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MIT NSE: Spotlights 2015

	Carolena Ruprecht: On board with nuclear engineering for the Navy Few undergraduates have pinned down their post-graduation plans as precisely as Carolena Ruprecht. Just after commencement on June 3, 2016, Ruprecht will attend a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) commissioning ceremony, and then be whisked off to her commission as a surface warfare officer, destined to serve on an aircraft carrier. ... more
	Jacopo Buongiorno: Bringing Outside Knowledge to the Nuclear Industry There’s a paradox facing today’s nuclear power industry. On one hand, an exciting range of new fission and fusion reactor technologies has spawned a number of startups. But at the same time, market dynamics have conspired against the uptake of enabling technologies developed in other fields that could bring new options and benefits to the nuclear sector. ... more
	Aditi Verma: A multidisciplinary take on nuclear policy A doctoral student in nuclear science and engineering, Verma has spent her academic career acquiring the expertise in science, engineering and the social sciences required to make sense of complex policy questions that arise around nuclear energy. ... more
	Thomas J. McKrell: A passion for learning in the lab By his own account, Thomas J. McKrell chose “a course in life as an experimentalist.” A research scientist in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE) since 2006, McKrell designs, builds, and supervises laboratory projects, and readies students for careers in research. ... more
	Ruaridh Macdonald: Engineering nuclear security NSE graduate student Ruaridh Macdonald is involved in a project called Zero Knowledge Warhead Verification, developing a tool to identify nuclear weapons without divulging too much. ... more
	Ju Li: Atomic Insights What actually happens to arrangements of atoms as materials perform — and fail — in the real world? With the help of an add-on device he designed for a powerful microscope, Ju Li has created a window into a world where things are inconceivably small and change inconceivably fast. ... more
	Kuang, Creely already contributing to fusion’s advancement This summer, nuclear fusion researchers at MIT and Germany’s Max Planck Institute will learn more about what’s going on inside their reactors, thanks in part to the accomplishments of two first-year Nuclear Science and Engineering doctoral students. ... more
	Coding for cooling: Benjamin Magolan helps model improved coolant flow After tinkering for months with thousands of lines of computer code, Benjamin L. Magolan believes he is finally getting somewhere: “I’ve had a breakthrough with my implementation and now everything is coming together,” he says. “I’m capturing the appropriate turbulence trends in my model.” ... more
	NSE senior Sterling Harper tackles nuclear energy risk with virtual simulation tools Several years ago, as an incoming freshman, current MIT senior Sterling Harper had no inkling that he’d find his passion in writing nuclear engineering software. But after signing up on a whim for a pre-orientation program with the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE), Harper was hooked, and is now set to graduate from a five-year program with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the field next year. ... more
	Anne White accepts the fusion challenge Anne White has always relished challenges. As an undergrad, she was fascinated by fluid dynamics, and the prospect of nuclear fusion as a game-changing energy source. She followed those passions to her current position as Cecil and Ida Green Associate Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, where she spends much of her time studying plasma turbulence – which is a challenge unto itself. ... more
	Lulu Li: Modeling the maelstrom inside a reactor The frenetic dance of neutrons inside a nuclear reactor generates heat and produces electricity. Reactor physicist Lulu Li wants to make sense of this kinetic choreography, with the ultimate goal, she says, of “making nuclear reactors safer, more reliable and economical to operate.” ... more
	Smaller, faster experimentation seen at PSFC under Whyte Dennis Whyte, Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, began pursuing fusion energy research at MIT in 2006, attracted in large part by the opportunity to work at the Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC). He says it’s “a special place, with a compelling combination of being at the forefront of an important research area like fusion, while being rooted strongly in education.” ... more