The Governor’s Chairs program brings exceptionally accomplished researchers from around the world to Tennessee.

Funded by the state and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the program attracts top researchers to broaden and enhance the unique research partnership that exists between the University of Tennessee—the state’s flagship university and premier public research institution—and the nation’s largest multi-program laboratory.

The university, founded in 1794, and ORNL, which grew out of the federal program to develop nuclear weapons in World War II, have always shared academic and research interests and infrastructure. The increasing importance of research and technology to the well-being of the state’s economy and environment led former Governor Phil Bredesen to initiate the program while he was in office and invest significant state resources.

More than a dozen of the nation’s top research authorities serve as Governor’s Chairs, working jointly at UT and ORNL.

The program seeks to hire as many as twenty scientists for existing institutes operated jointly by UT and ORNL in the areas of advanced manufacturing, advanced materials, biological sciences, energy sciences, and nuclear security.