Advocate Dominican Republic (Ramón Cruz)

Ramón Cruz Penn State University Nuclear Engineering student Pennsylvania, USA I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. I came to the United States when I was thirteen years old. Currently, I am pursuing a B.S. degree in Nuclear Engineering and a minor in Engineering Mechanics at The Pennsylvania State University. I am a native Spanish speaker. I am involved in the Chi Alpha Campus Ministry and love to help and serve others for the glory of the LORD. I have worked for Penn State Conference Services as a customer service staff. I also have experience in working with classmates as a leader to run experiments at the Penn State TRIGA reactor, and worked on a first core design project sponsored by Westinghouse on the AP1000®; as well as being part of the leadership board for the Penn State FastStart program. My experience as a nuclear engineering student has given me exposure to reactor operation, reactor design and analysis, and interaction with others.

I have performed many projects as a nuclear engineering student. I worked on a project based on a “Subchannel Analysis of Fuel Rod Bundles from the OECD/NRC PSBT Benchmark using the ThermalHydraulic Subchannel Code CTF”. During this project, I developed a CTF model for A1 & B5/A2 rod bundles, performed an analytical solution of flow conditions for selected test cases, and determined CTF prediction of flow conditions for selected test cases for: Pressure Drop (Steady-State), Coolant Mixing (Steady State), Void Distribution (Steady State and Transient), and DNBR (Steady State and Transient).

I also worked on another project based on a “Power Plant Simulation of a Typical Westinghouse 4-Loop PWR using TRACE”. In this project, I modeled: a full reactor vessel with heat structures representing the vessel wall and the core barrel; a core with appropriate power from rods, and reasonable irrecoverable pressure losses across the core support plates; component models for all primary loops in your chosen plant, including a pressurizer on one loop; steam generators with active level control or other means of obtaining appropriate feedwater flow as power changes; and a control block simulation of turbine shaft power output.

Outside of nuclear engineering, I love doing ministry, being a leader, maintaining a good physique through sprint-running, gaining wisdom through reading, fundraising for a good cause, helping feed the poor, giving the ones who are in need, visiting senior citizens at nursing homes, inspiring others through the good actions in my life, communicating with others, develop as a cook, be involved in business and management, and work hard for LORD’s purpose in our lives. However, the most important out of these interest is helping the ones who are in need through the LORD in which it is why I am very involved in the initiative feedOne by the Convoy of Hope. I believe that if I can utilize my strengths to give someone else a big smile, I can help them with their pursuit of happiness; this makes me happy and this is why love doing this.