Another school year is now well underway, and we have welcomed a new group of outstanding undergraduate sophomores and first-year graduate students.
Both of these incoming classes are considerably larger than NSE has seen in many years. Many of the students identify themselves as ‘nuclear greens’. They see exciting opportunities to design new fission and fusion energy systems to help ameliorate the grave threat of climate change. (In this they are far ahead of many politicians and pundits, who have yet to discover that the world cannot hope to meet the economic aspirations of the global population while avoiding the worst consequences of climate change without a major expansion of the nuclear role.)
The students in NSE are an extraordinary group. Each year they bring new energy and creativity into the Department. As members of the NSE faculty our obligation — and privilege — is to provide them with insights, techniques, and authentic experiences that will prepare them for leadership in nuclear innovation.
Also this fall we welcomed our newest faculty member, Professor Areg Danagoulian. Areg is an experimental nuclear physicist who has spent the last few years in industry, developing technologies for detecting nuclear weapons and materials hidden inside shielded cargoes. His research collaborations with Prof. Scott Kemp and Dr. Richard Lanza are adding to NSE’s growing nuclear security portfolio, and with new faculty with related interests also joining other MIT departments, including Political Science, we continue to advance on our vision of a multi-disciplinary MIT education in nuclear security, combining technology and policy. You can learn more about Prof. Danagoulian here.
A few weeks ago the Department launched the NSE Communication Lab, a new resource to help our students become more effective and confident communicators. We were encouraged to do this by feedback from recent alums. They emphasized the importance of communication in their professional lives, and their responses showed that there is considerable room for improvement in this aspect of our program. The new Lab is off to a great start, and you can read more about it here.
In another new development, this year we inaugurated a new departmental award. The Del Favero Thesis Prize, established with a generous gift from alum James Del Favero (SM ’84), will be awarded annually to a PhD graduate in NSE whose thesis is judged to have made the most innovative advance in our field. The first winner, Dr. Zach Hartwig, was cited for ‘his exceptional contributions to the conception, development, and implementation of accelerator-based in situ materials surveillance techniques for magnetic fusion devices, and for generating outstanding innovations in nuclear detection and modeling along the way.’ Zach will receive a cash award and will also deliver a special lecture in the Department on November 13. Congratulations Zach!
I wish you all an enjoyable and productive Fall (or Spring, depending on your hemisphere!)
Warm regards,
-- Richard
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