News 2025
9/28/2025 - Upcoming talk at the 2025 MS&T conference
Catch up with the results of our NEUP project at the upcoming MS&T conference (September 28 - October 1). TK will give Dr. A's invited talk "Exploring the Complex Interplay Between Phases, Porosity, and Thermal Properties of in metallic fuels" on September 30 at 8 am.
9/11/2025 - Congratulations, Ally!
Allison has been selected to participate in the NEA Global Forum Rising Stars Workshop at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. This program is centered on female rising stars in science, technology, education, and policy into the global nuclear community. This is an incredible opportunity and we are excited for Ally!
8/7/2025 - Bao-Phong publishes paper on U-Pu-Zr fuels
Congratulations to Bao-Phong, whose second first author paper "Elucidating the effect of minor-actinide addition on fuel-cladding chemical interaction in an HT-9 clad U-Pu-Zr metallic fuel irradiated to 6.15 at.% burnup in EBR-II" has been published in Journal of Nuclear Materials. We show that minor actinides have little impact on FCCI behavior beyond what would be observed in typical HT-9 clad U-Pu-Zr fuel pins systems.
6/15/2025 - Upcoming talks at the ANS Annual conference
Catch up with our research at the upcoming 2025 ANS Annual Conference in Chicago (June 15-17).
Mary is presenting "Investigation of Constituent Redistribution in a 12 at% Burn-up Annular U-10Zr Fuel using EPMA and TEM" on June 16 at 2:20 pm
Cade is presenting "Developing Microstructurally Accurate Finite Element Meshes for Nuclear Fuels from 3D FIB Tomography Data" on June 18 at 3:15 pm
Ally is presenting "Assessing High Burnup U-19Pu-10Zr Fuel Performance Against Historical and Modeled Behavior" on June 18 at 3:15 pm
Sadie is presenting "Investigating the mechanisms driving high burnup structure formation" on June 18 at 4:15 pm
5/25/2025 - Congratulations, Bao-Phong!
Bao-Phong's paper "TEM characterization of two variants of fuel cladding chemical interaction in a HT-9 Clad U-10Zr Fuel. Variant 1: FCCI with a Zr Rind" has been published in Journal of Nuclear Materials. In this paper, we provide insight into crystallographic and compositional changes resulting from FCCI that could help improve fuel performance models.
5/14/2025 - Brandon received prestigious SCGSR fellowship
Congratulations to Brandon Bohanon, who was awarded Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Research Program fellowship! As part of this fellowship, Brandon will spend next 6 month at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory under guidance of Dr. Dallin Barton. Congratulations, Brandon!
5/12/2025 - Congratulations, Jack!
Congratulations to Jack Mayer for successfully passing their proposal defense! They have officially advanced into doctoral candidacy.
5/12/2025 - New paper alert
The results of our collaboration on Ga2O3, "Defining the relative proton irradiation hardness of β-Ga2O3", has been published in Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A. This is Aaron's first co-authored publication. Well done, team!
4/1/2025 - Congratulations, Mary!
Congratulations to Mary Sevart for successfully passing her proposal defense! She has officially advanced into doctoral candidacy.
3/27/25 - Upcoming talks at the MRS Spring Meeting and Exhibit
Catch up with our research at the upcoming 2025 MRS Spring Meeting and Exhibit in Seattle (April 7-11). We are have excited to present our work on metallic fuels!
3/26/25 - Ally publishes a paper on U-Pu-Zr fuel
Congratulations to Ally, whose paper "Comparative postirradiation examination of high burnup U-19Pu-10Zr: assessing steady state irradiation behavior against historical and modeled fuel performance" has been published in the Journal of Nuclear Materials! In this paper, we perform PIE of the fuel and identify key data gaps that need to be investigated to improve the understanding and prediction of fuel swelling.
3/17/25 - Upcoming talks at the 2025 TMS Annual Meeting and Exhibit
Catch up with our research at the upcoming 154th TMS Annual Meeting and Exhibit in Las Vegas (March 24-27). We have exciting results on various topics, including nuclear fuels, structural materials, and nuclear forensics.
3/12/25 - Check out Sadie's work on polishing Aluminum
Our very own Sadie Wick has worked hard to develop a technique for polishing pure Al! Check out this article by the Allied Materials Solution that shares best practices and tips for mastering this tricky material.
3/6/25 - Congratulations, Cade!
Congratulations to Cade Finney, who has received a prestigious science undergraduate laboratory internship (SULI) to spend a summer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the guidance of Dr. Eddie Lopez-Honorato!
2/10/25 - Dr. A joins Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) as a Program Director
Congratulations to Dr. A, who joined ARPA-E, a disruption wing of the Department of Energy (DOE), as a Program Director. ARPA-E brings together scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs, engineers, and industry visionaries who dare to disrupt the status quo to radically improve our standing in the global energy landscape.
1/10/25 - Opening for a Postdoctoral fellow
If you are recent graduate or are about to graduate with your PhD and are interested in a Postdoc, email your resume, a concise statement of interests and expertise, and list of three references to Dr. A. Please put a "Postdoc Inquiry - MANTEE group" in the subject line. Come join our dynamic team, we are looking for future leaders!