Bio
Dr. Katherine Montoya joined the Particle Fuel Forms Group in January 2023 as a Research and Development Staff member. Dr. Montoya’s primary research focuses on the microstructural characterization of irradiated and as-fabricated tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) coated particle fuel for advanced nuclear reactor applications. Dr. Montoya supports the characterization efforts of particles from the Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Qualification and Development program and Space Nuclear Propulsion programs.
Before joining ORNL, she earned her Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Texas San Antonio. Her dissertation focused on the thermal performance and microstructural analysis of matrix graphite and SiC under various high temperatures off-normal reactor conditions. During that time, Dr. Montoya completed a portion of her graduate research through the H.E.R.E program in the summer of 2019.