Bio
Sumner writes press releases and features for ORNL's Neutron Sciences Directorate. In addition, she supports internal communications, develops large visual displays, creates storyboards for technical animations, manages social media, and contributes to other public-facing content that communicates the importance of neutron science at ORNL. She also participates in JACoW, an international collaboration dedicated to publishing articles about particle accelerator science and engineering.
In November 2025, she published a major multimedia-rich project, High Flux Isotope Reactor: Forged in safety, fueled by discovery, which tells the story of the reactor operators at ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor and the science their roles enable. In addition, the project included two companion pieces: From fleet to fission, Navy's brightest power ORNL's reactor and High Flux Isotope Reactor drives discovery through neutron scattering.
In 2022, she published her first ORNL feature: a historical view of a trailblazing physicist selected to work on the Manhattan Project at age 23, titled Libby Johnson: On the frontier for nuclear safety.
Lab timeline
Sumner began subcontracting at ORNL in 2016 as a course developer for international nuclear security. After a year, she joined UT-Battelle as a technical writer and editor. She continued in this role for five years, helping teams in the National Security Sciences Directorate sharpen their storytelling skills and communication products for federal sponsors, as well as for peers and colleagues at other domestic and international labs and institutions. During this time, she also traveled internationally to help deliver courses and tabletop exercises.
Education
While pursuing her master’s degree in rhetoric, writing, and technical communication at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Sumner collaborated on the launch of a cutting-edge international academic journal, the International Journal of Nuclear Security. In addition to her role as an assistant editor, she pursued coursework in global security studies, attended weekly research group meetings for UTK’s Radiochemistry Center of Excellence, and tutored international nuclear engineering students in English writing.
Sumner’s master’s thesis demonstrated three distinct writing voices: academic, technical, and narrative. In her thesis, she performed a rhetorical analysis of a local community’s industrial history, focusing on early land grants, survey methods, labor conflict, and the dynamics of writing history. For the technical voice, she wrote a finding aid for a private business’s land grant archive that predates the Revolutionary War. She also embedded narrative reflections throughout the academic analysis.
Awards
J. Paul Blakely Writing Competition, Award of Distinction, 2014 and 2015
Professional Affiliations
National Association of Science Writers, 2023
Society for Technical Communication, 2014-2020
- East Tennessee Chapter, vice president 2015-2017, president 2017-2019
- Chair and Cofacilitator, Blakely Student Writing Competition, 2018 and 2019