* At the graduate level, courses are also available from other areas and departments that may help solidify chosen technical areas of MS and PhD research work.
ME 388C Nuclear Power Engineering
Fundamental principles of the design and analysis of nuclear systems; introduction to the physics of nuclear reactions, chain reactions, and nuclear energy generation; heat generation and conduction within nuclear systems; heat transfer and fluid flow in nuclear systems; the thermodynamics of nuclear power; the nuclear fuel cycle; and issues related to the materials aspect of reactor engineering. Prerequisites: Graduate standing.
ME 388D Nuclear Reactor Theory I
Principle concepts in the physics of nuclear systems; radiation, radioactive decay, and the buildup and depletion of isotopes in nuclear systems; neutron-nucleus interactions and nuclear cross sections; transport or radiation using one-group and two-group diffusion theory; concepts of criticality and time-dependent reactors. Prerequisites: Graduate standing
ME 388F Computational Methods in Radiation Transport
Transport equation, Monte Carlo method, energy and time discretization, discrete ordinates, integral methods, even-parity methods. Prerequisites: Graduate standing
ME 388G Nuclear Radiation Shielding
Radiation fields/sources; techniques in neutron and photon attenuation: transport description of radiation penetration. Radiation fields/sources; techniques in neutron and photon attenuation: transport description of radiation penetration
ME 388H Nuclear Safety and Security
Evaluation of proliferation risk of the facilities within the nuclear fuel cycle. Methods are developed and utilized to calculate the criticality conditions for a nuclear assembly. Parent/daughter decay equations are developed and utilized. Forensics evaluations are conducted for different nuclear sources. Prerequisites: Graduate standing.
ME 388J Neutron Interactions and Their Applications in Nuclear Science and Engineering
The fundamental principles of neutron interactions with matter and how these interactions are used in a variety of science and engineering research areas. Includes the history of neutron research, fundamental principles, dosimetry, depth profile, radiography, activation analysis, detection, homeland security, and scattering, with a significant emphasis placed on experimental design of these neutron techniques. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
ME 388N Design of Nuclear Systems I
Integration of fluid mechanics, heat transfer, thermomechanics, and thermodynamics with reactor theory for core design. Prerequisites: Graduate standing..
ME 389C Nuclear Environmental Protection
Course is designed to provide fundamental understanding of ionizing radiation and its interactions with matter and living tissues, radioactivity decay kinetics, external and internal dose measurement, transportation, the environment, managing radioactive waste streams, and safeguards. Prerequisites: Graduate Standing.
ME 390E Nuclear Security System Design
Explore the science and engineering associated with the design, evaluation, and implementation of systems to secure nuclear and radiological materials. Examine methods for planning and evaluating nuclear security activities at the state and facility level. Study the characterization of the adversary, categorization of targets and the consequences associated with failure to protect those targets, detection and delay technologies, on-site and off-site response as well as different response strategies, evaluation of insider threats, mathematical methods for evaluating risk due to the threat and the security system design, and methods for risk minimization and system optimization will also be studied. Prerequisites: Graduate Standing.
ME 389F The Nuclear Fuel Cycle
A survey of the nuclear fuel cycle, including resource acquisition, fuel enrichment and fabrication, spent fuel reprocessing and repository disposal. Nuclear fuel management and reactor physics are addressed in the context of fuel burn-up calculations. Uses cross-disciplinary tools such as cost-benefit and environmental impact analyses. Includes fuel cycles currently in use, advanced fuel cycle concepts currently being presented in the technical literature, and a group project designed to research, analyze, and document the technical, economic, and/or environmental ramifications of one of these advanced fuel cycles. Prerequisites: Graduate standing.
ME 390F Nuclear Analysis Techniques
Thermal and fast neutron activation, scintillation and solid-state detectors, beta and gamma spectrometry, coincidence techniques. Two lecture hours and one three-hour laboratory a week for one semester. Prerequisites: Graduate standing.
ME 390G Nuclear Engineering Laboratory
Experiments using the TRIGA reactor and a subcritical assembly; measurement of reactor characteristics and operational parameters. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
ME 390N Health Physics Laboratory
An introduction to the application of radiation and radiation protection instrumentation. One hour lecture per week and one three-hour laboratory. Lecture and laboratory topics include personnel monitoring; radiation detection systems; gamma-ray spectroscopy; determination of environmental radiation; counting statistics; gamma and neutron shielding. One lecture hour and three laboratory hours a week.
ME 390T Nuclear and Radiochemistry
An introduction to the theory and applications of nuclear and radiochemistry. One lecture per week and one three-hour laboratory. Lecture and laboratory topics include alpha, beta, and gamma ray processes; fission products; statistics; solvent extraction; absorption and leaching techniques; and various counting methods. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
ME 390V Advanced Nuclear Engineering
Study radioactivity, fission reactors, nuclear power systems, nuclear power safety, and nuclear interactions: fission and fusion.
ME 390W Proposal Writing
Learn to write a full proposal on current research in any engineering discipline.
ME 397 Radiological Imaging and Instrumentation
Overview of the field of modern radiological imaging techniques and instrumentation in three segments: 1) physical and mathematical foundations: interaction of ionizing radiation with matter, image theory fundamentals and measures of image quality applied to radiological imaging, tomographic image reconstruction techniques (analytical and iterative). 2) transmission imaging: x-ray projection radiography, computed tomography, fluoroscopy, including image formation, radiographic image receptors and instrumentation, imaging performance. 3) emission imaging: gamma camera, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography (PET. review and presentation of advanced radiological imaging techniques (x-ray fluorescence tomography, x-ray phase-contrast imaging, diffraction-enhanced x-ray imaging, tomosynthesis, etc...). Prerequisite: For engineering and physics majors, senior and graduate standing.
ME 397 Radiation Therapy Physics and Dosimetry
Overview of the field of radiation therapy in three segments: 1) fundamental principles of radiation dosimetry: radiometric and dosimetric quantities and units, interaction coefficients, radiation dosimeters and properties, cavity theory; 2) external beam radiotherapy: physical principles for photon and electron beams, treatment machines, treatment planning and dosimetric functions, acceptance tests, commissioning measurements and quality assurance; 3) internal radiation therapy (brachytherapy): physical and clinical aspects. review and presentation of advanced radiotherapy procedures (cyber-knife, gamma-knife, intraoperative radiotherapy, stereotactic irradiation, etc...). Prerequisite: For engineering and science majors, senior and graduate standing.
MS Thesis Course Requirements
ME 397M Graduate Research Internship
This course is intended to be taken while the student is involved in an internship program.
ME 398R Masters Report
This course must be taken during the last semester of study of those MS students submitting a report instead of a thesis.
ME 698A Thesis Literature Review
This course must be taken in the semester before graduation.
ME 698B Thesis Writing
This course must be taken during the last semester of study.
PhD Dissertation Course Requirements
ME 399W, ME699W Dissertation
At least 6 hours of ME 399W or ME 699W must be taken during the writing portion the PhD student’s dissertation. The student must register for at least ME 399W or ME 699W in the semester of graduating.
