2011 Delegation

Chair

Lenka Kollar

Lenka received a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Purdue University and is pursuing her M.S. in Nuclear Engineering at Purdue. She was first a member of the Delegation in 2009, the Co-Vice Chair in 2010, and is the Chair for 2011. Her research interests include nuclear energy policy and nonproliferation. She jump- started an extensive ANS outreach program at Purdue and is planning to become more involved in ANS at the national level.

While working at the National Nuclear Security Administration through the Nonproliferation Graduate Fellowship Program, Lenka has had the opportunity to become immersed into the inner workings of the Department of Energy and the politics of Washington. She has also had internships at the Cook Nuclear Plant in Michigan and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Lenka enjoys running, traveling, and cheering on the Boilermakers in her free time.

Co-Vice Chairs

Mark Norsworthy

Mark received his S.B. and S.M. degrees in Nuclear Science and Engineering from MIT in 2010. As of Spring 2011, he is a Ph.D. pre-candidate in Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences at the University of Michigan. He is supported by the NNSA’s Nuclear Nonproliferation and International Safeguards Graduate Fellowship. In addition, he is pursuing a graduate certificate in Science, Technology, and Public Policy at the Ford School of Public Policy. His technical research area is accelerator-based active interrogation for nuclear nonproliferation.

Mark is a Co-Vice Chair of the 2011 Delegation and was a member of the 2010 Delgation. He has held internships at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Defense, and the MIT Lincoln Laboratory. During these internships he focused on various aspects of nuclear energy and nuclear defense policy, including emergency preparedness and response to nuclear terrorism. Mark enjoys traveling, playing pool, and discussing nuclear policy issues.

William Sames

William received his B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Texas A&M in May 2011, and will be pursuing a PhD in Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M. He is the Co-Vice Chair of the 2011 Delegation and the webmaster. At Texas A&M, he has served as the President, webmaster, and Director of Professional Development of the ANS Student Section. He is a member and webmaster of the ANS National Student Sections Committee, and the 2011-2013 student member of the ANS National Board of Directors.

William has interned at Los Alamos National Laboratory working on projects in lunar reactor shielding and voloxidation. He works at Texas A&M in nuclear fuels and materials research in the Fuel Cycles and Materials Laboratory. He also enjoys foosball, intramural sports, and hiking.

Delegates

Lauren Boldon

Lauren Boldon, an undergraduate student in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Co-terminal B.S. and M.Eng. Nuclear Engineering Program, is presently studying dynamic light and x-ray scattering in nano-particles and polymers. She is President of Colleges Against Cancer, councilmember of the School of Engineering Student Advisory Council and a member of the American Nuclear Society, Nuclear Advocacy Network, Association of Women in Science, Society of Women Engineers, and National Society of Professional Engineers. She attended the Global Women in Nuclear and Young Leaders’ conferences, and her most notable achievements include receiving the Nobel Scholar Award, National Society of Professional Engineers Steinman “Ethics in Engineering” Fellowship, and being named a National Academy Scholar by Nuclear Education Institute.

Samuel Brinton

Samuel is completing a double M.S. program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Nuclear Engineering and the Technology and Policy Program. They are a graduate from Kansas State University with a B.S. in Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering and a B.A. in Vocal Music Performance and a minor in Chinese Language. Their research interests are concentrated on nuclear fuel cycle system analysis with subtopics of interest including fuel cycle economics and dry cask storage analysis.

Samuel has had internships at the Argonne National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and Dow Chemical Company in various projects relating to nuclear engineering and systems analysis. They are a strong activist in a variety of civil rights and nonproliferation issues and finds that only with a constant interaction with our legislative representatives can we hope to make true and lasting impacts on policy. In their spare time Samuel enjoys running, singing with choirs and opera companies, and cheering for the K-State Wildcats and MIT Engineers.

Christopher Copeland

Chris received his B.S. in Physics from Morehouse College in the Spring of 2009. He is currently a dual- masters degree candidate in the Nuclear Science and Engineering Department (NSE) and Technology and Policy Program as well as a Ph.D. pre-candidate in NSE at MIT. His research concentration is the application of antineutrino detection for nuclear nonproliferation and security verification applications.

Throughout his academic career, he has held internships at the University of Michigan, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Brookhaven National Laboratory engaging in various disciplines of nuclear engineering from plasma physics to nuclear medicine. In addition, he has held internships abroad with the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France and the Tokyo Electric Power Company in Tokyo, Japan, affording him the opportunity to work with scientists and policymakers alike on issues of concern such as the technological capabilities of geological disposition of nuclear waste and the assessments of regional nuclear energy, respectively. In his spare time, Chris enjoys mentoring, teaching, traveling, and hiking.

Tyler J. Corder

Tyler (TJ) received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2010 and will soon receive his M.S. in Nuclear Engineering through an accelerated program at the University of Cincinnati. He is supported by the National Academy for Nuclear Training Graduate Fellowship. TJ has a year of co-op work experience in the U.S. nuclear power industry and spent 5 months performing nuclear safety research in Germany. He is interested in new nuclear power plants and future designs.

TJ has been active in his college through student groups, including being elected President of the college student government his senior year. He also served as Vice President and Treasurer of his ANS student section and is a member of the U.C. Thorium Energy Alliance. Other activities TJ enjoys include traveling, speaking German, outdoor sports, and discussing nuclear power.

Shaheen Dewji

Shaheen Azim Dewji is a Ph.D. candidate in the Nuclear & Radiological Engineering Program at the Georgia Institute of Technology, having studied at both the Atlanta, GA and Metz, France campuses. She received her B.Sc. in Physics from the University of British Columbia in 2006 and has participated in the Education Abroad Program at UC-Berkeley. She has completed a Masters in Nuclear Engineering in 2009 at Georgia Tech in assaying internal contamination using handheld radiation detectors in the event of a radiological dispersion device for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From 2008-2009, Dewji was a Pre- Doctoral Fellow of the Sam Nunn Security Program at Georgia Tech and has been pursuing her interests in safeguards applications and nuclear security policy. She is currently interning at Oak Ridge National Laboratory through the NESLS/NGSI program, collaborating on safeguards research on integrated simulation and radiation detection methods for natural uranium conversion facilities. Dewji is currently a fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies “Nuclear Scholars Initiative” program.

Erin Dughie

Erin is a PhD. graduate student at the University of New Mexico studying nuclear engineering. She recently graduated with her undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Her research interests include radiation detection and measurements. In the past she has worked on detection techniques for nonproliferation, and semiconductor devices. Her current work focuses on the detection of dark matter.

Erin is an active member of IEEE and the American Nuclear Society. She has previously held internships at Los Alamos National Laboratory working on MCNPX code development, and space nuclear power. In her free time, Erin is involved in outreach activities at the local science museum. She also works with several programs at the University of New Mexico that facilitate K-12 science and technology activities.

Diego Garcia

Diego is a fourth year Nuclear Engineering and Political Science undergraduate student at the University of Florida. His earlier research experiences include studies in medical physics, creating anthropomorphic phantoms for dosimetry readings for various medical procedures, as well neuroscience research with the University of Florida psychology department. Currently, Diego is part of the University of Florida’s University Scholars research program working closely with faculty to develop a multipurpose nuclear battery. While at Florida, Diego has held several leadership positions including Director of Scholarship for the Interfraternity Council and as a Director in Student Government. Diego is also a brother and Scholarship Chairman of the Alpha Zeta Chapter of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity.

After his undergraduate studies Diego intends to pursue a J.D. in the field of intellectual property law, and eventually a M.S. in Nuclear Engineering. Diego is very interested in nuclear public policy, and is planning to one day work closely with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In his spare time Diego enjoys sports, traveling, and pleasure reading.

Matthew Gidden

Matthew is a Ph.D. graduate student at the University of Wisconsin – Madison studying nuclear engineering and energy policy. He previously attended Texas A&M University where he received a B.S. in nuclear engineering. Matthew currently works in the Fuel Cycle Research Group at UW – Madison under Professor Paul Wilson. His research interest is primarily fuel-cycle simulation and analysis and related policy topics, such as used-fuel recycling, long-term fuel storage, and nuclear nonproliferation.

Matthew is an active member of the American Nuclear Society, serving as the 2008 Student Conference Co- Chair as well as participating in the governance of ANS at the national level. He has previously held internship positions at both Oak Ridge National Laboratory working on the detection of illicit radioactive materials and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory working on automated verification techniques. He has also had the opportunity to work for AREVA in Paris, France on both the transportation of used nuclear fuel as well as nuclear reactor accident analysis.

Carey McIlwaine Read Jr.

Mac received a B.S. in Physics from Davidson College and is pursuing a M.S. in Nuclear Engineering at the University of South Carolina. He joined the Delegation in 2011. He is the treasurer for the USC chapter of the American Nuclear Society and coordinates a twice weekly public forum held at the university.

While at Davidson College, Mac played baseball for the Wildcats. The physics department at Davidson introduced him to nuclear engineering. After joining the nuclear engineering department at USC, he was awarded a Nuclear Regulatory Commission fellowship. His research interests involve modeling and analyzing fast reactors and small modular reactors.

Mark Reed

Mark has received his S.B. degree in Physics as well as his S.B. and S.M. degrees in Nuclear Science and Engineering from MIT, and he is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT. His past research includes magnetic confinement fusion and its application as a neutron source in fission-fusion hybrid systems, enhanced fission yield modeling techniques, and strategic plant siting in the context of seismic history. His current doctoral research focuses on the neutronic effects of geometric distortions in fast reactors.

He has performed reactor modeling at TerraPower and risk assessment for the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In his pre-nuclear life, he was an engineering project management intern for the iPhone 3G at Apple and a research assistant at the Princeton University Department of Astrophysical Sciences. Passionate about nuclear policy, he has published a series of six articles on the history of nuclear technology, served as a speechwriter for an elected official, and conceived the 2013 American Nuclear Society Student Conference theme “Public Image of the Nuclear Engineer”. In his spare time, he pursues his affinities for hiking, making random iPhone applications, and composing awkward third-person autobiographies.

Nicolas Shugart

Nicolas received his B. S. in Engineering Physics from the Colorado School of Mines in 2010, and is currently working on M. S. in Nuclear Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. At the Colorado School of Mines, Nicolas was a founding member of the school chapter of the American Nuclear Society and is currently the vice president of the CSM chapter of ANS.

His interests include nuclear power reactors and alternative nuclear fuel cycles, and his current work is focusing on providing re-licensing support for the Geological Survey TRIGA Reactor located in Lakewood Colorado. Nic also enjoys reading, discussing world events, and bike-riding.