Forging ties for our future. We recognize that attracting staff from diverse backgrounds is a necessity for success if we are to solve the complex challenges we face in fusion and fission. Today I’d like to share some efforts from FFESD staff to connect with universities that the U.S. Department of Education regards as Minority Serving Institutions. If you would like to share your outreach activities with us, please contact Connections writer Amy Reed at reedac@ornl.gov.
—Kathy McCarthy, Associate Laboratory Director, May/June 2022
Doug Bowen. Photo credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
University of New Mexico
As a section head, it is part of my job responsibility to focus on the diversity of our staff, and we are seeing progress,” said Doug Bowen, Section Head of Nuclear Criticality, Radiation Transport, and Safety in the Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division. “I also feel a personal motivation to mentor students and have done so for several decades,”
Bowen, a national leader in nuclear criticality safety, returns periodically to his alma mater, the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, to inspire the next generation of nuclear engineers. Nearly half (approximately 47%) of the university’s students are Hispanic.
“What is cool about the University of Mexico is its location near two national labs – Sandia and Los Alamos,” Bowen said. “Several students I’ve worked with have gone on to positions at national labs.”
Bowen is a core instructor of the University of New Mexico Criticality Safety Short Course and is on the dissertation committee for a current PhD student in nuclear engineering.
“I try to do what I can – one of my goals for this year is to do more,” Bowen said.
Texas A&M University
Several of our staff have mentored interns from Texas A&M University, which ranks in the top 10 universities nationwide in the number of degrees granted annually to Hispanics in engineering, math, and physical sciences. Duy Thien Nguyen, an energy systems development engineer in the Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division, was a member of Texas A&M’s research faculty before joining ORNL.
“Several students from my group at Texas A&M have gone on to internships at national labs, including here at ORNL,” Nguyen said. One such student was Marilyn Delgado, a nuclear engineering student at Texas A&M who was an intern at ORNL in 2019 and is now a test engineer at BWX Technologies Inc.
Yashika Ghai. Photo credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
University of California, Irvine
Several of our fusion researchers have ties to the University of California, Irvine, which is designated as both an Asian American and a Native American Pacific Islander serving institution. The university reported that 37% of its current freshman students are under-represented minorities, 45% are from lower-income families, and 49% are first-generation college students.
Cami Collins, Group Leader of Advanced Tokamak Physics in the Fusion Energy Division, did her post-doctoral research in energetic particle physics through UC Irvine. She has co-advised a graduate student at the college and returned last year as a guest lecture.
“I’ve also been actively encouraging specific grad students who would be a good fit for ORNL to apply as post-docs here,” Collins said.
Yashika Ghai, a plasma physicist in the Plasma Theory and Modeling Group in the Fusion Energy Division, is part of ORNL’s collaboration with UC Irvine on a DOE fusion research program called Integrated Simulation of Energetic Particles in Burning Plasmas, which is part of the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing Project.
“We work with a group of the university’s professors, post-docs, and students on research that is one of the next steps toward fusion as an energy source,” Ghai said. “We’re collaborating on modeling and simulations that increase our understanding of the underlying physics of plasma instabilities driven by energetic particles. The end goal is an efficient, self-heating plasma for sustained energy production.”
University of Texas at San Antonio
Staff in our directorate are collaborating on two DOE research projects with the University of Texas at San Antonio, which has a student population that is 53% female, 57% Hispanic, and 45% first-generation college students.
The projects, which involve developing and testing fuel forms that enhance the safety and economics of nuclear power, are led by Assistant Professor Elizabeth Sooby in the UT San Antonio Department of Physics and Astronomy. During her post-doctoral research, Sooby was mentored by Andy Nelson, Section Head of Nuclear Fuel Development at ORNL. She turned to ORNL as a collaborative partner on the research projects because of the Lab’s expertise in nuclear fuel.
“Through ties with colleges like the University of Texas at San Antonio, our lab can foster ties with nuclear engineering students from diverse backgrounds,” Nelson said. “This university is unique because it specializes in supporting non-traditional students. A lot are first-generation students who need night classes or shorter semesters spread out over more years because they are working full-time to support a family.”