Y-12's HBCU Day
Y-12’s HBCU Day brings education, government closer
Tues, 11 November 2008
B&W Y‑12 held a workshop bringing together company representatives and Historically Black Colleges and Universities that are part of the company’s Mentor-Protégé Program. The “HBCU Day” was created so that both sides of the mentor-protégé pairing can provide insight into each side of the relationship.
Participants included representatives from South Carolina State University, Tennessee State University, Southern University and A&M College, Fisk University, Alabama State University and Norfolk State University, which is the latest signee to the program.
“I am more than ecstatic that our researchers will have the opportunity to participate in research that is germane to the nation’s security. The MPA [mentor-protégé agreement] opens a new opportunity for Norfolk State University to work on becoming a prime contractor itself,” said Dr. Adebisi Oladipupo, vice president for Research and Technology at Norfolk State.
The Department of Energy Mentor-Protégé Program is designed to encourage DOE prime contractors to assist small disadvantaged firms certified by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act, which includes women-owned small businesses, historically black colleges and universities and other minority institutions of higher learning and small business concerns owned by service-disabled veterans.
The program provides B&W Y‑12 a mechanism for entering into integrated working agreements and for providing non-financial assistance to these entities. The agreements are designed to enhance the protégé’s business and technical capabilities, and to foster long-term business relationships between these small businesses or universities and DOE prime contractors.
B&W Y‑12 representatives discussed their needs regarding production, research, security, safety and work force planning and recruiting, as well as describing the requirements of the mentor-protégé contracting program. A representative from Oak Ridge Associated Universities also discussed their collaborative research program with B&W Y‑12.
B&W Y‑12, a limited liability enterprise of The Babcock and Wilcox Company and Bechtel National Inc., operates the Y‑12 National Security Complex for the National Nuclear Security Administration.