EnviroKlean Product Development, Inc. Donation

Graham George, President and CEO of the Houston company EnviroKlean Product Development, Inc., presented a gift of $25,000 check to Dr. Sheldon Landsberger for the Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab.  EPDI does environmental cleanup of radioactive wastes from the oil and gas sector in Midland. NETL has been involved in helping EPDI in analyzing the radioactive waste products to conform to US EPA regulations. For more on this story: EnviroKlean Donation

Harry Lindner Wins Prize at ANS Student Conference

Harry Lindner won "Most Innovative" for "What's the Big Idea? Pitch Contest" at the American Student Society Student Conference, April 4-6, in Boston, Mass. The theme of this year's ANS Student Conference was "The Public Image of the Nuclear Engineer". A part of the event was the opportunity to design one picture that enhances the image of the modern nuclear engineer. A complete description of the event is shown at the following link: ANS Pitch Contest 

Christopher Lu Takes Position at Los Alamos National Lab

 Christopher is currently a Post-Masters Graduate Research Assistant at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He is on the Criticality Safety team in NEN-2, Advanced Nuclear Technology. His current work is adjusting the critical mass fraction estimate for k_eff to more accurately estimate reactivity in the critical assemblies at the Device Assembly Facility at the Nevada National Security Site.

Nuclear Security Workshop Held

A Nuclear Security Workshop was held for six Moroccan Professors at the Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab on February 8 and 11, 2013. This event was sponsored by Partnership of Nuclear Security (PNS) and CRDF Global.

Bonnie Canion Awarded Three Year Nuclear Forensics Fellowship

Bonnie Canion has been awarded a three year Nuclear Forensics Fellowship and will be continuing her PhD research at Oak Ridge National Lab. Bonnie is working on nuclear forensics research with the Nuclear Materials Detection and Characterization group at Oak Ridge National Lab.

Roger Kapsimalis Awarded Roy G. Post Foundation Scholarship

Roger Kapsimalis, PhD student in the Nuclear & Radiation Engineering Program, has received a $5000 Roy G. Post Foundation Scholarship. This award is dedicated to education for the safe management of nuclear materials. It was given to Roger based on the nuclear forensics research he is currenly doing at Oak Ridge National Lab in the rapid determination of uranium and plutonium using delayed neutron counting and for his previous work at the Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab for uranium determination in various environmental and geological matrices using passive gamma-ray spectroscopy and neutron activation analysis. The award includes an all expense trip to theWaste Management Conference in Phoenix, AZ to accept the prize. Dr. Landsberger is his PhD supervisor.

Prof. Landsberger Promotes Nuclear Security in Moroccan Universities

Jack Thompson Receives Three Year Fellowship from the DOE Nuclear Engineering University Program

Jack Thompson was awarded a three year Nuclear Engineering University Program (NEUP) fellowship from the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy. His research in the University of Texas’ Nuclear Robotics Group within Mechanical Engineering currently focuses on human-robot interaction in nuclear materials handling. He is developing natural user interface technology in order to advance the deployment of a new generation of advanced telemanipulation systems.

Alex Fay Receives the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Graduate Fellowship

Alex Fay has received the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Graduate Fellowship to spend one year in Washington DC beginning May 2013.  Through the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA's) NNSA Graduate Program (NGP), Fellows work on programs designed to counter nuclear proliferation and maintain nuclear security. (http://ngp.pnnl.gov/)

Christine Egnatuk Takes Position at Lawrence Livermore National Lab

Christine Egnatuk (PhD 2012) has taken a position as a  post-doctoral researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Lab in the Chemical Sciences Division/Safeguards, Nonproliferation and Response Group.

Dr. Sheldon Landsberger Receives Recognition

Dr. Landsberger was recognized with a plaque from the Senior Design Project for mentoring undergraduate students (pictured L to R) Elan Herrera, Chris Hoffman, Sam Woelke and James Tonthat on their project on Automatic Petri Dish Sample Changer for a Compton Suppressed HP-Ge Detector. This work was supported by the Department of Energy Nuclear Engineering University Program (NEUP) instrumentation grant for the Implementation of a Low-Level Gamma-Ray Counting Facility. Once constructed and implemented, the automatic sample changer will be integrated into a new detector and will allow multiple samples for naturally occurring radioactive materials counting to be automatically processed, saving a lot of time. This facility will be used in conjunction with our on-going collaboration with Enviroklean Product Development Inc. (www.epdi.biz) in the determination of elevated radioactive constituents in the waste products from the oil and gas exploration in west Texas. Other projects will include determination of Cs-137 in soil samples for contamination and erosion studies, and geochemical vertical distribution of natural radioactivity in soil.

NETL Undergrad Research Assistants Accepted to Nuclear Programs

We are pleased to announce that four Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab undergraduate research assistants (from L to R) Raul Palomares, Gleb Kuzmin, Elan Herrera and Nick Mohammed, have been accepted to nationally ranked Nuclear Engineering graduate programs. Raul, from the Radiation Physics Technical Option in the Physics Department, has been accepted to the University Tennessee at Knoxvillle. Gleb and Nick, also from the Radiation Physics Technical Option, are both attending Texas A&M University. Elan Herrera, from the Nuclear and Radiation Engineering Certificate Program in the Mechanical Engineering Department, is also attending University Tennessee at Knoxvillle.

Donald Millsap Accepts Position at KAPL

Donald Millsap, who received his MS in December, 2012, has accepted an offer to work as a nuclear power engineer at the Knoll Atomic Power Laboratory (KAPL) at the Kesselring site in West Milton, New York.  The work involves maintaining and running the reactor facility onsite as well as contributing to the training mission of the US Nuclear Navy. Don will join other current distance learning students from KAPL in Albany, New York  and Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania in helping maintain the nation's Nuclear Navy program.

Steven Horne Accepts Position at Sandia National Lab

Steven Horne has accepted a staff position at Sandia National Lab in the Contraband Detection Group. He will be working alongside Greg Thoreson, a recent PhD student (summer 2011) of Dr. Erich Schneider. His work will include applications of gamma-ray spectroscopy to a variety of nuclear security initiatives. Steven is expected to earn his PhD in May, having been on a DHS Nuclear Forensics Fellowship for the past several years.  Our PhD and MS students continue to get excellent job opportunities at the national labs and it is very gratifying to see them at LANL, SNL, ORNL, LLNL, PNNL, KAPL as well as the NRC.

Elan Herrera completes McNair Scholars Program

Elan Herrera, an ME senior graduate student, has successfully completed his Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program. The McNair Scholars Program is a federally funded program (one of the TRIO Programs funded by the Department of Education) mandated by Congress. The goal of the program is to increase the number of students in doctoral degree programs who are low-income and first-generation undergraduates or students who come from groups underrepresented in graduate education, particularly African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Natives. As part of the program students are required to do independent research with a faculty member in any department at the University of Texas and also to enroll in classes to improve their GRE scores. Elan’s mentor was Dr. Landsberger who oversaw  his lengthy research paper on A Feasibility Analysis of Small Modular Reactors as a Future Energy Supplement to the Commercial Nuclear Power Sector. Elan has been accepted to the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville where he will do research in nuclear materials. In April, Elan also received his Nuclear Regulatory Commission reactor license after undergoing extensive training at the Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab.

Dr. Dodoo-Amoo Establishes Scholarship

Dr. David Dodoo-Amoo, 2002 Nuclear and Radiation Engineering alumnus, has graciously set up an annual $1000 scholarship. The recipient of the scholarship will be an undergraduate student in the NRE program in Mechanical Engineering or in the Radiation Physics Option from the Physics Department who is taking nuclear engineering courses within ME. Originally from Ghana, David is a Senior Medical Physicist at the Dallas office of West Physics Consulting, LLC. He received his PhD in research funded by Los Alamos National Lab - "Development of Composite Materials or Non-Leaded Gloves for Use in Radiological Hand Protection". David also is a member of the Diagnostic, American Board of Radiology.  Read more at Dr. Dodoo-Amoo establishes scholarship.

James Kendrick Accepted to Undergrad Fellows Program

James Kendrick, an undergraduate in the Mechanical Engineering Department and in the Nuclear and Radiation Engineering Program, has been offered a summer position as Research Fellow with Penn State’s Toshiba-Westinghouse Undergraduate Fellows Program. As a Research Fellow, he will have an outstanding opportunity to gain valuable research experience in the nuclear field at Penn State, participate in professional development opportunities, and network with high-level Toshiba-Westinghouse executives.

Treanor & Kuzmin Present at ANS Student Conference

Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab undergraduate research assistants Sierra Treanor from Austin Community College and Gleb Kuzmin from the University of Texas Physics Department gave presentations at the American Nuclear Society Student conference held at MIT from April 4-6. Sierra’s presentation was on Neutron Activation Analysis as a Preferred Method for Determining Uranium and Thorium Concentrations in Soil.  Gleb’s presentation was on Minimizing Sample Sizes while Achieving Accurate Elemental Concentrations in Neutron Activation Analysis of Precious Pottery.  This conference venue is an excellent opportunity for students to present their research among their peers from other universities.

Richard Harrison Takes Position at Sandia National Lab.

Richard Harrison ( MS 2007, PhD 2012) has taken a post-doctoral position in the nuclear forensics group at Sandia National Lab. Richard received his MS in the Nuclear and Radiation Engineering Program in prompt gamma activation analysis and then a PhD in the Thermal Fluids Systems group working with lasers.

Exec. Director of Economic Affairs, UAE, Presents Seminar

On February 15, David Scott, Executive Director of Economic Affairs for the Executive Affairs Authority of Abu Dhabi, presented a seminar entitled "New Nuclear: The United Arab Emirates Experience" for NRE program participants and other interested parties.  Mr. Scott leads an interdisciplinary team of analysts charged with conducting targeted research and providing strategic economic policy advice to the Chairman of Abu Dhabi's Executive Council.  He has worked extensively in the Middle East and brings a unique policy perspective based upon his combined government and private sector work experience.  Mr. Scott is a graduate of Brigham Young University and former graduate fellow with the Center for Arabic Studies Abroad at the American University of Cairo as well as a former U.S. Foreign Service Officer and veteran of the U.S. Army.

Students Present Work at ACS Conference

Steven Horne (l) , Roger Kapsimalis (m) and Bonnie Canion (r) presented their work in nuclear forensics at the April American Chemical Society Conference in New Orleans. A three-day session in the Nuclear Chemistry and Technology Division was devoted to Analytical and Chemistry Solutions to Nuclear Forensics Problems. Steve presented his work on the Determination of Isotopic Ratios or Uranium Samples using Passive Gamma Spectroscopy with Multiple Detectors. Roger Kapsimalis gave a presentation on Simultaneous Quantification of Fissile U and Pu using Delayed Neutron Activation Analysis. This research is currently being done at Oak Ridge National Lab. Bonnie made a presentation on Problems on Unaccounted Nuclear Material in Processing Materials: Detecting Nuclear Material based on her 2012 summer internship work at Sandia National Lab. There were many presentations in morning and afternoon sessions covering mass spectrometry, separation chemistry, chemical speciation, analytical tools and modeling. These sessions provided Bonnie, Roger and Steve a real overview of the nuclear forensics community in the various areas currently being funded.