Nuclear Engineering Program
In 1956, Virginia Tech established a Nuclear Engineering Program within the Physics Department. Later this program was moved to the Mechanical Engineering Department, and offered degrees until 1985 at which time the program was terminated. In 2007, in response to the nuclear industry in Virginia, former Dean of Engineering, Dr. Richard Benson, and former Department Head of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Kenneth Ball, decided to reestablish a nuclear engineering program (NEP). Dr. Mark Pierson was hired and Prof. Eugene Brown from Mechanical Engineering Department was assigned to start the program by establishing courses, and initiating the application process for receiving approval from the State Council Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) for offering graduate degrees in nuclear engineering.
In 2011, Prof. Alireza Haghighat was hired, and he established the Nuclear Science and Engineering Lab (NSEL), which operated under the auspices of the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) and Mechanical Engineering Department, tasked with promoting nuclear engineering education and research at NCR by offering courses and degrees, establishing regional agreements, and engaging in multidisciplinary research.
Between 2011 and 2014, Dr. Pierson, and Profs. Brown and Haghighat worked on the degree applications to SCHEV, and in July 2013, NEP received approvals from SCHEV for offering degrees (PhD, MS, and Masters of Engineering) in nuclear engineering, starting 2014 Spring Semester.
*In 2013, former Department Head appointed Dr. Pierson to direct the program. He served until March 2015, at which time, Dr. Azim Eskandarian, current Department Head, appointed Dr. Haghighat as the Director of the Program. Prof. Haghighat works closely with the rest of the core faculty located in Blacksburg and several affiliate faculty members to offer a vibrant educational and research program in Nuclear Engineering at VT. Particularly, he has taken advantage of the NCR campus, and established new educational programs and several research programs.
Nuclear Engineering Program at the GWMA (Northern Virginia Center, 7054 Haycock Road, Falls Church, VA 22043) and Blacksburg (Goodwin Hall) campuses is directed by Prof. Alireza Haghighat. Prof. Haghighat is located at the Greater Washington Metro Area campus.
In addition to coordinating activities and facilities in the Blacksburg campus, he has taken advantage of the GWMA location, and established two educational programs:
- Accelerated Masters of Engineering in Nuclear Engineering for the USNA midshipmen, first offering, Spring 2017.
- Graduate Certificate in Nuclear Science, Technology, and Policy (NuSTEP), first offering, Spring 2019.
- Nuclear Education Hub (NEH), project Under development, initiated Oct 2019.
Currently, the VT Nuclear Engineering Program has 6 full time faculty and 11 affiliate faculty from CSE, ME, MSE, Physics, STS, and SPIA. It is offered at the Blacksburg and NCR campuses.
The nuclear faculty members have established research and educational activities in both campuses. Currently, the main areas of their activities include particle transport methods, reactor physics, reactor shielding, thermal hydraulics, nuclear materials.
Faculty in Blacksburg
-
Bio ItemJinsuo Zhang , bio
Professor, Nuclear Engineering Program
-
Bio ItemYang Liu , bio
Associate Professor, Nuclear Engineering Program
-
Bio ItemAmanda Leong , bio
Research Assistant Professor, Nuclear Engineering Program
-
Bio ItemDavid Freeman , bio
Collegiate Associate Professor, Nuclear Engineering Program
-
Bio Item
Jinsuo Zhang , bioProfessor, Nuclear Engineering Program
-
Bio Item
Yang Liu , bioAssociate Professor, Nuclear Engineering Program
-
Bio Item
Amanda Leong , bioResearch Assistant Professor, Nuclear Engineering Program
-
Bio Item
Alireza Haghighat , bioRobert E. Hord Jr. Professor, Director of Nuclear Engineering Program
-
Bio Item
David Freeman , bioCollegiate Associate Professor, Nuclear Engineering Program
-
Article Item
Nuclear Seminar: Sandra Sloan , articleSandra M. Sloan, Senior Advisor – Product Development, BWXT Advanced Technologies, LLC
-
Article Item
Nuclear Seminar: Michael Smith , articleMichael Smith presents, "Determining a preferred energy system configuration: A multi-parameter adaptable technology selection framework for nuclear-renewable hybrid energy systems."
-
Article Item
Nuclear Seminar: Mehdi Asgari , article"Overview of Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications" with Mehdi Asgari, Oak Ridge National Lab.
-
Article Item
Nuclear Seminar: Xiaofeng Guo , articleXiaofeng Guo presents, "Chemistry and thermodynamics of nuclear fuel materials."
-
Article Item
Nuclear Seminar: Glenn E. Sjoden , articleGlenn E. Sjoden presents, "Recent development in computational radiation transport methods and data science."
-
Article Item
Nuclear Seminar: Taylor Loy and Sonja Schmid , articleTaylor Loy and Sonja Schmid present, "The Double Life of Tritium: Material Ambivalence in the U.S. Nuclear Infrastructure."
-
Article Item
Nuclear Seminar: Haiyan Zhao , articleHaiyan Zhao presents, "Corrosion Behavior and Control of SS316H in Impure NaCl-MgCl₂ Molten Salts: Experimental Study and Long-Term Predictions."
-
Article Item
Nuclear Seminar: Yang Liu , articleYang Liu, Associate Professor at Virginia Tech, presents, "Advancing Two-Phase Flow Research with Computer Vision and Generative Neural Networks."
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Toni Karlsson , articleToni Karlsson, Research Scientist, INL, will give a talk entitled: "Investigations into Potential Fuel Salts for Molten Salt Reactors: Synthesis, Characterization, and Property Determination"
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Christina Leggett , articleDr. Christina Leggett, Consultant, Booz Allen Hamilton, will give a talk entitled: "Reimagining the Nuclear Fuel Cycle to Support a Sustainable Nuclear Future,"
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Luka Snoj , articleLuka Snoj, Head of Reactor Physics Division, Jozef Stefan Institute, Slovenia, Associate Prof. (Ljubljana University), Adjunct Professor (VT), will give a talk entitled "From Splitting to Merging: The Dual Faces of Nuclear Power"
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Dean Wang , articleDean Wang, Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering, The Ohio State University, presents, "On the Smoothness of the Neutron Transport Solution and Its Implication on Numerical Convergence"
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Valerio Mascolino , articleValerio Mascolino, Nuclear Engineer, Research and Test Reactor Group, Argonne National Laboratory, will give a talk entitled: "The U.S. High Performance Research Reactor (USHPRR) Project."
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Rani Franovich , articleRani Franovich, Principal Consultant and Expert Witness, Nuclear ROSE Consulting, LLC, will give a talk entitled “The Time is Now: Nuclear Energy’s Past, Present, and Promise for the Future”
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Brian Boyer , articleBrian Boyer, Consultant with LucidCatalyst, former IAEA INPRO Section Head, will give a talk entitled "IAEA INPRO Guidance on Proliferation Resistance Key Concepts for New Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles."
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Patrick Huber , articlePatrick Huber presents, "Neutrinos & Nuclear Security."
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Roland Backhaus , articleRoland Backhaus, Esq, Executive VP, USNC, presents "An Introduction to Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, the Micro Modular Reactor, and Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated Fuel."
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Derek Rountree , articleDerek Rountree, Senior Research Scientist at Luna Innovations Inc., will give a talk entitled "Fiber optic sensing for nuclear power applications."
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Nathan Roskoff , articleDr. Nathan Roskoff, Lead Reactor Physics Engineer, Westinghouse Electric Company, will give a talk entitled, "eVinci, AP300, and Beyond – Westinghouse’s Power Generation Solutions for the Next Generation."
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Harlan Bowers , articleHarlan Bowers presents, "New Nuclear – The Transformative Potential of Small Modular and Micro-Reactors."
-
Article Item
Nuclear webinar: Luka Snoj , article
Luka Snoj presents, "Research Reactor Benchmark Experiments."
-
Article Item
-
Article Item
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Xu Wu , articleXu Wu presents, "Inverse Uncertainty Quantification with Machine Learning for Nuclear Reactor Simulations."
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Jonathan Link , articleJonathan Link presents, "CHANDLER Antineutrino Detection System and Nuclear Reactor Monitoring," October 20, 2023, 10:10 am, Foggy Bottom Room, VTRC, Arlington.
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Lingfeng He , articleLingfeng He, Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering at NCSU, will give a talk entitled "Advanced Characterization of Materials Corrosion in Molten Salt Environments."
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Amanda Leong , articleAmanda Leong, Research Assistant Professor in Nuclear Engineering Program at Virginia Tech, will give a talk entitled, "Purification of molten salts and identification of impurities."
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Lou Martinez Sancho , articleLou Martinez Sancho, VP of Strategy and Innovation at Kairos Power, presents "Leveraging rapid iteration and vertical integration to deliver certainty for advanced reactor technology."
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Alireza Haghighat , articleAlireza Haghighat, Professor and Director of the VT NE Program, presents, "New Paradigm for Real-Time, High-Fidelity Particle Transport Simulation with Monte Carlo Accuracy"
-
Article Item
Nuclear seminar: Chi Bum Bahn , articleChi Bum Bahn of Pusan National University presents, "Research Activities on Materials Degradation in Nuclear Power Systems."
-
Article Item
Nuclear webinar: Jarod Worden , articleNanoporous High entropy alloys: a new class of materials with remarkable mechanical properties
-
Article Item
Nuclear webinar: Guanyi Wang , article"Overview of Research Reactor and Conversion Efforts for Nonproliferation at Argonne" with Guanyi Wang, Argonne National Laboratory.
Nuclear Engineering in the News
-
Article Item
-
Article Item
Page 1 of 3 | 11 Results