NSE - Nuclear Science & Engineering at MIT

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Students in the News

NSE’s Pantano, Richenderfer, Walsh, Kindfuller win NEUP awards

Four students in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering have received NEUP awards. Michael Pantano, Andrew Richenderfer and Jonathan Walsh are among 31 graduate students across the nation who were awarded 2013 NEUP fellowships. NSE’s Vincent Kindfuller received an undergraduate NEUP Scholarship.

MIT Student Section of ANS honored at Annual Meeting

MIT’s ANS Student Section received the Samuel L. Glasstone Award Honorable Mention at the opening plenary of the ANS Annual Meeting. The Student Section was recognized for organizing and hosting the 2013 ANS Student Conference at MIT — the most successful and largest ANS Student Conference to date.

Established in 1969 the annual award recognizes outstanding ANS Student Sections for “the most notable achievements in public service and the advancement of nuclear engineering.” It is administered jointly by the Student Sections Committee (SSC) and the Education, Training and Workforce Development Division (ETWDD) of the ANS.

2013 ANS Honors and Awards

NSE’s Dewan discusses a new way to do nuclear with The New Yorker

In February of 2010, Leslie Dewan and Mark Massie, two MIT students, were sitting on a bench in a soaring marble lobby under the university’s iconic dome. They had just passed their PhD qualifying exams in nuclear engineering ...more

Jake Jurewicz

Jake Jurewicz: Meeting the Challenge of Nuclear Energy

Studying Energy at MIT means many things to many students. For some, it means urban planning or ocean engineering. For others, it means nuclear physics or climate science.

 

When Jake Jurewicz ’14, a nuclear science and engineering major, first came to MIT he had his sights set on studying nuclear fusion – the “Holy Grail,” he says, of energy sources because of its ability to produce a constant, clean supply of electricity. But it didn’t take long for Jurewicz to broaden his focus. His studies at MIT include not only developing and improving nuclear technology, but also the social and political issues that can present barriers to expanded use of nuclear energy.

“The nuclear industry struggles not from a lack of new ideas or engineering solutions, but from a means of implementing them,” Jurewicz says. “Politicians, social groups, and regulatory agencies are constantly changing and expanding their demands of nuclear energy.”

...more

Diving into nuclear policy

Whether he’s in a Navy submarine or in Washington, you’ll find MIT senior Cameron McCord at the intersection of nuclear engineering, policy and service.

 

If you ask MIT students where they see themselves in a few years, you’ll get a wide range of answers — but almost all will be on dry land. MIT senior Cameron McCord feels a different calling: the ocean deep.

A physics and nuclear science and engineering major from Springfield, Va., who is part of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) at MIT, McCord will spend at least five years as an officer in the U.S. Navy after graduating. A commitment to service is typical for NROTC students, but McCord is taking the road less traveled by being selected for submarine service.

“A submarine is basically an engineer’s dream, because it’s a completely isolated nuclear powerplant that’s on its own underwater,” explains McCord, a 2012 Truman Scholar. “Submarines are awesome; I always sort of geek out when I’m talking about them.”

...more

VIDEO: Today MIT, tomorrow the world: Members of the Class of 2013 tell their story watch

NSE’s Shaner wins Heller Entrepreneurship Grant

NSE graduate student Sam Shaner was one of four students recently awarded the Ronald I. Heller Entrepreneurship Grant by MIT through the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship.

The Ronald I. Heller Entrepreneurship Grant is presented annually to a MIT student or group of students for their significant impact on the quality and overall spirit of entrepreneurship at the Institute, working closely with the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, and for their leadership and entrepreneurial fervor in introducing more students to entrepreneurship. ...more

NSE students graduate from Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program

Four NSE students were among 59 across the Institute who were awarded Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program Certificates this week. Cameron McCord and Ekaterina Paramonova received Advanced Certificates of Engineering Leadership for successfully completing the requirements of the two-year Bernard M. Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program. Cameron French and Jake Jurewicz earned Certificates of Engineering Leadership for completing their first year in the program. French and Jurewicz will start the second year program in fall 2013. ... more

NSE celebrates outstanding students at the Annual Awards Dinner

On May 9, 2013 the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and the student chapter of the American Nuclear Society hosted their annual awards dinner. ... more

NSE-led UPower wins category in MIT Clean Energy Prize, is finalist in MIT 100K competition

The sixth annual MIT Clean Energy Prize (CEP) competition, held Monday night, awarded a total of $320,000 to five teams that have developed clean-energy startups and innovations.

The contest, co-sponsored by Massachusetts utility NSTAR and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and open to teams from any American university, is the nation’s leading student-run energy business-plan competition. Past participants have gone on to raise a total of $130 million in funding. ... more

Lindsey Anne Gilman

NSE's Gilman honored at ODGE celebration of women graduate students

In April 2013, MIT's Office of the Dean for Graduate Education hosted a celebration of graduate women at MIT. NSE's Lindsey Gilman was one of 47 graduate students who were nominated by their peers, faculty, and staff. The honorees were nominated and selected based on their leadership and service contributions at the Institute, their dedication to mentoring and their drive to make changes to improve student experience. At the celebration, held at the Microsoft NERD Center, honorees presented posters to help attendees:

learn about their accomplishments
celebrate their work
discover the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead ... more

Changing the face of the nuclear engineer

Students of nuclear science and technology learned from experts in the field, presented their unique research, and captured on video what it means to be a nuclear scientist or nuclear engineer last week at the 2013 American Nuclear Society Student Conference. The first ever “I’m a Nuke” videos will be featuring nuclear science and technology students from across the world who participated in the conference hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Student Section of the American Nuclear Society.

The conference theme was the Public Image of the Nuclear Engineer. This was based on the conflicting views of the nuclear industry which many continue to hold. Although nuclear energy is safe, clean, and reliable, it has many obstacles in convincing the public of its successes. ... more

Winner, Jacob DeWitt of UPower

NSE-led teams sweep Future Energy @ MIT pitch competition

On April 4 three NSE-led teams took the top prizes in a Boston-area pitch competition focused on finding radical new solutions to the world’s energy challenges. The pitch contest, Future Energy @ MIT, was convened by Ultra Light Startups, an organizer of pitch events, with MIT partners the MIT Energy Club and the MIT Clean Energy Prize. The event featured eight energy and clean-tech startups from Boston-area schools presenting to a panel of venture capital and corporate investors. ... more

NSE students in the national spotlight

NSE graduate students Leslie Dewan and Mark Massie, and alum Robert Petrowski were names to the Forbes 30 under 30 rising stars in the energy sector. Seniors Cameraon McCord, Ekaterina Paramonova, and Ethan Peterson were names to the Business Insider 14 most impressive students at MIT list.... more

Ethan Petersom

NSE Senior Ethan E. Peterson wins National Scholar-Athlete award

Ethan E. Peterson ’13 is a Course 22 (Nuclear Science and Engineering) and Course 8 (Physics) senior on MIT Men’s Varsity Football. He has started on the MIT offensive line for the last three seasons and became co-captain last season. ... more

Women's Lightweight Eight

NSE students honored by Collegiate Coaches Rowing Association

NSE's Lauren Ayers '12 and Elizabeth Wei '12 are among eleven MIT women rowers named National Scholar Athletes for 2012 by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA). ... more

NSE grad students Dewan and Massie speak at TEDx New England

Leslie Dewan and Mark Massie have invented a new type of nuclear reactor, the Waste-Annihilating Molten Salt Reactor, that can help solve the nuclear waste problem. The WAMSR consumes nuclear waste as it turns it into electricity, reducing the mass of the high-level actinide waste by up to 98%. more