2014 Annual Report by Department of Nuclear Engineering-Texas A&M

2013-2014 Annual Report

MISSION To serve our state, nation and global community by nurturing future nuclear engineering professionals and leaders who are: • instilled with the highest standards of professional and ethical behavior • prepared to meet the complex challenges associated with sustainably expanding peaceful uses of nuclear energy • enhancing global nuclear security and avoiding the dangers of nuclear proliferation.

HISTORY

VISION To develop and maintain a nationally and internationally recognized program that promotes a passion for understanding and applying the knowledge of nuclear science and engineering to support the nation’s alternative energy, national security and health care missions.

The decision to enter the field of nuclear engineering was made in 1957 while Dr. John C. Calhoun was dean of engineering. In 1958, the Academic Council approved the recommendation of the Executive Committee that a Department of Nuclear Engineering be created and that graduate programs in nuclear engineering be authorized. At that time, only two degree programs were administered: a master’s of science and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering. The undergraduate program was established in 1966.

On the cover: (From left to right) Graduate student Jijie Lou works in the labs of Dr. conducts a radiological event exercise at the TEEX Disaster City® facility with faculty and Technology; Recent graduate of Dr. Pavel Tsvetkov’s research group Dr. Al Rashdan led the Simulator Laboratory; Students assembling the new boric acid precipitation facility in the

Gamal Akabani; Dr. Craig Marianno students from the Tokyo Institute of effort to assemble and configure the thermal-hydraulic research laboratory.

WELCOME FROM THE DEPARTMENT HEAD I’m pleased to share with you the 2013-2014 report on department activities. It is an exciting time for the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M. This past November, the Dwight Look College of Engineering hosted the groundbreaking of the new Engineering Education Complex, the main building supporting the 25 by 25 Initiative (see page 5 for more information). We’ve officially said goodbye to Zachry and moved into our new, temporary home in Bizzell Hall. We look forward to moving to our permanent residence in the Animal Industries building once renovations are completed later this year (2015). I hope this report provides a glimpse into the activities and accomplishments of the department, none of which would have been possible without your spirit, energy and support. Former and current students, faculty, staff, colleagues, and those partners in the industry and national labs, it is you we thank for these achievements. Each year we work to exceed the last by providing more opportunities and support for students, forging more partnerships in industry, national labs and government, and incorporating a stronger, more interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to our teaching and research. In this annual report, we highlight the achievements of our faculty and students. A significant achievement to note is our opportunity to host the ANS Student Conference April 9-11, 2015. Faculty highlights include Ernie Kee as an associate professor of practice, Dr. Sean McDeavitt as interim Nuclear Science Center director, the retirement of Drs. Les Braby and Bill Marlow, and the appointment of Dr. Pavel Tsvetkov as undergraduate student faculty adviser. I hope you enjoy this summary of the department’s activities, and plan to be a part of what is to come. With changing times come new initiatives and new aspirations, and we hope to continue to improve upon the program that is already the largest and one of the best in the nation. With your continued interest and support, we can accomplish much. Visit us in our new location should you have the opportunity. I look forward to hearing from you should you have questions or feedback on the department’s activities as we continue to expand and enhance our program. Sincerely,

Yassin A. Hassan Department Head and Sallie & Don Davis ‘61 Professor in Nuclear Engineering

CONTENT DEPARTMENT FACTS & FIGURES

25 BY 25 INITIATIVE UPDATE

REMEMBERING DR. RON HART

5 2

WELCOME FROM THE DEPARTMENT HEAD

THE DEPARTMENT IS GETTING A NEW HOME

NUCLEAR ENGINEERING ADVISORY COUNCIL

31 33

NUCLEAR ENGINEERING NEWS BRIEFS

DISTINGUISHED FORMER STUDENTS MARTINEZ ‘50 ENDOWS THE BETTY MARTINEZ EXCELLENCE FUND DEVELOPMENT & GIVING INFORMATION

FACULTY PROFILES

SCHOLARSHIPS & FELLOWSHIPS

2015 ANS STUDENT CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN COLLEGE STATION FACULTY & STUDENTS ATTEND INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM & SEMINAR IN JAPAN FOURTH GNEII SYMPOSIUM & GRADUATION HELD AT KHALIFA UNIVERSITY

21 22 23

GRADUATE THESES & DISSERTATIONS

Rendering of the new Engineering Education Complex

The Zachry Engineering Center, which opened in 1972, closed at the end of December 2014 for a massive, multi-million dollar renovation and new construction project that begins in January 2015. When completed, the new Engineering Education Complex will become the largest academic building on campus at 533,000 square feet. The state-of-the-art building will be used exclusively for undergraduate engineering education to support the 25 by 25 Initiative. The 25 by 25 Initiative is a transformational program to increase access for qualified students to pursue engineering education at Texas A&M University to an enrollment of 25,000 engineering students by 2025.

Zachry Engineering Center

This initiative addresses the critical and growing demand in Texas and the United States for more engineers. The Texas Workforce Commission is projecting a 19 percent growth in engineering jobs in the next 12 years. This equates to more than 43,000 jobs. This projection mirrors a recent call by the President’s Council of Advisors on STEM for the nation to increase the number of STEM graduates to one million in the next 10 years. Texas A&M is stepping forward to address this critical state and national need through an innovative sustainable and systemic change of our educational enterprise. The controlled enrollment growth initiative is led by three guiding principles: •To transform the educational experience to better prepare our students to engage in and meet the future needs of the engineering marketplace •To increase accessibility to engineering education at all levels; and •Deliver engineering education in a cost effective and affordable manner.

Dr. M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of engineering

“As a Top 10 public institution, quality is and has always been a priority of the Dwight Look College of Engineering. In fact quality is one of the main criteria of this initiative. We remain committed to providing a high-quality education and to producing well-prepared engineers who are ready to address the challenges of today and tomorrow. If at any time, we feel we have reached our maximum capacity and the quality of our education could be affected, we will postpone the growth until our operations could accommodate all students,” Dr. M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of engineering, said.

THE 25 BY 25 INITIATIVE AND ENGINEERING EDUCATION COMPLEX

DEPARTMENT FACTS & FIGURES 298 Undergraduate Students (excludes freshmen) 232 B.S. Nuclear Engineering 66 B.S. Radiological Health Engineering FALL ‘13 ENROLLMENT DATA

INCOMING UNDERGRADUATES:

67 TOTAL STUDENTS

INCOMING GRADUATES: 37 TOTAL STUDENTS

146 Graduate Students 63 M.S. Nuclear Engineering 80 Ph.D. Nuclear Engineering 3 M.E. Nuclear Engineering

GRADUATE STUDENT SUPPORT

59 GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH ASSISTANTS 9 GRADUATE STUDENT TEACHING ASSISTANTS 8 DOE FELLOWS 2 TEXAS A&M FELLOWS 14 OTHER EXTERNAL FELLOWSHIPS (NSF, NEF, INPO, NSBRI, DHS-NF)

DEGREES OFFERED OTHER DEGREES WITH ( AWARDED IN FALL 2013-SUMMER 2014 ) B.S. Nuclear Engineering (39) B.S. Radiological Health Engineering (9) M.E. Nuclear Engineering (3) M.S. Nuclear Engineering (19) Ph.D. Nuclear Engineering (8)

A NUCLEAR DISCIPLINE M.S. Mechanical Engineering (1) Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering (2) M.S. Materials Science & Engineering (1) Ph.D. Materials Science & Engineering (1)

$12.2 million Research Expenditures $7.8 million Research Awards

RESEARCH

AREAS

Fa c u l t y 1 7 Te n u re d & t e n u re - t ra c k 7 Fu l l 8 A s s o c i at e 2 Assistant 2 S e n i o r Le c t u re r s 1 Pro f e s s o r s o f Pra c t i c e 9 Re s e a rc h Fa c u l t y 3 E m e r i t u s Fa c u l t y

Impact 6 3 Re f e re e d j o u r n a l a rt i c l e s 7 5 S e l e c t i v e c o n f e re n c e p a p e r s 1 1 Fe l l o w s i n p ro f e s s i o n a l s o c i e t i e s 1 Academy Member (NAE) Ser vice 1 0 E d i t o r s h i p s & e d i t o r i a l b o a rd m e m b e r s h i p s 2 7 M e m b e r s o f p ro f e s s i o n a l s o c i e t y c o m m i tt e e s

Security, Safeguards & Nonproliferation Fuel Cycles & Materials • Health Physics • Medical Physics

Radiation Transport • Thermal Hydraulics

INCOMING

White

Undergraduates Profile 1257 SAT (Math + Verbal) 28.8 ACT Composite

Hispanic Asian

Asian Black International Other Black

Female Male

70.7 percent of incoming freshmen were in the top 10 percent of their high school class

RHEN NUEN

Other Female Male RHEN NUEN

57 Texas residents 8 out-of state students

INCOMING

MS NUEN PhD NUEN

Graduate Students Profile 161 GRE Math Average 156 GRE Verbal Average 3.514 Average GPR

MS HLPH

Female Male

International Chongqing University, China Ecole National Superieure Des Mines De Pa, France Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, India University of Andalas, Indonesia University of Science & Technology, China

White Hispanic Asian Unknown

MS NUEN PhD NUEN MS HLPH

Female Male

White Hispanic Asian

International

Unknown Other International Black

American Indian

40.5 percent of incoming graduate students come from the departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s undergraduate program

Domestic Auburn University Brigham Young University Coe College, Cedar Rapids Missouri University of Science & Technology Montclair State University

Hispanic

International

1 National Achievement Scholar 2 National Hispanic Scholar 5 National Merit Scholar

20 percent of incoming freshmen were first generation college students

White

Other Black

American Indian

Principia College Tennessee Technological University Texas A&M University, Kingsville Texas Southern University University of California, Santa Cruz University of Cincinnati

University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign University of New Mexico University of Southern California University of Texas, El Paso University of Texas, Permian Basin Virginia Tech

FACILITIES & CENTERS Accelerator Laboratory AGN-201M Nuclear Reactor Laboratory Center for Large-scale Scientific Simulations (CLASS) Fuel Cycle and Materials Laboratory (FCML) Institute for National Security, Education & Research (INSER) Interphase Transport Phenomena Laboratory (ITP) Laser Diagnostics Multiphase Flow Laboratory Micro-Beam Cell Irradiation Facility NASA Space Power Center (TEES) Nuclear Heat Transfer Systems Laboratory Nuclear Power Institute (NPI) Nuclear Science Center (1MW Triga Reactor) (NSC) Nuclear Security Science & Policy Institute (NSSPI) Radiation Detection Measurement Laboratory Tandem Accelerator Laboratory

DWIGHT LOOK COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING ENROLLMENT - FALL 2013

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT NATIONAL RANKINGS

9,253 undergraduate 3,075 graduate

9th graduate 3rd undergraduate

$290.7 MILLION IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH EXPENDITURES (American Society for Engineering Education)

DEGREES AWARDED OVER PAST 4 YEARS

120 120

108 108

100 100

92 92

87 87

80 80

Total Total BS NUEN BS MSNUEN NUEN MS NUEN BS RHEN BS RHEN PhD NUEN PhD NUEN ME NUEN ME NUEN

68 68

60 60 40 40

36 36

20 20

15 15 8 48 4

45 45 24 24 8 87 7

39 39 27 27 21 18 21 18 3 3

52 52

18 18 11 8 11 83 3 2013-2014

TOTAL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT ENROLLMENT

0 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 0 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 331 350 323 310 331 350 323 298 310 291 298 300 291 300 253 260 255 244 260 255 253 232 233 244 250 232 233 250 208 208 200 200 150 150 100 71 66 66 68 100 58 71 68 66 66 45 58 50 45 50 0 Fall '08 Fall '09 Fall '10 Fall '11 Fall '12 Fall '13 0 Fall '08 Fall '09 Fall '10 Fall '11 Fall '12 Fall '13

TOTAL GRADUATE STUDENT ENROLLMENT

150 150 120 120 90 90

131 131 98 98

60 60

54 54

30 30

32 32 13 13

135 135

140 140

146 146

110 110

61 61 31 31 15 15

69 69 34 34 16 16 1 1 Fall '10

62 62 45 45 11 11 1 1

75 75 61 61

11 11 0 0

Total Total BS NUEN BS BS NUEN RHEN BS RHEN

54 54 49 49 14 14 3 3

0 0 Fall '08 Fall '09 Fall '10 Fall '11 Fall '12 Fall '13 Fall '08 Fall '09 Fall '10 Fall '11 Fall '12 Fall '13

Total Total MS NUEN MS PhDNUEN NUEN PhDHLPH NUEN MS MS HLPH ME NUEN ME NUEN

STUDENT SPOTLIGHTS

Jose Trevino ‘16 Jose Trevino is a Ph.D. student from Portland, Texas, studying Health Physics. He was a studentathlete while at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, where he earned his B.S. in physics. Upon graduation, Trevino received the Pathways to the Doctorate Fellowship from Texas A&M University to study Nuclear Engineering. He accepted the offer and was introduced to Dr. Craig Marianno who has since become his graduate advisor. Together, they are working on estimating radiation doses on search and rescue dogs after a radiological incident. Since coming to Texas A&M, Trevino has had the chance to present his research at national and local Health Physics Society meetings, and received a scholarship from the Health Physics Society. He attended a symposium in Japan with students and professionals from all over the world where they discussed the topics of Nuclear Safety, Security and Safeguards and participated in several activities with Texas Task Force 1 and other first responders out at Texas A&M’s Disaster City. Clifford Hart ‘16 Cliff Hart is enrolled in the M.S. program for nuclear engineering, working under Dr. Sean McDeavitt on a project concerning porous nuclear fuels. Hart served in the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program on the U.S.S. Enterprise during Operations Enduring Freedon and Iraqi Freedom. He earned distinguished service, good conduct, and several other medals. Hart worked as a oil field hand first, then as a directional driller in many states between Mississippi to Wyoming for several years after his military service. Hart entered college in 2010, and later became Lonestar College: North Harris' first head delegate to the National Model United Nations. He led the delegates to represent the Marshall Islands in 2011 in New York City. He is considering continuing directly into the Ph.D. program. Last spring, Hart won the Roy G. Post Scholarship. He obtained a B.S. in nuclear engineering technology, and an Associates in applied science in mechanics from Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey. Hart has been a member of Phi Theta Kappa honor society and National Society of Collegiate Scholars since 2011. Sarah Camba ‘15 Sarah Camba is a junior undergraduate majoring in nuclear engineering. In addition to her academic work, she has been very involved in student organizations and is currently serving as the vice president of Women in Nuclear Texas A&M University student chapter. Recently, she also assumed the role of co-chair for the American Nuclear Society Student Conference to be hosted at A&M in April 2015, and will continue that position through the next school year. Sarah is a student assistant at the Nuclear Power Institute and has worked as the Teaching Assistant to Dr. K.L. Peddicord for Introduction to Nuclear Engineering. She also took part in an inaugural AggiE Challenge Project, where she worked on an interdisciplinary engineering team on a project related to nuclear security. The past two summers she has interned at Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, working with the Mechanical Plant Reliability and Reactor Engineering groups. As a result of her academic work and industry internships, she has been selected as a National Academy for Nuclear Training Scholar for the 2014-2015 school year. Upon graduation, she plans to work in the nuclear power industry and has special interest in international opportunities.

THE DEPARTMENT

IS GETTING A

NEW HOME Exciting changes are upon us. The Department of Nuclear Engineering is getting its own building, and will be permanently moving to the AI Engineering Building (formerly the Animal Industries Building). Construction on the Animal Industries building began in 1929 at a cost of $225,000, and the building was dedicated in 1932. It was designed to accommodate the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s animal science department, with the basement containing a meat laboratory under the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main lecture hall. Interesting features of the building include the decorative entrance door with beautiful ironwork frames and grillwork. The buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s external facade is decorated with ornamental cornices and symbols in cast stone, including ram and horse heads, horse shoes and steer skulls. The interior features ornamental ironwork and agricultural motifs, as well as a gorgeous grand staircase to the second floor. To prepare for our move, the building is undergoing a great deal of renovation, including bringing it up to code, painting, modifying elevators, adding restrooms, and refinishing the historic and iconic ironwork that graces the entry doors. Photo credits: Texas A&M University

The department’s official move will be in the summer of 2015. In the meantime, Bizzell Hall will house most of the department. Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI) and The Nuclear Power Institute (NPI) will be in the TEES State Headquarters. NSSPI will join the department in the summer, once renovations are complete. The department laboratories will be in the University Services Building, the Texas A&M Institute for Preclinical Studies (TIPS) building, the Riverside Campus, the Houston building and the Animal Industries Building. Behind the Brands At the time of the Animal Industries building’s construction, the state’s chief income was agriculture. To acknowledge this, brands of large ranches were incorporated into the Animal Industries Building. Dr. O.D. Butler’s original office in the Animal Industries Building, which will serve as the Nuclear Engineering department head office, is decorated with more than a dozen brands burned into the wood paneling. Some of the same historic brands are duplicated in the wrought iron doors of the building, and served as the inspiration for a staircase project in Kleburg Center, as well as the Animal Industries Building’s iron entry and conference room doors. Butler’s intent was to preserve historical information through a visual collection and to provide a proud heritage for ranching in future generations.

NUCLEAR ENGINEERING ADVISORY COUNCIL The mission of the Nuclear Engineering Advisory Council is to provide advice, support and counsel to the department head with the express purpose of helping to maintain the highest level of academic excellence so that its graduates remain at the forefront of the nuclear engineering professional practice in Texas and the nation. The Nuclear Engineering Advisory Council shall accomplish this mission by working with the department head to strengthen the depth and breadth of our existing degree program specialty areas, helping to foster constructive interactions with leading nuclear engineering practitioners, participating in the ABET accreditation process, and serving as a resource to the department’s faculty and students. The Nuclear Engineering Advisory Council provides advice to the department head as representatives of all department graduates as well as firms employing its graduates both in Texas and the nation.

• Carol Berrigan Nuclear Energy Institute • Rafael Flores Luminant Power • Thomas Geer Westinghouse, Chair • Timothy Hurst Hurst Technologies Corp. • Regis Matzie Retired, Westinghouse, Co-Chair • Evelyn Mullen Los Alamos National Laboratory • James Peery Sandia National Laboratory • Tim Powell South Texas Project • Sandra Sloan B&W mPower, Inc.

• Russell Stachowski Global Nuclear Fuel • Ron Stinson Emeritus Retired, Atlas Consulting Group • Richard Wolters Retired, General Electric • Finis Southworth Areva, Inc. • Tom Hannigan Zachry Nuclear, Inc. • Rube Williams Jet Learning Laboratory • G.R."Ross" Frazer Helix Well Containment Group, LLC. • J. Wesley Hines Head of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee

IN REMEMBRANCE THE PASSING OF DR. RON HART It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our esteemed colleague and distinguished faculty member of the Department of Nuclear Engineering, Emeritus Professor Ron Hart. Born in Chickasha, Okla., Hart graduated from the University of Oklahoma on May 31, 1959, with a degree in engineering physics. He was commissioned into the U.S. Navy on graduation day, married his high school sweetheart the next week, and reported for active duty on June 15 at the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory in San Francisco. After three years in the navy, Hart attended the University of California, Berkeley where he received his Ph.D. in nuclear science in 1967. Upon graduation, Hart took a position in Malibu, California with Hughes Research Laboratory. At Hughes he was involved in seminal work to understand the physics of ion-implantation; he constructed a 150 kV ion-implantation system and developed a method that minimized channeling effects during ion-implantation, which was used in all the implantation equipment at Hughes designed for IC production and later adopted by ion-implantation tool manufacturers for the IC industry at large. In 1975, Hart accepted a position in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A& M. Although he taught more than a dozen nuclear engineering courses during his 31-year tenure, he was especially known for NUEN 202 and NUEN 604, the cornerstones of the undergraduate and graduate degree programs, respectively. Hart was known for the rigor of these courses (his nickname was “Rough Rider”), but he provided compassionate, yet firm counsel to his students. Former students continue to express a strong appreciation of Hart’s teaching and mentoring and consider him to have had a significant influence on their lives. In addition to teaching, he served as graduate and undergraduate advisor, served on the faculty senate, and conducted research in neutron transmutation doping, ion-beam lithography, and direct energy conversion. He supervised 12 Ph.D. candidates, two doctor of engineering candidates, and more than 30 master of science candidates. A lover of nature, Hart enjoyed his garden immensely during his retirement. He would prepare the soil, tend the plants, pick the crops, and prepare the harvest. Family and friends were always willing to eat! Intelligent, quiet, introspective, but always quick with a friendly word and a willingness to help, Hart led his children and his students by example; he was exceptionally kind, impeccably polite, and was respected by all who knew him, a gentleman and a gentle man. Hart is survived by his wife of 55 years, Kay, his children: Kimberly Ohlendorf and husband, Charles, of Magnolia, Texas; Kendall Hart of College Station, Texas; Kathryn Delk and husband, Jim, of Birmingham, Alabama; and Kristopher Hart and wife, Tara, of Castle Rock, Colorado; eight grandchildren: Kurt, Emily and Kristopher Ohlendorf; Haley, Larkin, and Price Delk; and Holland and Rowan Hart. Also surviving are his three brothers, Norman Hart, Anthony Hart and David Hart, and one sister, Elaine Hart.

OCTOBER 25, 1937 - SEPTEMBER 20, 2014

SCHOLARSHIPS

Harold J. Giroir, Jr. Kenny Abitbol Aaron Holgado Nicholas Mondrick John Abu Al Nile Silas Marrs Zhi Tang R.D. Neff Memorial Mallory Carson Lainey Dromgoole Eloise Vezey Dromgoole Lily Raabe Neff-Poston Health Physics Scholarship Johnathon Skloss Mitty C. Plummer ‘65 Lance Merchant

Jeff W. Simmons ‘85 Can Pu Kyrone Riley Kevin Miller Yuriy Ayzman Bill R. Teer ‘55 Landon Brockmeyer Christopher Pannier Brandon Rosales The Adams Family Scholarship Richard Vega David G. Barker ‘66 Scholarship Kelli Humbird Marna G. Kissmann ‘90 Scholarship Adnan Mohammed Zaher Hamoui

& FELLOWSHIPS

DOE - Computational Science Peter Maginot Andrew Till

DOE - Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP) Simon Bolding Lane Carasik Joshua Hansel Lloyd Price, Jr. William Sames Micheal Smith Charles Stratton

National Science Foundation Royal Elmore Kristina Yancey Sandia National Lab Marie Arrieta

OGS Graduate Diversity Fellowship Ryan Brito Arnulfo Gonzalez Karyn Stern

INPO William Cook DHS - Nuclear Forensics Timothy Jacomb-Hood

Nuclear Nonproliferation International Safeguards (NNIS) Jessica Feener Claudio Gariazzo Robert Zedric

National Excellence Fellowship Cheuk Lau

National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) Sarah Over James Uhlemeyer MUSC Rickover Michael Hackemack Ryan Kelly

(NRC) Nuclear Regulatory Commission Laura Sudderth OGS Pathway to Doctorate Fellowship Jose Trevino Fulbright Merinda Volia

17 Awards Beeny selected as Energy Institute Fellow The 2014-2015 Energy Institute Fellowships were announced, a selection of 10 students out of over 60 applications from 20 departments and several colleges, including the Texas A&M School of Law.

NEWS BRIEFS

Among those 10 was Bradley Beeny of the Department of Nuclear Engineering, for his research “Creation and Application of Computational Tools for Nuclear Energy Systems Analysis.” Nuclear engineering graduate students each awarded “Best Student Paper” at ICONE22 Two Texas A&M nuclear engineering graduate students won awards at ICONE-22 in Prague, Czech Republic. Timothy Crook and Saya Lee attended the 22nd International Conference on Nuclear Energy July 7-11, 2014, where they were awarded the “Best Student Paper- North America,” representing two of the selected best studentauthored papers from the United States, Canada, or Mexico. Nuclear engineering students win AREVA-Canberra film contest Students from the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University won first place at the Canberra University Video Challenge. Their

video highlights examples of students using Canberra products in their classes and research in radiation detection. The research focus of the video demonstrates a radiation portal monitor used for screening livestock for radioactive contamination created using Canberra products. Involved in the Development and Testing of a Bovine Screening Portal research project led by Dr. Craig Marianno are Jennifer Erchinger, Jose Trevino, Timothy Jacomb-Hood, Manit Shah and Micheal Smith. Crawford named recipient of Texas Armed Services Scholarship Cameron Crawford, a sophomore in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named the recipient of the Texas Armed Services Scholarship from House District 2. The scholarship, which covers up to $10,000 per year of college tuition, encourages academic development and dedication to the various branches of the state and federal armed services. Bencomo awarded LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate fellowship Marlene Bencomo, a Ph.D. student working with Dr. Sunil Chirayath, was recently awarded the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate fellowship.

Hart awarded Roy G. Post scholarship Clifford Hart, a graduate student enrolled in the nuclear engineering Master of Science program at Texas A&M, was recently awarded the Roy G. Post scholarship for the 2013-2014 academic year. McDeavitt appointed TEES Faculty Fellow Dr. Sean McDeavitt has been appointed a TEES Faculty Fellow. The TEES Fellow designation recognizes established faculty members with a history of continuous performance. Vega chosen as recipient of Science and Engineering Outstanding Thesis Award Richard Vega, graduate student of nuclear engineering, received Outstanding Thesis Award for the Undergraduate Research Scholars program as representation of the best undergraduate research thesis in science, technology, engineering and math at Texas A&M. Adams accepts invitation to Committee on International Security and Arms Control Dr. Marvin Adams, HTRI Professor of Nuclear Engineering and director of the Institute for National Security Education and Research at Texas A&M University, accepted membership to the Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC).

18 2014 NACME Scholars Daniel Maldonado and Kyrone Riley were named recipients of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) scholarship. NACME aims to increase the proportion of African American, American Indian and Latino graduates in science, technology, engineering and math education and careers.

Outstanding graduate students recognized Kristina Yancey recieved the Outstanding Graduate Student – Master’s Degree Level award. The award recognizes master’s and

Texas A&M awarded a center of excellence by the National Nuclear Security Administration John Sharp, chancellor of The Texas A&M University System, announced that a proposal for a center of excellence, led by Texas A&M University with participation by the University of Colorado, has been chosen for funding by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) under the Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program (PSAAP-II). This will result in the creation of the Center for Exascale Radiation Transport (CERT) at Texas A&M, which will be funded at $8 million during a period of five years. Three students awarded NEUP fellowships Three graduate students of the Department of Nuclear Engineering, Lane Carasik, Michael Smith, and Lloyd Price were each awarded the Nuclear Energy University Programs’ Fellowship. Winners will receive $50,000 a year over the next three years to help pay for graduate studies and research.

Meetings NSSPI hosts first session of Nuclear Security Training Series NSSPI hosted the first

part of the 2014 Nuclear Security Training Series (NSTS), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Partnership for Nuclear Security (PNS). The program was coordinated by NSSPI faculty member Dr. Sunil Chirayath and participants included 24 students and faculty members from three Indian Universities: Anna University (Chennai); the Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur); and Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (Gandhinagar). Students attend the WiN national conference in Boston The Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M co-sponsored Kristina Yancey, a Ph.D. fellow, and Morgan Munera, a junior undergraduate student, to attend the WiN national conference held in Boston from July 27-30, 2014.

NEWS BRIEFS

Shah wins award for paper at 2014 INMM annual meeting Manit Shah’s paper titled “Simulation Analysis of Scintillation in a Nal Detector” was selected as the best student paper for the Nonproliferation and Arms Control Division of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) at its annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia in July 2014. Shah is a nuclear engineering Ph.D. student working with the Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI) faculty member Dr. Craig Marianno and Dr. Sunil Khatri of the Texas A&M Department of Electric and Computer Engineering. His work investigates using a new type of integrated circuit as a replacement for photomultiplier tubes used for detection in interdiction scenarios.

doctoral students who have demonstrated excellence above and beyond the usual levels of achievement.

Chirayath speaks at nuclear security education workshop in Indonesia Dr. Sunil Chirayath, associate director of NSSPI, traveled to Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia to speak as part of the Workshop on the Enhancement of Nuclear Engineering Curriculum with Nuclear Security Subjects. The workshop was sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Partnership for Nuclear Security (PNS) and was aimed at enhancing UGM educators’ understanding of nuclear security.

NEWS BRIEFS

NSSPI Hosts Indonesian Delegation for Nuclear Security Education Faculty and students from Gadjah Mada University (GMU) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia spent a week at NSSPI in November to discuss nuclear security education and experience the NSSPI curriculum firsthand. Their stop at NSSPI was part of a longer trip to prominent university programs in nuclear security throughout the United States meant to expose the students and educators to the latest in the field. Two NUEN students participate in the Nuclear Engineering Student Delegation held at the Capitol Two nuclear engineering graduate students, Lane Carasik and Taylor Lane, spent a week in the nation’s capitol informing policy makers on nuclear science and engineering as part of the 2014 Nuclear Engineering Student Delegation (NESD). During the first three days the delegation met with representatives from: the American Nuclear Society, AREVA, Bechtel, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Idaho National Laboratory, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Swinney lectures on nuclear safeguards and security at Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University in India Nuclear engineering Ph.D. student Mathew Swinney presented a series of 27 lectures on nuclear safeguards and security to a group of 11 first-year master’s degree students at Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU) in India. The program is primarily supported by the U.S. Department of State through the Partnership for Nuclear Security (PNS) and Texas A&M University through NSSPI. This is the third time that NSSPI has sent a Ph.D. student to PDPU to present lectures on nuclear safeguards and security. CLASS hosts workshop for INL’s MOOSE Texas A&M University, the Center for Large-Scale Scientific Simulations (CLASS), and the Institute for Scientific Computing (ISC) hosted a three-day workshop on the Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE). Derek Gaston, chief architect of MOOSE, taught the workshop. Graduate students from Texas A&M, MIT, Ohio State University and researchers from University of California, Berkeley, VTT Finland, NASA Johnson Space Center and the industry attended. MOOSE is used in NUEN 618, Multiphysics Computations in Nuclear Science and Engineering, a Ph.D. level course taught by Dr. Jean Ragusa every other fall.

Bowser hosted by Nuclear Engineering Department

Dr. Rita Bowser of Westinghouse Electric Company was hosted by the Department of Nuclear Engineering Oct. 28-30, 2013 as part of the Texas A&M ADVANCE Speaker Series. During her visit, she gave three seminars. The first was hosted by the Texas A&M Women in Nuclear chapter. The second was a technical talk with the topic of “Nuclear Power: A Journey of Continuous Improvement,” and had an attendance of over 80 from the department and College of Engineering. Finally, her third topic was a gender-equity talk titled “It’s OK to Wear Earrings to a Board Meeting (and Other Myths Exposed).”

News The Nuclear Science Center celebrates 55 years On Jan. 30, 1959, the Nuclear Science Center (NSC) was commissioned, under the capable direction of Dr. Robert G. Cochran, department head and director of the NSC. The receipt of a $350,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, in addition to $675,000 allocated by The Texas A&M System board of directors, allowed for the development of this one-of-a-kind center, designed to serve research and educational needs.

20 Nuclear engineering department holds second annual “Code-AThon”

By using molecular dynamics simulation and the supercomputer facility on campus, the team found a unique mechanism for how grain boundaries in metals remove defects. The knowledge can explain why some alloy structures are better than others for self-repairing of neutroninduced damage in reactor environments.

Drs. Marlow and Braby retire Dr. William Marlow has 29 years of service, and has been the undergraduate student advisor for 13 years. Dr. Leslie Braby has 17 years of service. Nuclear technology in your life today In response to National Nuclear Science Week, two nuclear engineering students, Lily Raabe and Kristina Yancey, wrote an informative article, “Nuclear Technology in you life today,” in the hope of sharing knowledge not commonly known to the general public about nuclear technology in our lives. Read the full article on our site. Nuclear engineering researchers reveals fundamentals of defects in nuclear materials

The radiation materials science group led by Dr. Lin Shao, associate professor

Read full articles on our website: engineering.tamu.edu/ nuclear/news

NEWS BRIEFS

Texas A&M nuclear engineering graduate students in the computational group came together Jan. 9-10, 2014 for the second annual “Code-A-Thon.” Over the course of two 12-hour days, a dozen students worked collaboratively to create a Multi-material Eulerian Hydrodynamics code from scratch. They were joined by Dr. Ryan McClarren, a faculty member in the department, and Dr. Rockefeller, a staff scientist at Los Alamos National Lab.

of nuclear engineering, has made great progress toward understanding the fundamentals of defects in nuclear materials.

2015 ANS STUDENT CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN COLLEGE STATION The Texas A&M Nuclear Engineering department was chosen to host the 2015 ANS Student Conference. The decision was announced at the most recent student conference at Pennsylvania State University. Anywhere from 550-650 students and professionals attend these conferences each year. Very similar to the ANS conference, events at the student conference include paper competitions, workshops, panels, podium and poster sessions, a career fair, tours, socials, and speakers. The students who made up the proposal committee are: Timothy Crook (Graduate Conference Co-Chair) Sarah Camba (Undergraduate Conference Co-Chair) Lane Carasik (Technical Director) Matthew Fitzmaurice (Logistics Director) Natalie Galegar (Marketing Director) William Gordon (Finance Director) Julien Clayton (Finance Liaison) Philip Jones (Sessions Coordinator)

Kevin Miller (Transportation Coordinator) Tommy Ondara (Hospitality Coordinator) Cody Orsak (Professional/Industry Coordinator) Marina Pulley (Activities Coordinator) Shane Seabolt (Website Coordinator) Laura Sudderth (Workshop Coordinator) Elizabeth Tindle (Student/University Coordinator)

"Hosting is a huge undertaking. Winning just goes to show the strength of our committee in the long run,â&#x20AC;? said Timothy Crook, graduate student. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We took all of the feedback from our 2014 proposal that resulted in an initial dead tie between Texas A&M and Penn State, and made a proposal that won handily this time around. Our theme is 'Powering Tomorrow Together,' as we recognize progress and prosperity in nuclear science and technology is a global undertaking. We are so excited to be hosting all of our friends and colleagues in Texas and look forward to showing them all this great state, school and department have to offer to the world." While at the conference, Crook was also awarded Best Paper in thermal hydraulics. The 2015 conference's specific date is April 9-11. Fun fact: Texas A&M hosted the conference in 2001 and 2008, and is the only school to host the conference three times in the past 15 years. Gig 'em! The contact email for the conference is ansstudentconference2015@gmail.com and the twitter handle is @ANSstucon. For more information, visit www.ansstudentconference.com.

NUCLEAR ENGINEERING FACULTY & STUDENTS ATTEND INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM & SEMINAR IN JAPAN Six students, along with Dr. Yassin Hassan, nuclear engineering department head, Dr. William Charlton, professor and NSSPI director, and Dr. Richard MacNamee of the Bush School, traveled to Tokyo to attend the International Symposium and Seminar on Global Nuclear Human Resource Development for Safety, Security and Safeguards from Feb. 25 March 7, 2014. The symposium was organized by the Academy for Global Nuclear Safety and Security Agent at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (TI-Tech) in Cooperation with NSSPI, the Embassy of France in Japan, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), the Japan chapter of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM), and the International Nuclear Research Collaboration Center at TI-Tech. While at the symposium and seminar, the students were able to hear speakers from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CBTBO), the Russian Federation National Nuclear Corporation (ROSATOM), the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), the World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS), and the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), among others. The sessions covered a wide range of topics that included nuclear security risk analysis, nuclear technologies, nuclear security culture, nuclear energy in the future and non-proliferation issues, and global education on nuclear power and safety, security and safeguards. The students participating in the conference were from various nuclear disciplines, backgrounds, and nationalities, allowing for dialogue among students from many different points of view. Charlton spoke about Nuclear Security Education at Texas A&M as part of the plenary session and gave lectures on "Technologies for Applied Nuclear Security: Detect, Delay, and Response" and "Forensics and Law Enforcement" as part of the technical seminar session. MacNamee also gave a lecture titled "Threats to Nuclear Security" as part of the seminar session, and NSSPI student Robert Zedric presented the activities of the Texas A&M University Student Chapter of the INMM in the student session. Field education was another vital aspect of the symposium and seminar. During the field education experience, the students traveled to Hiroshima to visit the Radiation Effects research Foundation (RERF) and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The trip to the Hiroshima Peace Museum was intended as poignant reminder to the next generation of nuclear security professionals of the importance of preventing (whether through safety, security, or safeguards) an incident such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki from ever happening again. A survivor of the Hiroshima bombing presented her firsthand account of the destruction and sorrow in the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing to the group. Other educational experiences included a visit to the MONJU Fast Breeder Reactor in Tsuruga, Japan, where students visited its sodium handling training facility, secondary cooling loop, control room, and the area where the liquid sodium leak occurred. The field experiences also included cultural and historical visits, giving students a taste of Japanese culture and exposing them to cities all across Japan, including Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kyoto, Tsuruga, and Tokyo.

FOURTH GNEII SYMPOSIUM & GRADUATION HELD AT KHALIFA UNIVERSITY The Gulf Nuclear Energy Infrastructure Institute (GNEII) at Khalifa University’s Abu Dhabi campus commemorated the conclusion of the fourth year of the program with a two-day symposium on nuclear safety, security, and safeguards May 18-19, 2014. The event concluded with a graduation ceremony for the year’s participants. NSSPI Deputy Director Dr. David Boyle, who was among the GNEII instructors, and Dr. Yassin Hassan, Texas A&M University Nuclear Engineering department head, attended the symposium and graduation ceremony on behalf of Texas A&M and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES). Other attendees and speakers at the event included Ambassador Michael H. Corbin, The United States of America Ambassador to the UAE, Ambassador Hamad Al Kaabi, permanent representative of the UAE to the IAEA, Dr. Tod Laursen, president of Khalifa University, and representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of State, and Sandia National Labs. GNEII is the result of a partnership between Khalifa University, Sandia National Laboratories, and Texas A&M University through NSSPI. It was designed to give future nuclear energy leaders the necessary knowledge to support them in future decision making processes by providing an enhanced understanding of the safety, safeguards and security aspects of nuclear energy, as well as, offering the international community a model for an educational institute that addresses the integrated 3S (safety, safeguards and security) methodology. This year’s GNEII fellows came from the Federal Authority of Nuclear Regulation (FANR), Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) and the Critical Infrastructure and Coastal Protection Authority (CICPA), all in the UAE. The instructors for the course were from Khalifa University, Texas A&M, Sandia National Laboratories and the World Institute for Nuclear Security. This year marked the beginning of a transition to GNEII as an autonomous, regionally-supported institution staffed entirely by Khalifa University. Whereas in the past the faculty coordinator was Dr. Michael Schuller of Texas A&M, this year the faculty coordinator role was taken over by Khalifa Assistant Professor Dr. Alexander Solodov. This move is an important first step toward a fully self-sufficient GNEII and the development of nuclear security expertise within the region. The success of the GNEII program has been recognized by the White House, and this year the American Nuclear Society will be devoting a special session to GNEII at its 2014 Winter Meeting in Anaheim, Calif. Participants in this session will include GNEII graduates, faculty, and organizers.

Marvin Adams

HTRI Professor of Nuclear Engineering Director, Institute of National Security Education and Research Ph.D., University of Michigan mladams@tamu.edu Computational transport theory, efficient algorithms for massively parallel scientific and engineering calculations, quantification of uncertainties in predictive science & engineering

Gamal Akabani Associate Professor Ph.D., Texas A&M University akabani@tamu.edu

Medical sciences, biomedical engineering, nuclear medicine imaging, nuclear oncology, radiation Monte Carlo transport, radiation oncology, radiotherapy physics, radiobiology, PK/PD and PBPK modeling, basic immunology, and radiopharmaceutical research

David Boyle

Deputy Director, Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology dboyle@tamu.edu Safety and efficiency of plutonium storage, disposition approaches

William Charlton

Nuclear nonproliferation and international security, reactor physics and fuel cycle analysis, reactor experimentation and nuclear data development

Sunil Chirayath

Visiting Assistant Professor Associate Director, Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute Ph.D., University of Madras, India sunilsc@tamu.edu Monte Carlo transport methods in reactor physics and radiation shielding, Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) core physics simulations, safeguards approaches and analysis for FBR fuel cycles

John Ford

Associate Professor ABET Coordinator Ph.D., University of Tennessee thasl@tamu.edu Response of intact tissues to ionizing radiation, microbeam utilization in determining how the response of individual cells in a tissue are modified by neighboring unirradiated cells

FACULTY

Associate Professor Director, Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute Ph.D., Texas A&M University wcharlton@tamu.edu

FACULTY

Stephen Guetersloh Assistant Professor Ph.D., Colorado State University guetersloh@tamu.edu

Space weather, experimental particle physics, effectiveness of composite materials as radiation shields, radiation transport modeling, accelerator shielding design

Yassin Hassan

Sallie and Don Davis â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;61 Professor Department Head Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign y-hassan@tamu.edu Computational and experimental thermal hydraulics, reactor safety, fluid mechanics, two-phase flow, turbulence and laser velocimetry, imaging techniques

Ernie Kee

Associate Professor of Practice B.S., The University of Idaho in Moscow erniekee@tamu.edu Applied probabilistic risk assessment and reliability engineering in commercial power reactor settings

Cable Kurwitz

Lecturer TEES Associate Research Engineer Ph.D., Texas A&M University kurwitz@tamu.edu Reduced gravity thermal management, modeling of high dimensional data, data classification, and model validation, nuclear power systems

Craig Marianno

Visiting Assistant Professor TEES Research Engineer Ph.D., Oregon State University marianno@tamu.edu Nuclear counter terrorism, nuclear instrumentation development, exercise development, radiological consequence management, environmental health physics

Ryan McClarren Assistant Professor Ph.D., University of Michigan rgm@tamu.edu

Uncertainty quantification, numerical methods for radiation transport, multiphysics simulation, high-performance computing

Sean McDeavitt

Associate Professor Interim Director, Nuclear Science Center Director, Fuel Cycle and Materials Laboratory Ph.D., Purdue University mcdeavitt@tamu.edu Nuclear materials science, nuclear fuel behavior and processing, materials processing in the nuclear fuel cycle, high temperature materials science

Warren â&#x20AC;&#x153;Peteâ&#x20AC;? Miller TEES Distinguished Research Professor Ph.D., Northwestern University wmiller@tamu.edu

Analysis of policy options for the storage and disposal of spent nuclear fuel, nuclear fuel recycle, breeding plutonium, elimination of transuranics

Jim Morel Professor and Associate Department Head Director, Center for Large-Scale Scientific Simulations Ph.D., University of New Mexico morel@tamu.edu Monte Carlo methods and hybrid deterministic/ Monte Carlo methods, discretization and solution techniques for multiphysics/multiscale calculations

Kenneth Peddicord

Professor Director, Nuclear Power Institute Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign k-peddicord@tamu.edu Behavior of nuclear fuels, reactor systems and design, fissile materials disposition, MOX fuels, generation IV nuclear power systems, nuclear generated hydrogen, hydrogen economy, nuclear workforce

John Poston

Professor Associate Director, Nuclear Power Institute Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology j-poston@tamu.edu

Jean Ragusa Associate Professor Associate Director, Institute for Scientific Computation Ph.D., Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble jean.ragusa@tamu.edu Numerical methods for multiphysics simulations, computational techniques for neutral particle and electron transport, nuclear fuel assembly and reactor design

Dan Reece

Professor Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology w-reece@tamu.edu

FACULTY

External and internal dosimetry

Radiation transport, assessment of effective dose equivalent, medical application of radioisotopes, dosimetry, uses for research reactors

Natela Ostrovskaya

Senior Lecturer Ph.D., Texas A&M University natela@tamu.edu

Mathematical and computer modeling of radiation response of human tissues, predicting changes occurring in tissues following radiation insult

FACULTY

Richard Schultz Professor of Practice Ph.D., Idaho State University rschultz@tamu.edu Design, scaling, specification, and conduct of thermal-hydraulic experiments, verification and validation of advanced thermal-hydraulic engineering numerical models

Lin Shao

Associate Professor Ph.D., University of Houston lshao@tamu.edu Materials science and nanotechnology, radiation effects in nuclear and electronic materials, ion beam analysis

Pavel Tsvetkov

Associate Professor Undergraduate Program Adviser Ph.D., Texas A&M University tsvetkov@tamu.edu System analysis and optimization methods, complex engineered systems, system design, symbiotic nuclear energy systems,waste minimization, sustainability, HTGRs & cogeneration systems, direct nuclear energy conversion systems

Galina Tsvetkova Lecturer Senior Research Associate Ph.D., Texas A&M University tsvetkovag@tamu.edu Reactor physics, small nuclear power and cogeneration applications, nuclear data management systems, isotope separations, molecular dynamics and separations phenomena

Karen Vierow

Associate Professor Graduate Program Adviser Ph.D., University of Tokyo vierow@tamu.edu Thermal hydraulics, multiphase flow, particularly condensation heat transfer, reactor safety, severe accident analysis, reactor design

Leslie Braby

Radiation dosimetry, microdosimetry, biological effects of radiation, microbeam lab, food irradiation

William Marlow Professor (retired) Ph.D., University of Texas w-marlow@tamu.edu

Physics of molecular clusters and small particle interactions (aerosols), applications in materials, radioactivity and disperse materials, environmental and health protection

Paul Nelson

Professor Emeritus TEES Research Engineer Ph.D., University of New Mexico p-nelson@tamu.edu Transport theory, computational methods, management of nuclear materials

Theodore (Ted) Parish Professor Emeritus Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin theodoreparish@cableone.net

Milton McClain

Professor Emeritus Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology mclain-2@hotmail.com Analysis of policy options for storage & disposal of used nuclear fuel, nuclear fuel recycling, breeding plutonium, elimination of transuranics

RETIRED FACULTY

Senior Lecturer (retired) TEES Research Professor Ph.D., Oregon State University labraby@tamu.edu

GRADUATE STUDENT THESES & DISSERTATIONS

FALL 2013, SPRING 2014, SUMMER 2014 Doctor of Philosophy

Student Name

Faculty Adviser

Dissertation Title

Damien Thomas Lebrun-Grandi

Dr. Jean Ragusa

Simulation of Thermo-Mechanical Contact Between Fuel Pellets and Cladding in UO2 Nuclear Fuel Rods

David Sweeney Jarrod Edwards Jessica Feener Megan Pritchard

Dr. William Charlton Nuclear Weapons Latency The Best of Both Worlds: A Sophisticated, Second-Order Accurate Dr. Jim Morel Method for Solving Radiation-Hydrodynamics Dr. William Charlton Fluorescence Imaging for Nuclear Arms Control Verification Dr. Pavel Tsvetkov

Rodolfo Vaghetto Dr. Yassin Hassan

Methodology and Validation of Decommissioning Approach for Low and Intermediate Levels Fissile Nuclide Contaminated Buried Soils and Process Piping with a LABR3 Detector Experimental and Computational Study of a Scaled Reactor Cavity Cooling System

Yunhuang Zhang

Drs. Jim Morel and Jean Ragusa

SPN Model Error and Iterative Solution Techniques

Zachry Kulage

Dr. William Charlton

Encrypted Nanoparticles for Security, Counterindustrial Espionage, and Counterfeiting

Master of Science-Health Physics Student Name

Faculty Adviser

Thesis Title

Alice Dale

Dr. Stephen Guetersloh

An Investigation of Preservation Techniques for Creating a Full Compartment Phantom

Merinda Volia

Dr. Craig Marianno

Micheal Smith

Dr. Craig Marianno

Trevor Lancon

Dr. John Poston

Implementation of Integrated Planning Concept to Strengthen Indonesian Radiation Emergency Response Capabilities Analysis of Radionuclide Deposition Ratios from the FukushimaDaiichi Incident The Role of Neutron Activation Analysis in the Pathological Evaluation of Silver-Eluting Biomedical Devices in Biological Matrices

Master of Science-Nuclear Engineering Student Name

Faculty Adviser

Andrew Till

Drs. Marvin Adams A Generalized Multigroup Method and Jim Morel

Benjamin Larsen Dr. Karen Vierow Chad Garcia Dean Mathis Ethan Windsor Jacob Peterson

Thesis Title

Statistical Analysis of Microgravity Two-Phase Slug Flow Via the Drift Flux Model

Sintering and Thermal Behavior of Uranium Dioxide in Beryllium Oxide Matrix Evaluation of Design Options for Ultra-Compact Nuclear Driven Dr. Pavel Tsvetkov Power Sources for Field Applications The Implementation of Photon Polarization into the Mercury Dr. Marvin Adams Transport Code Drs. Jim Morel and Exponentially-Convergent Monte Carlo for the One-Dimensional Jean Ragusa Transport Equation Dr. Sean McDeavitt

Jeffrey Clemens

Dr. Sean McDeavitt

Radiochemical Transformation of High Pressure Methane Under Gamma, Electron, and Neutron Irradiation

Jeremy Osborn

Dr. Sunil Chirayath

Trace Fission Product Ratios for Nuclear Forensics Attribution of Weapons-Grade Plutonium from Fast Breeder Reactor Blankets

Jon Hansen

Dr. Jim Morel

A Least-Squares Transport Equation Compatible with Voids

Kristina Yancey

Dr. Pavel Tsvetkov

Nationwide Used Fuel Inventory Analysis

Nischal Kafle

Dr. Paul Nelson

Statewise Correlates of Civil Nuclear Energy

Paul Ward

Dr. Yassin Hassan

Direct Numerical Simulation of the Flow in a Pebble Bed

Suhaeb Abdulsattar

Dr. Yassin Hassan

Head Loss Through Fibrous Debris Bed with Different Types of Perforated Strainers

Taylor Coles

Dr. Sunil Chirayath

Computational Nuclear Forensics Analysis of Weapons-Grade Plutonium from Fuel Irradiated in a Thermal Reactor

Weixiong Zheng Dr. Ryan McClarren

Physics-Based Uncertainty Quantification for ZRHX Thermal Scattering Law

Master of Engineering Student Name

Faculty Adviser

Research Title

Abdulla Al Kathiri

Dr. Pavel Tsvetkov

Overview of the Nuclear Waste Management in the UAE

Abdulla Al Nuaimi

Dr. Lin Shao

Radiation Damage in Stainless Steels

Jinyong Feng

Dr. Lin Shao

Hydride Formation and Delayed Hydride Cracking in Zircaloy

DISTINGUISHED FORMER STUDENTS Rafael Flores ‘79, Distinguished Former Student Award Rafael Flores is senior vice president and chief nuclear officer at Luminant’s Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, or CPNPP. Luminant is a competitive power generation subsidiary of Energy Future Holdings Corp. Luminant’s activities include plant, mine, wholesale marketing and trading, and development operations. A Texas A&M University graduate, Flores represents Luminant on many nuclear industry committees and working groups, including the Texas A&M Advisory Council for Texas A&M University’s nuclear engineering program. He has attended numerous executive programs, including the Wharton executive program, Harvard Business School executive leadership course and the Nuclear Energy Institute senior executive program. In addition, he has held Nuclear Regulatory Commission senior and reactor operator licenses at two nuclear stations. He is a member of the American Nuclear Society and has served as a mentor for senior nuclear leaders in various leadership courses at INPO. He has also served as an industry advisor during INPO evaluations of other nuclear facilities. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus. Flores and his wife reside in Granbury, Texas, and have three children, one daughter-in-law and three grandchildren.

Ronald Stinson ‘53, Distinguished Former Student Award Ron Stinson graduated from Texas A&M in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in range management (AG). Very shortly thereafter he went to Ft. Sill, Okla., where he was assigned to a 280 Atomic Cannon battery. He was then transferred to an Honest John Nuclear Rocket in Germany. In 1957, he left the army and returned to Texas A&M. While in the army, he was introduced to basic nuclear training, and thus ended up working part time for Dr. John Randal at the AGN-201 reactor lab. In 1961, he received a master’s in nuclear engineering. He and Jack Walker, who recieved his Ph.D., were the department’s first two graduates. Stinson was hired by General Electric and worked until 1964 at various management positions on the eight plutonium production reactors. Simultaneously, he took courses at GE that allowed him to earn the equivalent of an MBA. In 1964, he transferred to Vallecitos Nuclear Laboratory with GE. There Stinson was manager of Nuclear Safety Interfacing with the Atomic Energy Commission, overseeing a nuclear safety staff. He was made project engineer for four nuclear plants sold to Commonwealth Edison Company in Chicago in 1967. In 1970, Stinson was hired to oversee design, construction and staffing of Rancho Seco nuclear plant for Sacramento Utility District. In 1973, he went to work for General Atomics, which was owned by Gulf Oil and Royal Dutch Shell. They had sold eight High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactors to the utilities. In 1976, they decided to get out of the nuclear business and cancel all of their contracts. When this happened, Stinson and some colleagues went into the consulting business. They formed the Management Analysis Company (MAC). By 1987, they had over 450 professionals, and sold MAC to the employees, at which point they had multiple contracts in the United States, along with Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Spain, Switzerland, and Italy. Stinson had been active in the American Nuclear Society and was elected president in 1987. Bert Wolf was his predecessor, and the two ended up having a dinner meeting with Li Peng (Premier of China at that time) arguing against coal plants at the first Pacific Basin Conference in China. When the Chernoble accident occurred in April, he was invited to Russia so that its senior scientists could explain the cause and remedial plans. In 1989, he formed a small consulting business called Atlas Consulting Group, made up of senior retired people from MAC. The Stinson Scholar program was initiated in 1999, at which time he was part of the creation of the Nuclear Engineering External Advisory Council.

DISTINGUISHED FORMER STUDENTS Gerald “Tim” Powell ‘81, Distinguished Former Student Award Tim Powell is the site vice president for STP Nuclear Operating Company. In this role, he is responsible for the overall safe and reliable operation and maintenance of Units 1 and 2. In his more than 23 years with the company, Powell has advanced through positions of increasing responsibility including vice president, technical support and oversight, vice president of engineering, site engineering director, systems engineering manager, performance improvement manager, radiation protection manager and shift supervisor operations. Powell is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering and a master’s in business administration. Additionally, he holds a Senior Reactor Operator certification and a Shift Technical Advisor Certification. Powell is a graduate of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations’ Senior Nuclear Plant Manager course and the Senior Nuclear Executive Seminar.

James Peery ‘84, Early Achievment Award Dr. James Peery is the Director of the Information Systems Analysis Center, at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. From 2007 to March 2010, Peery was the director of the Computation, Computers, Information and Mathematics (CCIM) Center. CCIM is the foundation of SNL’s research and development activities in high performance computing. During this period, Peery was the program director of the NNSA’s Advanced Simulation and Computing Program at SNL. Prior to returning to Sandia, Peery worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) from 2002 to 2007 in the positions of Hydrodynamic Experiments Division Leader, Principal Deputy Associate Director of the LANL’s $1.2B Nuclear Weapons program and Program Director of the NNSA’s Advanced Simulation and Computing Program. During his career, Peery has been responsible for the development of state-ofthe-art, massively parallel computational tools in the fields of high energy density physics, shock physics, transient dynamics, quasistatics, nonlinear implicit dynamics, and structural dynamics. James’ major research areas are in Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) algorithms and parallel algorithms where he has published more than 50 papers. As part of the SALINAS team, Peery was awarded the 2002 Gordon Bell Award and NNSA Award for Excellence. He earned his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University and joined Sandia National Laboratories as a Member of the Technical Staff in 1990.

Michaele “Mikey” Brady-Raap ‘81 Early Acheivment Award Brady-Rapp earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University. She was appointed a member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Criticality Safety Support Group (CSSG) for her exceptional experience and knowledge, which includes 25 years of related experience. She has provided technical and operational support of the criticality safety and nuclear engineering needs for NNSA and DOE related to waste tank storage and the transportation, storage, and disposal of commercial spent nuclear fuel. Brady-Raap has been an invited lecturer and consultant for International Atomic Energy Agency meetings and training courses. She is also a member of several Nuclear Energy Agency organizations, including serving as chair of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety and chair of the Expert Group on Burnup Credit Criticality. She is an active participant in the American Nuclear Society’s Nuclear Criticality Safety Division, serving on its executive committee and as chair from 2002 to 2003. There she received the division’s Distinguished Service Award, recognizing her “outstanding leadership in the division governance, international studies, and division conferences.”

MARTINEZ '50 ENDOWS THE BETTY MARTINEZ EXCELLENCE FUND FOR NUCLEAR ENGINEERING Ramiro "Ram" Martinez '50 has signed an endowment agreement for the Betty Martinez Excellence Fund for Nuclear Engineering. This endowment funds scholarships benefiting students of the Department of Nuclear Engineering. "I always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, and so I am fortunate. I wanted to do something to help the university," said Martinez. "I attribute my success in the industry to [my wife] Betty. She supported me in all of my work activities, which often called for long hours," he said regarding his choice of the endowment's name. Originally from Laredo, Texas, Martinez graduated from Texas A&M in 1951 with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. He served nearly five years in the U.S. Air Force, with extensive time as a navigator and bombardier. Following that, he spent 30 years with the Rockwell Corporation, 18 of which were focused on the design and development of rocket engines. The most notable of the engines he worked on were the Thor Missile, and the Saturn V-1 Missile. The latter launched the 3-man vehicle that went into orbit for the first time. He developed and put into production the lunar ascent engine that successfully lifted the module off of the moon surface six times, rocket engines for expeditions to Mars, oxygen and hydrogen combiners for nuclear power plants, and steam generators using liquid sodium for the Clinch River Program. Finally, after retiring from his career, Ram and Betty moved back to College Station. Upon returning, Martinez found himself living next to to Dr. Yassin Hassan, who is now the head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering. They developed a solid friendship, and Hassan recruited Martinez to the department, where he helped develop the fluid dynamics laboratory and completed his master's degree in 1994. Martinez is very involved with the department, and attends as many functions as he is able.

MAKE AN IMPACT, LEAVE A LEGACY Education is a gift that keeps giving throughout one’s life, long after college is over. The Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University has graduated more nuclear engineers since the early 1960s than any other school in the country. More important than just the number of graduates is the quality of those graduates. We go above and beyond to recognize the potential in students, and provide them with an education to be proud of. We continuously strive to inspire our students, faculty, and staff to be the best that they can be. We stand by our vision: to develop and maintain a nationally and internationally recognized program that promotes a passion for understanding and applying the knowledge of nuclear science and engineering to support the nation’s alternative energy, national security and healthcare missions. Our program is constantly evolving, and is focused on developing and strengthening every facet required to raise student achievement in and out of college. We aspire to be better, to improve year by year, and for that we require your support. The search for the best students is tougher than ever. As we continue our tradition of producing the high-quality nuclear engineers the industry needs, a key factor is the ability to attract the most academically capable students. Some of the best and brightest high school students cannot afford today’s tuition, and scholarships open a world of possibilities to them. For others, a scholarship frees them from student jobs, giving them more time to follow their intellectual curiosity or to participate in Texas A&M’s character-building, student-led organizations. There are many opportunities available for empowering the students of the department. Scholarships drive the spirit and guide the minds of generations of Aggies, so they can affect the world in productive and inventive ways. When you fund a scholarship, you’re making a profound difference for individual students and for the lives those students touch as graduates of Texas A&M. Contact Reagan Chessher, Director of Development, to make a difference in a student’s life. office: 979.862.1936, cell: 979.324.7404, email: rchessher@tamu.edu

Cultivating Researching Promoting

The Department of Nuclear Engineering 253 Bizzell Hall West 3133 TAMU College Station, TX 77843-3133 979.845.4161 engineering.tamu.edu/nuclear