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Skip Navigation LinksInnovations in Nuclear 2022 Winners

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2022 Awardees

Open Competition


​Advanced Fuels

Alejandro Figueroa

First Place
Purdue University
An Iterative Estimation Approach to Simultaneously
De-Curtain and De-Noise FIB Damaged Nuclear
Fuel Microstructures

Neal Gaffin

Second Place
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Consolidation Behavior of Mo30W Alloy Using
Spark Plasma Sintering​​

 


​Advanced Reactor Systems

Matthew Krecicki

First Place
Georgia Institute of Technology
Thermal Hydraulic Modeling of Solid Fueled Nuclear
Thermal Propulsion Reactors Part I: Development
and Verification

Timothy Kiefer

Second Place
North Carolina State University
Control Rod Modeling in Liquid Metal-Cooled
Fast Reactors​

 


​Energy Policy

Hannah Patenaude

First Place
University of Nevada at Las Vegas
Topical Analysis of Nuclear Experts' Perceptions of
Publics, Nuclear Energy, and Sustainable Futures

Megan Harkema

Second Place
Vanderbilt University
The Dynamic Nature of Risk in DOE Facilities in the
Surveillance and Maintenance Program- with Observations
 for Risk Communications​

 

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​Material Protection, Control, and Accountancy

Nathan Giha

First Place
University of Michigan
Organic Glass Scintillator Bars with Dual-Ended Readout

Emily Kwapis

Second Place
University of Florida
Tracking of Individual TRISO-fueled Pebbles through
the Application of X-ray Imagining and Depp Metric Learning​

 


​Material Recovery and Waste Form Development

Sylvia Hanna

First Place
Northwestern University
Discovery of Spontaneous De-Interpenetration
through Charged Point-Point Repulsions

Bethany Kersten

Second Place
Case Western Reserve University
The Future of Nuclear Energy: Electrochemical
Reprocessing of Fuel Takes Center Stage​

 

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​Nuclear Science and Engineering

Julia Knapp

First Place
Northwestern University
Electron Transitions in a Ce(III)- Catecholate
 Metal-Organic Framework

Peter Kowal

Second Place
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
A Programmatic Metamodel-Driven Modeling
Paradigm for MCNP​
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Competition for Students Who Attend Universities with Less Than $600 Million in 2020 Science and Engineering R&D Expenditures

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Tanner Hall
University of Utah
Computational and Experimental Optimization of 

135Xe Production in Calibration Sources
 

Bryant Kanies
North Carolina State University
Thermoluminescence and Optically Stimulated 

Luminescence Response of AI2O3  Coatings Deposited 
by Mist-Chemical Vapor Deposition​

 

Tyler Williams
Brigham Young University
Review- Concentration Measurements in Molten 

Chloride Salts Using Electrochemical Methods​

 

Harry Jang
University of Nevada at Las Vegas
Synthetic Diversity in the Preparation of Metallic Uranium

 

Alexandre Solomon
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Transformations to Amorphous and X-Type Phases in 
Swift Heavy Ion-Irradiated Ln2O3 and Mn2O3​

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Undergraduate Competition

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Loris Jautakas
University of Michigan
Comparison of Different Simple Circuit Designs for a 
Raspberry Pi Based and Cell Phone Controlled Geiger-
Mueller Radiation Detection System​

 

Andrew Kent
University of Michigan
Data Security Considerations for Networked and
Remote Stations in a Radiation and Weather 
Monitoring System​

 

Aiden Sable
University of Michigan
Realistic Implementation of Radiation Physics for a 
Virtual Reality Game Programmed in Unity for an Oculus Quest​

 

Thomas Kennings
University of Michigan
Radon-222 Charcoal Canister Steady State Model 
Calibrations Performed in a Highly Controlled Environmental
Chamber and a Natural Indoor Environment

 

Caleb King
Virginia Commonwealth University
The Benefits of Chromium-Coated Zircaloy as Accident
Tolerant Nuclear Fuel Cladding:  An Overview​