Chair
Nicholas Thompson
Nicholas is a Ph.D. student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) studying Nuclear Engineering and Science. He graduated RPI in 2011 with a B.S. and an M.Eng. in Nuclear Engineering. He has previously held two summer internships at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, and from 2010 to 2011, was an undergraduate researcher at the Gaerttner Linear Accelerator Center (LINAC) Laboratory at RPI.
Nick’s current research focuses on using a Lead Slowing-Down Spectrometer (LSDS) for measuring various nuclear data. In particular, two of the projects he is working on are to make capture cross section measurements and fission fragment distribution measurements, both with the LINAC and RPI LSDS. While working as an undergraduate researcher, Nick helped research and perform experiments with the RPI LSDS to assay plutonium and uranium with the goal of nondestructively assaying spent fuel. Nick is an NRC licensed Senior Reactor Operator, was selected as a winner of the Innovations in Fuel Cycle Research Award in 2011, and was a recipient of a 2014 NAYGN Excellence Award. He was also the President of the RPI ANS section from 2012-2013. Nick was also an NESD delegate in 2012, and one of the Co-Vice Chairs in 2013. Some of Nick’s research interests include nuclear data, reactor design, accelerator technologies and applications, and nuclear energy policy. Nick is an avid skier, enjoys playing billiards, and believes that cheap, clean, reliable, safe nuclear power can help the economy and the environment.
Co-Vice Chairs
Lane Carasik
Lane Carasik is a PhD graduate student and Nuclear Energy University Programs Fellow at Texas A&M University studying nuclear and mechanical engineering under Dr. Yassin Hassan. At A&M, Lane is a part of the Nuclear Power Engineering Research group that conducts research on current and advanced reactor technologies. His research interests include nuclear thermal hydraulics and methods development for computational fluid dynamics.
Currently, Lane is a visiting researcher at the Imperial College London investigating turbulent thermal jets under Dr. Simon Walker. He has had previous internships at Westinghouse Electric Company and Tennessee Valley Authority working on reactor coolant systems. At Westinghouse Electric Company, he worked on steady state and transient analysis for Électricité de France reactor coolant system components and CFD method development. Lane has also participated in a REU at Georgia Tech Savannah researching aircraft manufacturing.
Lane graduated in December 2012 with his bachelors in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. At UTK, he conducted nuclear thermal hydraulics research under Dr. Arthur Ruggles.
Lane is an active member of the American Nuclear Society and American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Lane is currently the Vice Chair of the ANS Student Section Committee, Thermal Hydraulics Division Executive Committee member, and the 2015 ANS Student Conference Technical Director. Lane has previously been the Chair of the UTK ANS student section and the student chair for PHYSOR 2012.
Anagha Iyengar
Anagha Iyengar is a Ph.D. student in the Nuclear Engineering department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She received her B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2012, and her M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from UT Knoxville in 2013. Her research interests lie in nuclear security, nuclear technology policy, nonproliferation technologies, international relations and energy policy. She is working on her graduate research in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratories under Dr. Jason Hayward, and is a part of the Nuclear Materials Detection and Characterization group. Her past research focus was on helping develop a passive hybrid detector array with capabilities for dual gamma and neutron imaging, as well as neutron and gamma ray spectroscopy. This project implements passive, standoff threat detection, which is important for nonproliferation applications.
Anagha is an active member of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM). In the past, she has had multiple internships working on developing and characterizing detection technologies at UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, and Sandia National Laboratories.
Starting June 2014, Anagha will be working for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) through the Graduate Fellowship Program, where she will be supporting the safeguards technology and policy group while gaining experience working closely with the Department of Energy. She is passionate about outreach efforts in local communities and schools to advocate and encourage STEM education. She also writes for the Nuclear Literacy Project to help dispel myths about the nuclear industry.
Delegates
Daniel Curtis
Daniel Curtis is a masters student in the Nuclear Science and Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Daniel graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2012 with Bachelors of Science degrees in Physics and Mechanical Engineering. Daniel worked as a research assistant in experiment and apparatus design for condensed matter studies during his time at UT. He also completed 5 summer internships at Raytheon Company, a major US defense contractor, in their Network Centric System division in McKinney, Texas. Daniel served as President of the UT chapter of the Society of Physics Students (SPS), where he led the first annual Prospective Student Welcome Days event in the UT Physics Department.
Daniel’s graduate research is on the development and analysis of hybrid nuclear energy system concepts, with a focus on the markets potentially served by large systems. He currently supports the Nuclear Oil Shale Project and the Fluoride-Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactor (FHR) with analysis of power conversion systems, potential markets, and system performance.
Daniel has additional experience organizing a nationwide program of educational engineering challenges for middle and high school students through his work with BEST Robotics, Inc. (BRI), where he currently serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors. Daniel has extensive experience through BEST in volunteer recruitment and management, public presentations, and development of organizational policies and procedures. Daniel also currently serves as the Public Information Officer of the MIT chapter of the American Nuclear Society.
Remy DeVoe
Remy was born in New York City, NY March 22, 1990 to Beth and Guy Devoe. Within a year he moved to Nashville, TN where he grew up and attended Hillsboro Comprehensive High School. He graduated in 2008 and began his studies in Nuclear Engineering in 2009 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Remy graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Nuclear Engineering May 2013 and began graduate school in the Department of Nuclear Engineering in the Fall of 2013. He continues school as a Masters student and resides in Knoxville, TN. Since 2011, Remy has been a member of the American Nuclear Society University of Tennessee, Knoxville Student Chapter and is currently the Vice President of the student organization. He is completing his Masters research under the guidance of John Scaglione at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and his advisor Dr. Steven Skutnik at the University of Tennessee. He plans to graduate in May 2015 and become a Doctoral Candidate the following Fall. His research area is in modeling and simulation of used nuclear fuel systems.
Matthew Ellis
Matthew is a Ph.D. student in the Nuclear Science and Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Matthew graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 2012 with a Master of Science degree in Nuclear Engineering. He also has earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Nuclear Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. Matthew has held internships in the nuclear industry with Exelon Nuclear in both reactor engineering and boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel design. He has also completed internships with the Idaho National Laboratory in the modeling and simulation research group.
Matthew’s graduate research involves the development, testing, and optimization of numerical methods for light water reactor simulations. More specifically, his work focuses on numerical methods needed for including multiphysics feedback into Monte Carlo simulations. This work is particularly critical for enabling the use of Monte Carlo methods for the design and routine analysis of advanced reactors.
Tom Grimes
Tom Grimes has received a B.S. and M.S. degree from Purdue University in Nuclear Engineering and is currently a PhD graduate student at Purdue University studying Nuclear Engineering as well as an MBA student with a focus on Entrepreneurship. Tom currently works in the Metastable Fluid and Advanced Research Lab under Professor Rusi Taleyarkhan. He was formerly a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, but is now funded through the Purdue Doctoral Fellowship. His research interests include nuclear non-proliferation, fluid dynamics, radiation transport, acoustics, and materials (he holds an international patent for PLA-based coatings).
Tom’s current doctoral research focuses on developing a fundamental physics model to describe the operation of Metastable Fluid Detectors (with wider application toward general cavitation studies e.g. making quieter submarines or faster jet planes). The primary goal of this research being the creation of inexpensive, directional, spectroscopic, high intrinsic efficiency particle detectors. His first brush with nuclear policy-making came while evaluating Metastable Fluid Detectors for application in Radiation Portal Monitors. Since then he has maintained a strong interest in border security and non-proliferation policy.
Kyle Hartig
In 2011 Kyle embarked on a five-year program to earn his doctorate degree in nuclear engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. His focus is nuclear forensics, nonproliferation, and remote sensing, specializing in remote detection of proliferation activities.
Kyle’s current research is on laser induced breakdown spectroscopy using ultrashort high-intensity shaped laser pulses—a technique that will enable analysts to identify materials and their isotopic makeup with little to no sample preparation. Kyle was an NNSA Nonproliferation Graduate Fellow from 2011-2012 at DOE/NNSA Headquarters in the Nonproliferation and International Security Office, and is currently a G.T. Seaborg Graduate Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory where he conducts a portion of his doctoral research.
Since 2011 Kyle has been a fellow in the Nuclear Forensics Graduate Fellowship program sponsored by the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Defense Threat Reduction Agency. For three summers from 2009 through 2011 Kyle worked as a Nuclear Engineer for the Department of Defense, conducting oversight of servicing and operations of submarine reactors at Naval Base Kitsap in Washington State.
Jacob Jurewicz
Jake is a Masters student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) studying Nuclear Science and Engineering. He just completed his double bachelors at MIT (2014) in Nuclear Engineering and Physics. Jake previously held summer internships at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) as well as the National Fusion Facility at General Atomics as part of the National Undergraduate Fellowship Program (NUF). He also spent a summer studying and analyzing global nuclear threat issues in the intelligence community.
Jake’s current research focuses on the design, system integration, and analysis of the Offshore Floating Nuclear Plant (OFNP) with an interdisciplinary research group at MIT. A major goal of the project is to develop a nuclear plant design that is far safer, cheaper, and faster to deploy than past and current terrestrial nuclear plants. Jake was co-president of MIT’s ANS chapter from 2013 to 2014 and is an active member of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI). He is extremely passionate about finding ways to reconcile nuclear technology to sustainably fulfill the needs of a globalized and modernizing society.
Justin Knowles
Justin Knowles is a PhD student studying Nuclear Energy Science and Engineering at the University of Tennessee. He obtained his B.S. in Nuclear Engineering at Purdue University in 2013. Justin’s hometown is Meridian, Idaho where he gained experiences working in semiconductor research and development at Micron Technology in addition to materials science and engineering research at Boise State University. Upon attending Purdue University, Justin became involved with the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and was elected president of the Purdue student section in his junior year. Throughout his time at Purdue, Justin spent his summers in Idaho Falls working at the Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Test Reactor, Materials and Fuels Complex, and National and Homeland Security division. In addition, Justin completed rigorous training courses designed for International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, including pre- inspector training and pyroprocessing safeguards training. His research interests include nuclear forensics, radiochemistry, pyroprocessing, and nuclear safeguards. Currently, Justin is researching advanced nuclear forensics methods through application of Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) at the ORNL High Flux Isotope Reactor for fissile material characterization. In his spare time, Justin enjoys running, hiking, and volunteering in the community.
Taylor Lane
Taylor Lane is currently a Masters Student studying Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University. He graduated with his Bachelors degree in Nuclear Engineering in May 2013 from Texas A&M as well. He is currently on a summer internship at Sandia National Laboratories where he is developing a time and energy dependent flux for the dry well of the Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR). In 2011 he interned in the Remote Systems Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and helped design state-of-the- art hot cell facilities.
His current research is in the field of radiation-hydrodynamics. His thesis aims to more accurately simulate how radiation moves through a mixture of turbulent fluids. Taylor has been involved in research for almost 4 years and is passionate about getting younger students involved as well. To aid in this mission he is the Technical Coordinator of the Student Research Week (SRW) Planning Committee. SRW is the largest student-run research competition in the nation. Prior to graduating, he spent 2 years as an undergraduate researcher where he was funded through the Undergraduate Summer Research Grant (USRG) and Research Opportunities in Engineering (ROE) programs. Taylor was also selected as an Undergraduate Research Scholar at Texas A&M and published an undergraduate thesis. He has both presented and published his work internationally and won Best Paper: Undergraduate at the 2013 American Nuclear Society Student Conference.
Taylor is actively involved in the American Nuclear Society, both nationally and locally. He has served in a variety of leadership positions since he came to A&M, the last of which being the TAMU Section President. Outside of school, Taylor is avid supporter of STEM outreach and has presented to K-12 science classes around the state of Texas. When he has free time, Taylor enjoys playing golf and football.
Jeremy Pearson
Jeremy is a Ph.D. graduate student at the University of California – Irvine studying chemical engineering and used nuclear fuel recycling. He previously attended Brigham Young University where he received a B.S. in chemical engineering. Jeremy currently works in the Nuclear Research Group at UC Irvine under Professor Mikael Nilsson. His research interest focuses on understanding the sensitivity of solvent extraction processes to radiolysis in an effort to create more robust, efficient, and economical processes which can be adopted in a future fuel cycle that includes recycling and advanced reactor technologies.
Jeremy is an active member of the American Nuclear Society, serving on the Education and Public Outreach committees in the San Diego ANS Local Section. In this capacity he has given lectures on nuclear science and technology at local high schools and worked to promote awareness of nuclear energy and technology, especially during the NRC’s evaluation for restart of the local San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, by organizing and hosting screenings of Switch and Pandora’s Promise at UC Irvine with their respective directors. Jeremy has also participated with colleagues representing UCI in D.C. at the DOE’s Better Building’s Case Competition presenting energy efficiency solutions to the government’s real estate portfolio managed by the GSA. In his spare time Jeremy enjoys playing guitar, wake surfing, and playing soccer and dirt biking with his family.
Miriam Rathbun
Miriam Rathbun is an undergraduate student at the University of Pittsburgh. She was brought up in France and in Morocco, but is originally from Pittsburgh. Pursuing a degree in Engineering Science – Nuclear Track, her courses consist of mechanical, materials and nuclear engineering with an emphasis on research and graduate school preparation. In the past year, she has conducted research to develop a cheaper form of silicon for use in solar panels, has interned at Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, and has presided over her school’s ANS section. Miriam has a passion for teaching and always participates in opportunities for high school classroom intervention promoting STEM fields and sustainable energy education. Her other activities include kayaking, swing dancing, and volunteering with the homeless of Pittsburgh.
Ben Reinke
Benjamin Reinke is a Ph.D. student at the Ohio State University studying Nuclear Engineering. He graduated from OSU with a B.S. in Physics and French and Honors and Research Distinction in 2010. While an undergraduate, he worked in a High Energy Density Physics laser research laboratory.
Ben is a NASA Space Technology Research Fellow. His current research focuses on experimental and simulations for cryogenic irradiation damage tests. Specifically Ben is establishing a cryogenic irradiation facility at the Ohio State University Research Reactor for completing in situ damage tests on semiconductor materials and optical fibers. Ben also works with a Material Science professor to simulate the radiation damage in these experiments and develop a mulit-scale model of defect annealing. Earlier in his graduate studies, Ben worked on a Department of Energy Nuclear Engineering Program to develop a high temperature alpha particle detector with 4H-SiC. Ben also spends time as the president of the OSU student chapter of the American Nuclear Society and serving as the graduate/professional student member of the OSU Board of Trustees.
Matthew Riblett
Matt is currently a Ph.D. student in the Medical Physics Graduate Program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia. Graduating in 2012 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) with a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering, he went on to work in the Rensselaer Radiation Measurement and Dosimetry Group, developing tools for patient dose tracking and dosimetric simulation. Prior to joining VCU, Matt interned at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developing GPU-accelerated Monte Carlo methods for the Reactor and Nuclear Systems Division for use on the OLCF TITAN supercomputer.
Matt’s research has been largely focused on novel computational methods and HPC implementations for both Health and Medical Physics applications. For his work in advancing the safe application of radiation, Matt was awarded the 2013 Burton J. Moyer Memorial Fellowship by the Health Physics Society. Currently, Matt is pursuing work in Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) with the aim of reducing the margins and off-target dose in radiation therapy through the application of Deformable Image Registration (DIR) and Matt has served as an executive member of several professional society sections, most notably as the President of the RPI Student Section of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) from 2011-2012. Additionally, he is a student member of ANS, HPS, the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). When not in a classroom, lab, or conference, Matt enjoys volunteering for US FIRST, vegetarian cooking, spending time with friends, and playing with his dogs.
Tracey-Ann Wellington
Tracey-Ann Wellington is a Ph.D. candidate in the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education at the University of Tennessee studying Energy Science and Engineering, focusing on Nuclear Energy. She received a BS in Mathematical Physics from Randolph College and an MS in Materials Science and Engineering from Texas A&M University. Her research interests include radiation detection, nuclear forensics, safeguards, nonproliferation studies and energy policy.
Tracey’s currently works in the Nuclear Materials Detection and Characterization Group under Dr. John Mihalczo at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Her research focuses on developing new methods to accurately determine the 240/239 ratio for plutonium (Pu) metal assemblies and utilizes the neutrons produced from inherent fission in Pu-240 and induced fission in Pu-239, to determine the Pu isotopic ratio in a variety of configurations. This research approach combines measurements taken of Pu assemblies with ORNL’s Nuclear Materials Identification System (NMIS) and Monte Carlo simulations that model these measurements. NMIS is a computer-based, time-dependent coincidence counting system used to analyze fissile and non-fissile materials. The simulations will be used to develop methods of extracting this ratio from time-dependent coincidence distributions obtained from passive and active measurements conducted on NMIS. This research will help develop new and accurate methods to aid nuclear security missions, more specifically in the area of arms control and future treaty verification. In addition to her dissertation work, Tracey is a part of the ORNL team responsible for the design, construction and demonstration of the Fieldable Nuclear Materials Identification System (FNMIS) prototype. The goal of this project is to convert the laboratory R&D NMIS into a device that can be used in the field.
Samantha Winkle
Samantha Winkle is currently a master’s student in Nuclear Engineering with an academic focus on Nuclear Forensics at the University of Utah. Samantha’s research focus is in nuclear safeguards, security and non-proliferation and she is supported by an NRC Graduate Fellowship. Her current work centers on safeguards verifications using Cherenkov radiation and developing curricula for courses that tie the technical world of nuclear engineering with the policy side of the nuclear industry. She has recently been awarded a Nuclear Engineering Graduate Fellowship position working for NNSA Office NA-532.
Samantha is active in the American Nuclear Society (ANS) both nationally and locally. She has long held positions on the University of Utah’s ANS Student Chapter Board, having previously held the positions of Recruitment Officer, Communication and Company Relations Officer and Vice-President, and President, as well as being appointed to serve on the ANS Membership Committee. She currently serves as the Graduate Student Advisor for her student chapter.
Samantha’s interests include nuclear safety, nuclear policy and educating the general public about nuclear energy. Outside of academics she enjoys playing video games, cross-stitching and volunteering with the Girl Scouts.
Nuclear Engineering Student Delegation 