Guler Yigitoglu named to ANS 40 Under 40 list

The American Nuclear Society has named the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher Askin Guler Yigitoglu to its 40 Under 40 list for 2025.

The annual list, published by the society’s Nuclear News magazine, honors emerging professionals for their technical accomplishments, leadership and contributions to the nuclear community. 

Guler Yigitoglu’s work supports ORNL’s efforts to modernize nuclear systems and advance safe, reliable energy technologies. As an advanced systems risk and reliability analyst in the Modern Nuclear I&C Group, Guler Yigitoglu leads risk and reliability research, advancing probabilistic risk assessment methods for complex nuclear systems. She developed the first component reliability database for molten salt reactors and has recently developed a real-time generation risk assessment method for advanced reactors. Her work supports small modular reactor deployment, risk-informed design optimization of advanced reactors and fusion systems safety.

Guler Yigitoglu earned a doctorate in nuclear engineering from The Ohio State University in 2016 and holds both master’s and bachelor’s degrees in nuclear engineering from Hacettepe University in Türkiye. She also was recently honored as the 2025 recipient of ANS’s Mary Jane Oestmann Professional Women’s Achievement Award. 

ORNL is committed to supporting U.S. energy needs by pursuing strategic research that advances a wide variety of affordable, abundant and competitive nuclear technologies, and strengthens national security. The lab’s scientific expertise and world-class facilities are often the first step in advancing nuclear energy innovations. 

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science. – Liz McCrory