Egle lauded for work with stable isotopes at national laboratory in Tennessee

Medford native Brian Egle loves the variety of work he gets to tackle in his job at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in East Tennessee.

One day, his team’s work might be enabling a basic science experiment, another day a high-energy physics experiment or a potential cure for cancer. Egle, who left Wisconsin for the lab in 2010, finds it fulfilling to contribute to research that has the potential to positively impact society in several areas — nuclear medicine and national security, for example.

“It’s really fun and really engaging to get to ask yourself, ‘What do you want to work on today?’” said Egle, who heads the Stable Isotopes section in the lab’s Isotope Science and Engineering Directorate. “I believe in the mission, and there are great people here to work with.”

Egle grew up in Medford, where his parents, Ben and Jean Egle, still reside. Twenty years ago, he was a manufacturing engineer, “very happily building windows” for a national company, when he became interested in renewable energy. That interest was strong enough that he ultimately obtained a doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin- Madison’s Fusion Technology Institute. He also holds a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from UW-Madison and a bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Egle came to ORNL as a Weinberg Fellow, a prestigious award named after Dr. Alvin Weinberg, ORNL’s longest serving director, who was a passionate advocate for nuclear energy with a strong interest in science policy. He received the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Appreciation Award for his work enriching the isotope ruthenium-96, which Brookhaven National Laboratory used to study the physics of the Big Bang. It was the first time since 1998 that a stable isotope had been enriched in the United States.

Now he works on new technology geared toward enriching more stable isotopes, helping the United States meet the demand for isotopes for various types of research.

“The isotope program has really grown in the last 10 years,” Egle said.

Earlier this year, Egle was one of three ORNL staff members chosen for DOE’s Oppenheimer Science and Energy Leadership Program, a series of sessions and visits that provide the selected individuals with an in-depth understanding of the DOE system of national laboratories.

“It was an honor,” Egle said. “Completing the OSELP program made me even better prepared to apply my skills to fostering an environment of true collaboration among a diverse group of people working together for common good.”

Egle recruits, mentors and trains new researchers, in addition to time spent on his own research.

Last year, he received an Excellence in Science and Technology award in Research Leadership from ORNL for his work with developing electromagnetic isotope separation technologies and leading advances in the science and engineering of separating and enriching isotopes.

“Dr. Egle’s leadership in enriched stable isotopes has helped maintain ORNL’s global leadership and provided the nation a reliable source for materials critical to medicine, security, and science,” said Brian Anderson, director of ORNL’s Enrichment Science and Engineering Division, in which Egle works.

Medford native Brian Egle with U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm during a visit she made to ORNL last year.

ORNL, U.S. DEPT. OF ENERGY