the Tennessee Valley Chapter of the AVS for 20 years. He is also a member of the American Chemical Society and the North American Catalysis Society and served as president of the Southeast Chapter of the Catalysis Society. He has been treasurer of the First Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge since 1996 and treasurer of Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) since 2006
Al Ekkabus
Al Ekkebus worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for 33 years retiring in 2013. His assignments included head of the Central Library, assistant to the Laboratory Director, and outreach manager for Oak Ridge neutron facilities. He previously served on the FORNL Board in several capacities including president and AMSE tour coordinator. Al has a master’s degree in physics from Ohio University and a master’s in library science from Northern Illinois University. At the SNS, Al coordinated over 50 local and international meetings and workshops. Al and his wife Susan, also a librarian, have lived in Oak Ridge for more than 40 years and have two children, Cheryl is an OBGYN in the Chicago area, and Kevin is a physical therapist in Knoxville. Al and Sue enjoy overseas travel and can’t wait to take their next cruise this year
