With the Spring semester in full swing NSE is buzzing with events and activities.
On March 3rd Lady Barbara Judge presented the 12th David J. Rose Lecture in Nuclear Technology. In her lecture on “Nuclear Policies, Practices, and Problems”, Lady Judge, the former Chair of the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority, shared her insights into the many challenges facing nations looking to launch new nuclear programs. You can read about the lecture here.
A day later the Department hosted the inaugural Rising Stars in Nuclear Science and Engineering symposium. The symposium featured presentations by twelve outstanding young women researchers in nuclear and related fields from across the country. Organized by NSE Professors Paola Cappellaro, Anne White, and Bilge Yildiz, the symposium provided an opportunity for women on the verge of launching their careers in nuclear science and engineering to share their research and connect with each other and with established academics and practitioners. The day began with a conversation with Dr. Allison Macfarlane, Chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and also featured a lunch talk by Lady Judge and a panel discussion with several MIT professors on how to make an academic career in nuclear science and engineering. As one of our students noted, “it’s amazing to be in this room with all these women who are all doing awesome research!”
Strengthening the pipeline bringing talented women engineers and scientists into our field is a central element of NSE’s strategy, and recently I was delighted to be able to announce an extraordinarily generous gift by David Leighton endowing two fellowships for women graduate students in NSE. David, one of MIT’s first master’s graduates in nuclear engineering (in 1953, before the Department had even been formed) served our country with distinction for 26 years designing and constructing nuclear-powered navy ships under Admiral Hyman Rickover. At the same celebratory dinner we also honored Michele Kearney, Mason Willrich, and Ray Rothrock (SM ’78) for their tremendous support of NSE. (Ray, who is better known as one of the country’s leading venture capitalists, is also the co-executive producer of Pandora’s Promise, a documentary which recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The movie tells the story of erstwhile anti-nuclear activists who are now convinced of the importance of nuclear energy. We’re hoping to have a special screening at MIT later in the spring.)
In the meantime, the current generation of NSE students is demonstrating leadership of its own. In April the MIT Student Chapter of the American Nuclear Society will host the 2013 National ANS Student Conference. Our students are expecting around 500 of their colleagues from the U.S. and overseas to participate in the conference, whose theme is the “Public Image of the Nuclear Engineer”. You can find up-to-date information about the conference here.
Several NSE students have recently been in the national spotlight. In its annual 30 under 30 feature, which identifies some of the country’s most talented young ‘disruptors, innovators, and entrepreneurs’, Forbes magazine proclaimed that ‘The Future of Energy is Nuclear’, and named current NSE graduate students Leslie Dewan and Mark Massie and recent alum Robert Petroski (Ph.D. ’11) to its 30 under 30 energy list. Also, three current NSE seniors — Cameron McCord, Ekaterina Paramonova, and Ethan Peterson — were named to Business Insider’s list of the “14 most impressive students at MIT”. Read their stories here.
These are just a few of the outstanding students whose energy, imagination and intelligence drive so much of what takes place in our Department every day.
Finally, NSE gives a warm send-off to our colleague Prof. Ernie Moniz. Ernie has worked closely with NSE faculty and students in recent years, and we wish him every success as the nation’s next Secretary of Energy.
All the best for the Spring season.
-- Richard
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