Happening @ Michigan https://events.umich.edu/list/rss RSS Feed for Happening @ Michigan Events at the University of Michigan. 2019 NERS Bootcamp (October 18, 2019 8:00am) https://events.umich.edu/event/63575 63575-15784207@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, October 18, 2019 8:00am
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

WHO: We are looking for undergraduate junior and seniors from nuclear engineering, electrical engineering and computer science, mechanical engineering, physics, etc.

Apply now for the October 18, 2019 Bootcamp (deadline to apply: August 18) !

Join us for a one-and-half day bootcamp to learn about how you can launch your career and change the world with a graduate degree in Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences! Travel funding provided to successful applicants.

Apply at: https://forms.gle/qo3M5dV8QduEYjs8A

Download the flyer at: https://ners.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2019/05/Reboot-Flier-2019-final_rev2.pdf

SCHEDULE:

October 17: Dinner mixer with current PhD students

October 18:
08:00 Welcome and Introduction to NERS (led by NERS faculty)
• Impact of NERS on societal issues
• Milestones and timeline to PhD
• Masters program
• Student support (Research Assistant, Student Instructor, Fellowships)

09:00 Laboratory Tours (guided by NERS PhD students)

12:00 Noon Lunch with current NERS PhD students
• Panel - Life as a PhD student in NERS (current NERS PhD students)

13:00 Learn about NERS research options
• Break-out sessions with fission, materials, measurements, and plasmas

14:00 Meetings with individual faculty

17:00 Return to hotel and dinner with current PhD students

October 19:
10:00 Improve your application to graduate school (led by NERS faculty)
• Procuring great letter writers
• Research and personal statements
• GRE/TOEFL

11.00 Part 2. Careers in Nuclear Engineeringand Radiological Sciences
• Industry, national laboratories, academia

12:00 Noon: Depart

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Fri, 02 Aug 2019 15:51:47 -0400 2019-10-18T08:00:00-04:00 2019-10-18T17:00:00-04:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar bootcamp flyer
NERS Colloquium: Chan Bock Lee, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (October 25, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/68681 68681-17136737@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, October 25, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Title: Energy in the Earth, and the Role of Nuclear Power

Abstract: Life can be described as the existence who can utilize the energy. Among life, human may be best in energy utilization and actually use too much energy. This talk will review what is the energy, how the energy is used in earth and ecology through diverse transformation, and history of human energy use including fossil fuels, renewables and nuclear energy. As there is nothing free, the effect of the immense energy use by human upon the ecology and the climate in earth will be reviewed. As nuclear energy is a source of all the energy in the universe, the role of nuclear energy will be discussed reviewing characteristics of nuclear energy, and the way to enhance the public acceptance for nuclear power plant and radiation, to emphasize that the nuclear energy, and in particular, electricity from nuclear power plant is essential to energy use of human in the future.

Bio: Dr. Chan Bock Lee received his BS and MS in Nuclear Engineering from Seoul National University in South Korea and his PhD in Nuclear Engineering from MIT. He has been working at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) since 1989. At KAERI, he has worked in fuel design, fabrication, irradiation testing and performance evaluation for diverse fuels such as UO2 fuel for commercial PWR, metallic fuel for SFR and research reactor, and TRISO fuel for VHTR. He served
as Division Director of Fuel Development at KAERI from 2011 to 2017 and Chair of Nuclear Fuel and Materials Division in Korea Nuclear Society from 2014 to 2016. This year he published “Energy Common Sense”, a book upon which will be the basis of this talk.

]]>
Lecture / Discussion Tue, 22 Oct 2019 11:23:49 -0400 2019-10-25T16:00:00-04:00 2019-10-25T17:00:00-04:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Lecture / Discussion flyer of 10-25-19 NERS Colloquium: Chan Bock Lee, PhD
NERS Colloquium: Sarah Mills, UM Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy (November 1, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/68940 68940-17197042@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, November 1, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Abstract: In this talk, Sarah will highlight findings from her recent research examining the disparate community responses to wind energy projects to extrapolate lessons that might apply to the nuclear industry. She'll talk about the importance of procedural justice in the planning process and the dangers of project proponents over-promising and under-delivering. She'll also discuss her research finding that there are some communities where wind energy is likely to be opposed, even when developers do everything right. And she'll discuss how public policy - including tax policy and siting authority - can alter a community's willingness to accept a wind project.

Bio: Sarah Mills is a Senior Project Manager at the Graham Sustainability Institute and at the Ford School's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP). Her Ford School research focuses on how renewable energy development impacts rural communities (positively and negatively) and how state and local policies facilitate or hinder renewable energy deployment. At Graham, she leads a grant from the Michigan Office of Climate and Energy to help communities across the state incorporate energy in their land use planning, zoning, and other policymaking. Sarah has a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Michigan, an MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development from Cambridge University, and a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University.

]]>
Lecture / Discussion Tue, 29 Oct 2019 14:07:25 -0400 2019-11-01T16:00:00-04:00 2019-11-01T17:00:00-04:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Lecture / Discussion flyer of 11-01-19 NERS Colloquium: Sarah Mills, UM Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
NERS Colloquium: Professor Ning Li, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (November 8, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/68944 68944-17197046@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, November 8, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Ning Li, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Senior Advisor
Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation

Abstract: Nuclear energy industry has been in stagnation and decline for over 30 years in US and many parts of the world. It is an energy source in crisis, and we are responsible.
The R&D, the reactor engineering and designs have been operating on the outdated and mistaken assumptions that uranium is rare and high conversion reactors are needed. We pursued neutron and conversion efficiency at the risks to the investments, operators, public and environment, and sacrificed capital efficiency and asset safety that are essential for marketplace.
Nuclear fuel is where most of the energy and radioactivity are in reactors. By nature it has extremely high energy density. But we do have design choices in coolant, total power and power density. Recognizing the extreme differences between nuclear and chemical fuels, we can design, fabricate and protect nuclear fuel before it becomes radioactive, and design the reactor so that it is meltdown proof in the best case scenario, or won’t damage the fuel and release large quantities of radioactivity in the worst case scenario.
Learning from other industries in which major innovations have been successfully introduced, and based on our research on fully ceramic micro-encapsulated fuel, we developed a gas cooled micro modular reactor that can meet the safety criteria for all and are economically attractive in entry markets. We can bootstrap into new nuclear in years, not decades, and have the potential to quickly scale up with global impact on mitigating climate change.
This presentation will outline the thought process, the proposed approach, and the progress and outlook of the development and demonstration.

Bio: Dr. Ning Li is a co-founder and senior advisor of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, a US company dedicated to the development and commercialization of advanced nuclear energy based on innovations on fuel and micro modular reactor. He was a Distinguished Professor and the Dean of College of Energy, Xiamen University, a member of the Expert Committee for the State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (working with Westinghouse to build the world’s first AP1000s and develop new designs), a senior advisor and Director for Asia Development of TerraPower, a research affiliate of MIT, and the Industrial Fellow for Civilian Nuclear Programs at LANL. Dr. Li has extensive R&D experiences in nuclear energy and fuel cycle technologies, and was a planner, leader and participant in a number of US DOE civilian nuclear energy programs, including Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems, Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative and Accelerator-driven Waste Transmutation. His R&D interests and efforts extend to advanced materials, fabrication, power conversion, long-life core or travelling-wave reactors, and power generation technologies and systems in general, including renewables, storage, efficiency and integrated systems.

Dr. Li maintains strong academic and international collaborations, and publishes widely with over 220 technical papers and reports. Dr. Li is a co-founder and the President of the New Energy Industry Alliance since 2013, a recipient of the 2006 Asian American Engineer of the Year Award and 2010 Scientific Chinese Person of the Year Award.

]]>
Conference / Symposium Fri, 08 Nov 2019 10:58:23 -0500 2019-11-08T16:00:00-05:00 2019-11-08T17:00:00-05:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Conference / Symposium image of flyer for NERS Colloquium: Professor Ning Li, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation
NERS Colloquium: Piyush Sabharwall, PhD, Idaho National Laboratory (November 15, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/68945 68945-17197048@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, November 15, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

ABSTRACT: The development of more-efficient, reliable, and cost-effective nuclear technologies has been accomplished by testing and evaluating the performance of fissile and non-fissile materials in neutron-rich environments, such as Advanced Test Reactor (ATR), High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), etc. In addition, irradiation tests have been done to support the verification and validation of systems and components of nuclear reactors for licensing purposes. Currently, there are very few fast-neutron sources for civilian research. Recently, access to fast-neutron technologies has been fulfilled by using foreign nuclear research reactors, but many research institutions and industries do not have access to this technology and resource, which can limit development of advanced nuclear energy technologies. Furthermore, this limits the expansion of practical knowledge and feasibility in the area of nuclear physics, chemistry, material science, and instrumentation and measurement. Therefore, efforts have begun to develop the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR), a bridge to advance nuclear future. The objective of which is to perform irradiation tests on fuels, materials, and components to understand and evaluate their performance. The access to VTR will significantly increase the knowledge base in terms of irradiation of materials, reactor fuels and components. The inclusion of these experiment vehicles will enable the VTR to perform multiple tests that can support various mission areas while enhancing technical readiness levels for its anticipated life of 50 to 100 years.

BIO: Dr. Piyush Sabharwall is a staff research scientist working in Nuclear System Design and Analysis Division at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). He has expertise in heat transfer, fluid mechanics, thermal design, thermodynamics, and nuclear safety analyses. Over the last few years, he has been researching high temperature heat exchanger design and optimization, system integration and power conversion systems, energy storage, and safety and reliability for Advanced Reactor Concepts. He has exhibited leadership qualities by leading several external partnerships both at regional/international levels, engagements with industry, national laboratories and academia. He has co-authored two books, contributed chapters to technical books on advanced reactors and thermal systems and process heat transfer and published over 100 peer-reviewed publications. He holds an Adjunct Associate Professor appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University and serves on the ASME Heat Transfer Division's K-9 and K-13 committees. Dr. Sabharwall received the ASME New Faces of Engineering Award in 2011, the ANS Young Member Excellence National Award in 2013, and the ANS Landis Young Member Engineering Achievement Award in 2019.

]]>
Lecture / Discussion Wed, 13 Nov 2019 19:49:16 -0500 2019-11-15T16:00:00-05:00 2019-11-15T17:00:00-05:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Lecture / Discussion Thermal Hydraulic Experiments and Modeling to Support Design, Development, and Deployment of Advanced Nuclear Reactors
NERS Colloquium: Evdokiya Kostadinova, PhD, Baylor University (November 22, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/69537 69537-17357975@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, November 22, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

ABSTRACT: Order and stability in the giant world of stars and galaxies is dominated by the force of gravity. In contrast, the tiny world of atomic and subatomic particles is held together by nuclear and quantum forces. As one sizes up from the subatomic to the astronomical scales, a natural question emerges: What fundamental principles govern the world of the “in-between”? In other words, what happens to the laws of nature when the time and spatial scales are neither large nor small? In this talk, I invite you to a journey through the mesoscopic wonderland of dusty plasma, where principles are semi-classical, forces are non-linear, thermodynamics is non-equilibrium, and dimensions are quasi-defined. We will tour this almost impossible world by exploring dusty plasmas in nature and laboratory, both on Earth and in space.

BIO: Dr. Kostadinova obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Physics at Furman University in South Carolina in 2014. She received her Doctoral degree in December 2017 from Baylor University. The focus of her dissertation was employing new mathematical techniques in the study of transport in two-dimensional disordered systems. Her dissertation work was published as a book by Springer in 2018.
Currently, Dr. Kostadinova works as an assistant research professor at Baylor University’s Center for Astrophysics Space Physics and Engineering Research (CASPER). Her primary research interests lie along the intersections of fundamental physics and applied mathematics. Those include the onset of turbulence and instabilities in disordered media, nonlocal interactions in correlated systems, self-organization and stability of dusty plasmas in gravity and microgravity conditions, thermodynamics of non-Hamiltonian systems, and dust particle techniques for plasma diagnostics. Dr. Kostadinova’s works for the Plasmakristall-4 project – the latest dusty plasma laboratory on board the International Space Station. Most recently, her work has focused on developing a spectral approach to the onset of Kolmogorov turbulence in dusty plasma liquids.

]]>
Lecture / Discussion Mon, 18 Nov 2019 14:30:13 -0500 2019-11-22T16:00:00-05:00 2019-11-22T17:00:00-05:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Lecture / Discussion Evdokiya Kostadinova
Undergraduate Internship Opportunities at National Laboratories (December 6, 2019 12:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/69965 69965-17489269@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, December 6, 2019 12:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Professor Sara Pozzi with the University of Michigan department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences invites you to participate in a discussion and luncheon to learn how you can benefit from an internship experience at a national labs such as Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Nevada National Security Site, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Savannah River National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex.

Hear from previous undergraduate and graduate students who participated in internships at the national laboratories.

Contact Dr. Shaun Clarke for more details about these internship opportunities at clarkesd@umich.edu

Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification: MTV.engin.umich.edu

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Wed, 04 Dec 2019 11:30:48 -0500 2019-12-06T12:00:00-05:00 2019-12-06T13:00:00-05:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar Interns at National Labs
That's an Interesting Idea: Data Driven Models, Compressed Sensing, and Other Outré Tools for Nuclear Applications (December 6, 2019 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/69829 69829-17433857@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, December 6, 2019 1:30pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Ryan will cover a variety of research topics being investigated in his group at Notre Dame, including using data-driven models to estimate the time-dependent behavior of fission experiments, the use of compressed sensing to estimate Monte Carlo solutions, and the application of machine learning to improve nuclear data. This talk will highlight how knowledge from statistics, applied mathematics, and computer science can be used to increase the impact of research in nuclear engineering applications. The talk will conclude with future research opportunities in these areas.

Ryan McClarren is a graduate of the University of Michigan NERS program with BSE, MSE, and PhD degrees. Currently he serves as Associate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. McClarren joined the Notre Dame faculty in August 2017. His research interests include the application of machine learning and compressed sensing to numerical simulation, numerical methods for X-ray radiative transfer and particle transport and uncertainty quantification. He received the 2019 Young Member’s Research Award by the Mathematics and Computations Division (MCD) of the American Nuclear Society (ANS).

He is the author of two textbooks: the recently published Uncertainty Quantification and Predictive Computational Science, a textbook focused on senior undergraduate and early-career graduate students in engineering and the physical sciences, and Computational Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Science Using Python, a textbook for undergraduate engineering students that uses the Python programming language to present more easily accessible numerical methods for nuclear energy, radiation protection and homeland security applications.

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Wed, 27 Nov 2019 14:49:06 -0500 2019-12-06T13:30:00-05:00 2019-12-06T14:30:00-05:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar Ryan McClarren
NERS Colloquium: Nonproliferation Policy and the U.S. Fuel Cycle (December 6, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/68947 68947-17197050@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, December 6, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Abstract
In July 2019, the White House established the U.S. Nuclear Fuel Working Group to “reinvigorate the entire nuclear fuel supply chain, consistent with United States national security and nonproliferation goals.” But what is the link between a robust and secure civil nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear nonproliferation, and how do U.S. nonproliferation policies impact the domestic nuclear industry? In this colloquium talk, Ty Otto will discuss these issues, including topics such as (1) U.S. nuclear cooperation agreements, which pave the way for U.S. nuclear firms to compete in foreign countries, (2) concepts to “internationalize” the nuclear fuel cycle in support of nonproliferation goals. As an analyst at a U.S. national laboratory, he also shares his perspectives on how DOE Labs harness technical expertise to support nonproliferation policymakers. 

Biography
Ty Otto is an analyst at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where he focuses on a variety of nonproliferation issues including IAEA verification, the risks of emerging technologies, ensuring treaty compliance at domestic U.S. locations, and advancing U.S. nuclear nonproliferation policy. Prior to joining PNNL in 2016, he worked as a graduate fellow at DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration, supporting the Office of Nonproliferation and Arms Control.  He has a master’s in nuclear energy from the University of Cambridge (UK), and a BS in physics from the University of Washington.

]]>
Lecture / Discussion Tue, 26 Nov 2019 14:28:37 -0500 2019-12-06T16:00:00-05:00 2019-12-06T17:00:00-05:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Lecture / Discussion Speaker: Ty Otto, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
NERS Colloquium: Computational Imaging for Precision Medicine (January 10, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70900 70900-17735197@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, January 10, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Abstract:
Advances in imaging computation and analytics is revolutionizing how radiographic data is being analyzed. Nowhere is it being felt more than in the field of thoracic radiology. With high resolution and soft tissue-air contrast, clinically available computed tomography scans are being exploited for algorithmic development, which includes AI techniques, leading to improved diagnostics, prognostication and response assessment. Here, I will present my groups’ research in phenotyping of obstructive lung diseases, deep learning feature detection for air trapping quantification and machine learning for improved donor lung screening for transplantation.


Biosketch:
Dr. Craig Galban is an Associate Professor of Radiology who received his doctorate in Chemical Engineering from Florida State University. He has received consistent funding from the National Institutes of Health and has nearly 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Fri, 03 Jan 2020 13:35:56 -0500 2020-01-10T16:00:00-05:00 2020-01-10T17:00:00-05:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar Speaker: Craig Galban
NERS Colloquium: Nuclear Power for Deep Decarbonization: Insights from Recent Modeling (January 17, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70137 70137-17540918@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, January 17, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Abstract
Avoiding the worst consequences of climate change hinges on the transition to a deeply decarbonized global energy system. The development and deployment of promising, low-carbon energy technologies that could facilitate this transition—including nuclear power—is severely constrained by non-technical factors, including economics, but especially socio-political factors. This talk will present two new, interdisciplinary methods for evaluating some of these constraints. First, recent research on the performance of U.S. advanced fission innovation will be presented: this research has generated a new approach for evaluating technology development programs sponsored by the federal government. Second, insights will be presented from a recent study on the role of public opposition in constraining the deployment of nuclear power for decarbonization. This research is being extended to endogenously integrate societal preferences regarding energy technologies into energy system optimization models. Failure to integrate socio-political constraints leads to mathematically feasible, but socially unacceptable, decarbonization pathways, rendering greenhouse gas mitigation yet more difficult. This new wave of research, grounded in industrial engineering and the decision sciences, seeks to inform the design of emerging energy systems and to improve decision making by technology developers, policy makers, and researchers.

Speaker Bio
Ahmed Abdulla is Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. His research investigates the deployment of emerging energy systems; specifically, it optimizes the design of these energy systems and seeks to integrate real-world constraints into energy system models. Dr. Abdulla’s work has been supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation, among others. Results from his research have been published in leading journals, including "Nature Climate Change" and the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences;" they have also been featured in the "Wall Street Journal," "Bloomberg News" and "The Los Angeles Times." Prior to Carnegie Mellon, Dr. Abdulla was Assistant Research Scientist in the Center for Energy Research at the University of California, San Diego. He holds a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University.

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Fri, 10 Jan 2020 13:10:18 -0500 2020-01-17T16:00:00-05:00 2020-01-17T17:00:00-05:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar Professor Ahmed Abdulla
ECRC & NERS / Engineering Physics Cookies & Careers (January 22, 2020 1:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70958 70958-17760233@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Wednesday, January 22, 2020 1:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Engineering Career Resource Center

NERS students are you preparing for the upcoming Engineering Career Fair? Stop by for a cookie and and a quick resume review with an ECRC Advisor.

This event will be held in 2906 Cooley - Baer Room

]]>
Careers / Jobs Tue, 07 Jan 2020 13:58:59 -0500 2020-01-22T13:00:00-05:00 2020-01-22T15:00:00-05:00 Cooley Building Engineering Career Resource Center Careers / Jobs Cooley Building
Connect with Caps (January 24, 2020 2:45pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/71538 71538-17836353@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, January 24, 2020 2:45pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Hear from Nidaa Shaikh, the College of Engineering's embedded counselor, about the counseling and psychological services provided by CAPS and the top 5 student concerns.

]]>
Well-being Wed, 15 Jan 2020 17:13:08 -0500 2020-01-24T14:45:00-05:00 2020-01-24T15:30:00-05:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Well-being CAPS
NERS Colloquium: Risk Management Perspectives from the Design and Deployment of the Westinghouse AP1000 Reactors (January 24, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70138 70138-17540917@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, January 24, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

The nuclear power industry has been historically plagued with considerable technology deployment risks, with project cost and schedule overruns presenting a significant risk to nuclear plant investors. The average realized cost of nuclear power plants built in the US was 3.18 times the planned cost. The industry has responded to these risks by employing various risk management practices to reduce the uncertainty associated with nuclear EPC projects. Some of these practices include streamlining the regulatory process with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (in the case of US reactors), standardizing designs, and modularizing physical structures and components to improve construction and constructability. Although these risk-management processes have been put in place, there are still considerable cost and schedule excursions that have occurred in the construction of recent nuclear power plant projects. Notably, the Westinghouse Vogtle and V.C. Summer projects reported significant cost and schedule overruns to an extent that the Vogtle project required a significant government bailout and the V.C. Summer project was cancelled.

Sola Talabi, will share his experience as the Westinghouse Risk Manager for the Engineering Procurement and Construction work scope for the Vogtle and V.C. Summer projects. Sola will explore the issue of cost and schedule overruns from the perspective of potentially overly optimistic targets and inadequacies in project execution. Sola will also provide recommendations on how to address these cost and schedule challenges for advanced reactor deployment.

Speaker: Sola Talabi, Nuclear Industry Consultant
Sola Talabi has 19 years' experience in the nuclear industry, with 14 years at Westinghouse Electric Company, where he was  the Nuclear Power Plants Risk Manager, and also the a member of the Westinghouse Intellectual Property and Innovation Committees. As Risk Manager, Sola was responsible for risk  management of the Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power plant fleet, with deployments in China and the US. He was also responsible for managing risks on the Westinghouse scope of supply for plants in the UAE.

Sola’s risk responsibilities further included managing project development risk on the Westinghouse Small Modular Reactor. Sola currently leads Pittsburgh Technical, which is a nuclear engineering practice that supports advanced nuclear deployment.

Sola holds the following degrees acquired at Carnegie Mellon University: a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy with a focus on risk management for large energy infrastructure projects, an MBA with a customized focus on energy, finance and operations, and a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering. He holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. Sola is also a PMI certified Risk Management Professional. Sola  has been recognized with leadership awards by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the National Black MBA Association. Sola has published several articles in peer‐refereed journals on the subjects of engineering, energy and risk management.

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Mon, 20 Jan 2020 11:06:58 -0500 2020-01-24T16:00:00-05:00 2020-01-24T17:00:00-05:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar NERS logo
NERS Colloquium: Medical Imaging Advances: Do All Bell-and-Whistle Options Impact Patient Care? (January 31, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70139 70139-17540914@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, January 31, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Learn about the development of Computed Tomography from its inception in the early 1970s to the present; the medical applications of CT (e.g., diagnostic radiology, radiation oncology, and interventional CBCT); and the current state of how CT improvements are driven. The theme of the discussion will be to highlight the key technological advances that increased the value of CT in medicine. Examples of advancements with unquestionable benefit to patient care and other “advancements” with motivation rooted in unwarranted fear over radiation dose will be covered. This discussion will be presented in a manner suitable for the non-medical imaging expert to convey the larger themes related to technology advancement in the space of medical imaging.


Speaker: Timothy Szczykutowicz, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Medical Physics

Dr. Szczykutowicz is an assistant professor in the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Departments of Radiology, Medical Physics, and Biomedical Engineering. He received his Bachelors of Science in Physics from the SUNY University at Buffalo in 2008. He was active in medical physics at Buffalo in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Rudin with the Toshiba Stroke Research Center, working on vessel sizing and detector performance characterization. After his undergraduate studies, Dr. Szczykutowicz came to the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he earned his Masters and PhD in Medical Physics, receiving mentorship from Doctors Charles 'Chuck' Mistretta and Guang-Hong Chen. His dissertation was on fluence field modulated CT, a promising x-ray imaging technique that allows for imaging dose to be tailored to individuals. After his dissertation work, Dr. Szczykutowicz spent a year as a doctrinal fellow and imaging physics resident with the Department of Medical Physics at the UW before being appointed as a clinical health sciences Assistant Professor. The clinical and research activities of Dr. Szczykutowicz include: optimizing CT scan protocols, monitoring patient dose, developing new metrics to define image quality in the clinical setting, developing protocol management methodologies, fluence field modulated CT, dual energy CT, and assisting in various projects related to cone beam CT.

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Tue, 14 Jan 2020 13:45:32 -0500 2020-01-31T16:00:00-05:00 2020-01-31T17:00:00-05:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar Speaker: Timothy Szczykutowicz
NERS Colloquium: How Solar Energy Became Cheap: A Model for Low-Carbon Innovation (February 7, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70140 70140-17540913@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, February 7, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Solar energy’s path to widespread adoption provides a successful model that can be applied to other technologies we will need to address climate change.

Solar photovoltaics (PV) has become a substantial global industry—a truly disruptive technology that has generated trade disputes among superpowers, threatened the solvency of large energy companies, and prompted serious reconsideration of electric utility regulation rooted in the 1930s. But,

How did solar become inexpensive? And why did it take so long?
As a 2017 Andrew Carnegie Fellow I had the opportunity to dive deeply into these questions, drawing on new data sets, analyses, and interviewing 75 individuals in 18 countries. The concept of National Innovation Systems provides a theoretical structure for this assessment and helps explain that PV’s success has been the result of distinct contributions mainly by the US, Japan, Germany, Australia, and China—in that sequence. Flows of knowledge from one country to another—often embodied in equipment, and also as tacit knowledge in the heads of internationally mobile individuals—have been central to solar’s progress. One payoff from understanding the reasons for solar’s success is that it can serve as a model for other low-carbon technologies. I focus on direct air carbon capture and small nuclear reactors. However other technologies would have to progress much faster than PV to be helpful for climate change. Possible approaches for accelerating innovation include: dynamic R&D foci, codification of knowledge, public procurement, robust markets, enhancing knowledge mobility, and addressing political economy considerations.

Speaker: Professor Gregory F. Nemet, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Gregory Nemet is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the La Follette School of Public Affairs. He teaches courses in policy analysis, energy systems, and international environmental policy. Nemet's research focuses on understanding the process of technological change and the ways in which public policy can affect it. He received his doctorate in energy and resources from the University of California, Berkeley. His A.B. is in geography and economics from Dartmouth College. He received an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship in 2017 and used it to write a book on how solar PV provides lessons for the development of other low-carbon technologies: “How Solar Energy Became Cheap: A Model for Low-Carbon Innovation” (Routledge 2019). He was awarded the inaugural World Citizen Prize in Environmental Performance by APPAM in 2019. He is currently a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6th Assessment Report.

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Thu, 23 Jan 2020 08:56:16 -0500 2020-02-07T16:00:00-05:00 2020-02-07T17:00:00-05:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar Professor Gregory F. Nemet
BME Ph.D Defense: Xiaotian Tan (February 12, 2020 11:00am) https://events.umich.edu/event/72235 72235-17963874@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Wednesday, February 12, 2020 11:00am
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Biomedical Engineering

Biosensors are devices or systems that can be used to detect, quantify, and analyze targets with biological activities and functions. As one of the largest subsets of biosensors, biomolecular sensors are specifically developed and programmed to detect, quantify and analyze biomolecules in liquid samples.

Wide-ranging applications have made immunoassays increasingly popular for biomolecular detection and quantification. Among these, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) are of particular interest due to high specificity and reproducibility. To some extent, ELISA has been regarded as a “gold standard” for quantifying analytes (especially protein analytes) in both clinical diagnostics and fundamental biological research. However, traditional (96-well plate-based) ELISA still suffers from several notable drawbacks, such as long assay time (4–6 hours), lengthy procedures, and large sample/reagent consumption (∼100 μL). These inherent disadvantages still significantly limit traditional ELISA's applicability to areas such as rapid clinical diagnosis of acute diseases (e.g., viral pneumonia, acute organ rejection), and biological research that requires accurate measurements with precious or low abundance samples (e.g., tail vein serum from a mouse). Thus, a bimolecular sensing technology that has high sensitivity, short assay time, and small sample/reagent consumption is still strongly desired.

In this dissertation, we introduce the development of a multifunctional and automated optofluidic biosensing platform that can resolve the aforementioned problems. In contrast to conventional plate-based ELISA, our optofluidic ELISA platform utilizes mass-producible polystyrene microfluidic channels with a high surface-to-volume ratio as the immunoassay reactors, which greatly shortens the total assay time. We also developed a low-noise signal amplification protocol and an optical signal quantification system that was optimized for the optofluidic ELISA platform.

Our optofluidic ELISA platform provides several attractive features such as small sample/reagent consumption (<8 µL), short total assay time (30-45 min), high sensitivity (~1 pg/mL for most markers), and a broad dynamic range (3-4 orders of magnitude). Using these features, we successfully quantified mouse FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) concentration with a single drop of tail vein serum. We also successfully monitored bladder cancer progression in orthotopic xenografted mice with only <50 µL of mouse urine. More excitingly, we achieved highly-sensitive exosome quantification and multiplexed immuno-profiling with <40 ng/mL of total input protein (per assay). These remarkable milestones could not be achieved with conventional plate-based ELISA but were enabled by our unique optofluidic ELISA.

As an emerging member of the bimolecular sensor family, our optofluidic ELISA platform provides a high-performance and cost-effective tool for a plethora of applications, including endocrinal, cancer animal model, cellular biology, and even forensic science research. In the future, this technology platform can also be renovated for clinical applications such as personalized cancer diagnosis/prognosis and rapid point-of-care diagnostics for infectious diseases.

]]>
Lecture / Discussion Thu, 30 Jan 2020 09:28:04 -0500 2020-02-12T11:00:00-05:00 2020-02-12T12:00:00-05:00 Cooley Building Biomedical Engineering Lecture / Discussion Xiaotian Tan
NERS Colloquium: Nuclear Communities and Consent in Nuclear Waste Siting (February 14, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70141 70141-17540912@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, February 14, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

In searching for solutions for nuclear waste, it has become evident that the social and political aspects of siting these facilities present unique challenges beyond the technical aspects of siting. Consent-based siting has emerged as a way to overcome some of these challenges. Yet consent itself is a complex concept. How do we define consent? Who has the right to consent? How does geographic context shape the way consent gets negotiated? These are questions I seek to explore in this discussion, drawing from qualitative fieldwork conducted in two communities in Southern Ontario that volunteered to be part of Canada’s search for a willing host for a spent fuel repository. I intend to demonstrate how particular socio-political and economic nuclear landscapes shape how consent is understood, the importance of recognizing and incorporating various voices in the process, and why thresholds for consent might paradoxically need to be higher in existing nuclear communities.


Speaker: Marissa Bell, Department of Geography at SUNY University at Buffalo
Marissa Bell is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography at SUNY University at Buffalo and a research fellow at the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy at George Washington University. Interested in energy justice, environmental governance, and political economy of risk, her dissertation work examines how geographic context and socio-political dynamics shape the implementation, community engagement, and perceived legitimacy of consent-based policies for siting high level nuclear waste in Canada. She contends with the need for nuclear waste storage, on the one hand, with the need for more equitable, fair and just methods of siting through community engagement, geographic context, and attention to process. Born in London, UK, but having grown up across European and American cultures, she has always been interested in how space and place influence decision-making and identity formation. Prior to embarking on a PhD, Marissa completed a BA at King’s College London, with a focus on European geopolitical identity, followed by an MA at the University at Buffalo, focusing on the risk tradeoff between climate change and nuclear risks post-Fukushima. In other research, Marissa has examined localized opposition to wind turbine installation in upstate New York, reflecting her broader underlying interest in energy justice and sustainable energy transitions.

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Thu, 06 Feb 2020 11:09:47 -0500 2020-02-14T16:00:00-05:00 2020-02-14T17:00:00-05:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar Speaker: Marissa Bell
NERS Colloquium: Reactor Designs for the 21st Century (February 21, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70142 70142-17540911@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, February 21, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Details forthcoming.

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Mon, 27 Jan 2020 08:43:18 -0500 2020-02-21T16:00:00-05:00 2020-02-21T17:00:00-05:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar NERS logo
Cancelled: Fastest Path to Zero Carbon Emissions: Building an Exemplar for Deploying Clean Energy (March 13, 2020 9:30am) https://events.umich.edu/event/73187 73187-18155747@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, March 13, 2020 9:30am
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Deploying clean energy is a complex multi-disciplinary task and, to be most successful, requires approaches that combine the best technology, acceptable costs, public policy approaches, and social decisions.

The teach-in will:
-Describe the current state of community acceptance of the deployment of renewable energy in Michigan
-Describe the national state of the deployment of a new generation of advanced nuclear energy
-Engage in facilitated conversations about the use of technology for the public good

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Wed, 11 Mar 2020 17:18:04 -0400 2020-03-13T09:30:00-04:00 2020-03-13T11:30:00-04:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar Michigan from Space
CANCELLED: Accelerating Nuclear Materials Innovation Through Rapid and Automated Analysis Techniques (March 13, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70144 70144-17540909@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, March 13, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Abstract: Materials can play a pivotal role in advancing the state of nuclear energy both domestically and aboard by increasing safety, efficiency, and operational lifetime. Until recently,
most advances in materials design for nuclear energy have been incremental – slight changes of composition here or tweaks in microstructure there. This talk will focus on research directions established at the University of Michigan to enable breakthroughs in the development of advanced nuclear materials by applying innovations in other research fields such as use of machine learning techniques. Recent results, including automated defect detection and analysis in electron micrographs, will be presented. The presentation will conclude with how these emerging techniques can be applied to Prof. Field’s other research directions including advanced alloy development and radiation effects to establish a new nuclear materials development workflow that expediates the development, testing, and deployment of novel materials for nuclear energy.

Biography: Dr. Kevin Field is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences at the University of Michigan where his research specializes in alloy development and radiation effects in ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. His active research interests include advanced electron microscopy and scattering-based characterization techniques, additive/advanced manufacturing for nuclear materials, and the application of machine/deep learning techniques for advanced innovation in characterization and development of materials systems. Prof. Field moved to University of Michigan in the Fall of 2019 after nearly seven years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he first started as an Alvin M. Weinberg Fellow and left at the level of Staff Scientist. Prof. Field has presented and published numerous manuscripts on radiation effects in various material systems relevant for nuclear power generation including irradiated concrete performance, deformation mechanisms in irradiated steels, and radiation tolerance of enhanced accident tolerant fuel forms. Dr. Field received his B.S. (2007) from Michigan Technological University in Materials Science & Engineering and his M.S. (2009) and Ph.D. (2012) from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in Materials Science with a focus on segregation phenomena in ion and neutron irradiated ferrous-based alloys. Dr. Field’s work has been recognized through several avenues including receiving the prestigious Alvin M. Weinberg Fellowship from ORNL in 2013 and being awarded the UT-Battelle Award for Early Career Researcher in Science and Technology in 2018.

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Thu, 12 Mar 2020 09:12:43 -0400 2020-03-13T16:00:00-04:00 2020-03-13T17:00:00-04:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar Kevin Field Headshot
CANCELLED: Hydrodynamic Instability and Radiation Hydrodynamics Experiments in High-Energy-Density Plasmas (March 20, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70143 70143-17540910@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, March 20, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Details forthcoming.

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Thu, 12 Mar 2020 09:13:01 -0400 2020-03-20T16:00:00-04:00 2020-03-20T17:00:00-04:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar Carolyn Kuranz headshot
[Postponed] CoE International Movie & Culture Nights (March 25, 2020 6:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/73802 73802-18320193@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Wednesday, March 25, 2020 6:30pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: INFORMS Student Chapter

[This movie night series is postponed for the winter semester and will resume shortly after we're all able to gather on campus together again]

Let’s watch a movie together! A movie that tells a story that you have never heard…

We will watch two international movies from different countries
during the Winter term. The first movie is “Veteran”, a South Korean action movie.

Before watching, a brief background of the movie will be introduced. We will provide Korean food for the evening to enjoy while we watch! Please RSVP via the provided form to make sure we can accommodate everyone who wants food.

This event is sponsored by the 2020 College of Engineering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Student Grants and organized by INFORMS at UM.

]]>
Film Screening Thu, 19 Mar 2020 14:49:14 -0400 2020-03-25T18:30:00-04:00 2020-03-25T21:00:00-04:00 Cooley Building INFORMS Student Chapter Film Screening The first movie is “Veteran”, a South Korean action movie.
CANCELLED: Structural Materials Degradation in Molten Salt Reactors (March 27, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70145 70145-17540908@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, March 27, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Details forthcoming.

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Thu, 12 Mar 2020 11:34:42 -0400 2020-03-27T16:00:00-04:00 2020-03-27T17:00:00-04:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar NERS logo
CANCELLED: Ninth Annual Richard K. Osborn Lecture—Kairos Power: From University Conception to Mission-Driven Start-Up (April 3, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70146 70146-17540906@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, April 3, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Fluoride-salt cooled, high-temperature reactors (FHRs) combine existing technologies in a novel way, using high-temperature fuels from gas-cooled reactors with a low-pressure molten salt coolant. In the last decade, U.S. national laboratories and universities have addressed key scientific and technical questions for the licensing and deployment of FHRs, and have developed pre-conceptual FHR designs with different fuel geometries, core configurations, heat transport system configurations, power cycles, and power levels. Founded in 2016, Kairos Power, a mission-driven engineering company based in California, has built on the foundation laid by U.S. Department of Energy sponsored university Integrated Research Projects to design, license, and demonstrate the KP-FHR. This talk overviews the history of FHR technology and the major role played by universities, as well as Kairos Power’s mission to enable the world’s transition to clean energy.

Speaker: Per F. Peterson is the Chief Nuclear Officer for Kairos Power, where he guides nuclear technology review and advises on scientific and technical topics for KP-FHR technology development and licensing. Peterson also continues to hold the William and Jean McCallum Floyd Chair in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Peterson’s work has focused on high-temperature fission energy systems, as well as topics related to the safety and security of nuclear materials and waste management. Peterson’s research in the nineties contributed to the passive safety systems in the GE ESBWR and Westinghouse AP-1000 reactor designs. Peterson also participated in the development of the Generation IV Roadmap in 2002, and his 2003 Nuclear Technology article with Charles Forsberg and Paul Pickard identified salt-cooled, solid fuel reactors as a promising technology, today called fluoride salt-cooled, high temperature reactors (FHRs).

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Thu, 12 Mar 2020 11:34:59 -0400 2020-04-03T16:00:00-04:00 2020-04-03T17:00:00-04:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar Per Peterson
CANCELLED: The Power of Neutron Fluctuation Analysis (April 10, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/71274 71274-17794080@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, April 10, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Cancelled.

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Thu, 12 Mar 2020 11:35:31 -0400 2020-04-10T16:00:00-04:00 2020-04-10T17:00:00-04:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar NERS
CANCELLED: Leveraging Modern Characterization for a Mechanistic Understanding of Nuclear Fuel Performance (April 17, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70147 70147-17540905@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, April 17, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Cooley Building
Organized By: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Cancelled.

]]>
Workshop / Seminar Thu, 12 Mar 2020 11:35:46 -0400 2020-04-17T16:00:00-04:00 2020-04-17T17:00:00-04:00 Cooley Building Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Workshop / Seminar NERS logo