News 2018
12/7/2018 - Tanvi's EBSD paper is now available online
Tanvi's first author article on best practices for preparing radioactive specimens for EBSD has been published in Micron! Congratulations!
11/13/2018 - Did you see the 2017 NSUF Annual Report?
Check it out, Riley is featured in the 2017 NSUF annual report! Get to know Riley and his success with using NSUF to advance his research here.
9/17/2018 - NSUF awards rapid turnaround experiment research proposals
Congratulations to Riley Parrish and Casey McKinney for receiving Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) rapid turnaround experiment (RTE) funding! Rapid Turnaround Experiments offer researchers the opportunity to perform quick analysis of a small number of samples. Riley's proposal "TEM Characterization of High Burnup MOX Fuel", and Casey's proposal "Investigation of fuel-cladding chemical interaction (FCCI) in irradiated U-Pu-Zr fuel" have been selected from a large pool of proposals submitted by national laboratories and US universities. Well done! Full list of awarded projects can be accessed here.
8/18/2018 - Dr. Aitkaliyeva receives funding from US DOE to conduct PIE on U-Pu-Zr fuels
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected four Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research (CINR) awards under the NSUF-2 workscopes, one of which is Dr. Aitkaliyeva's project 14704 "Facilitating MARMOT modeling of radiation phenomena in U-Pu-Zr fuels through experiments (MORPH experiment)". The study will will increase the fundamental understanding of irradiation induced metallic U-Pu-Zr fuel behavior and to obtain data needed for the development of irradiation models for metallic fuels in MARMOT. The project requests access to PIE facilities at NSUF partner facility to conduct examination of irradiated metallic fuels with the goal of providing foundational understanding of the radiation behavior in metallic fuels needed to inform the development of MARMOT models. Read more about NSUF facilities here.
7/20/2018 - Congratulations to Tanvi Ajantiwalay
for successfully passing her oral proposal defense on the in-situ micromechanical testing of materials. She has officially advanced into doctoral candidacy!
6/21/2018 - Dr. Aitkaliyeva receives prestigious DOE Early Career Award
The Office of Science of the Department of Energy announced that 84 scientists across the nation have been selected to receive funding as part of the DOE's 2018 Early Career Research Program, one of which is our very own Dr. Aitkaliyeva. The effort, now in its ninth year, is designed to bolster the nation’s scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early career years, when many scientists do their most formative work. Dr. Aitkaliyeva is honored to receive this prestigious award and is excited about going back to fundamentals of radiation materials science. Stay tuned, we are now involved in 2D-materials research!
6/18/2018 - Exciting new collaboration!
The U.S. Department of Energy awarded approximately $47 million to support 63 U.S. university-led nuclear energy research and development projects in 29 states. The most exciting one for us is the project 18-14912 "Bridging length scales on mechanical property evaluation" from University of California-Berkeley, because Dr. Aitkaliyeva and her students get to collaborate with Dr. Hosemann and his research group. The study aims to gain fundamental understanding of plasticity interactions with specific strength-determining features, such as precipitates and grain boundaries. The goal of this work is to provide the basis to add small-scale mechanical testing in the toolbox for nuclear materials research.
6/18/2018 - US DOE FY 2018 Infrastructure Grant is awarded to Dr. Aitkaliyeva
The U.S. Department of Energy awarded approximately $5 million to 18 colleges and universities to support reactor infrastructure and general scientific infrastructure improvements. These awards strengthen U.S. competitiveness in nuclear research and development and ensure the American universities have the best equipment and tools available to educate the next generation of industry leaders. University of Florida was awarded a general scientific infrastructure grant that will: enhance the capabilities of the Integrated Nuclear Fuel and Structural Materials (INFSM) research center by adding a mechanical testing facility by upgrading the MTS 100 kN Landmark Test System for radiological work and expanding the existing microstructural characterization capabilities by installing an EDAX electron backscattering diffraction/energy dispersive spectroscopy (EBSD/EDS) unit on the focused ion beam (FIB) tool.
Also congratulations to Dr. Enqvist for receiving Reactor Upgrades grant! Go Gators!
6/15/2018 - Charlyne attends Millennial Nuclear Caucus at INL
One of the benefits of a summer internship at a national laboratory is the ability to participate in various activities. For example, Charlyne was able to attend the Millennial Nuclear Caucus at INL, which is supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) and aimed to bring together the next generation of leaders in nuclear innovation. The discussions included innovative technologies in nuclear, the path forward for the industry, and what can be done in the meantime. Join the conversation on social media using #NuclearVisionary.
6/4/2018 - Riley's review paper is now available online
Riley's first author article on MOX fuels has been published in Journal of Nuclear Materials! Congratulations!
5/21/2018 - NSUF awards rapid turnaround experiment research proposals
Congratulations to Riley Parrish and Casey McKinney for receiving Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) rapid turnaround experiment (RTE) funding! Rapid Turnaround Experiments offer researchers the opportunity to perform quick analysis of a small number of samples. Riley's proposal "TEM analysis of Irradiated MOX fuel" and Casey's proposal "EPMA Characterization of Actinide Redistribution and Fission Product Composition in MOX Fuels" have been selected from a large pool of proposals submitted by national laboratories and US universities. What is even more exciting, Riley's project utilizes new NSUF partner facility - NFMC! Well done! Full list of awarded projects can be accessed here.
5/19/2018 - Dr. Aitkaliyeva mentors at the 8th Annual Leadership Conference for Girls
The 8th Annual Leadership Conference for Girls was organized by Ladies Learning to Lead (L3) , which is a Florida nonprofit organization that provides professional leadership development training and life skills to young ladies in middle and high school. Dr. Aitkaliyeva had the pleasure of participating in the e.S.T.E.A.M. Mentor Lunch: Learning and Networking with Professionals in the Fields of Entrepreneurship, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. She had a great time meeting with a number of exceptional girls, who are on track to become leaders of their communities.
5/14/2018 - Riley Parrish, Charlyne Smith, and Casey McKinney
have been selected for prestigious internships at national laboratories! Riley and Casey will spend the summer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Charlyne at Idaho National Laboratory. They will be exposed to cutting-edge research and networking opportunities, and the group is celebrating their success.
4/3/2018 - Charlyne receives prestigious NSF fellowship!
Charlyne Smith has been selected to receive 2018 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Fellowship. The selection was based on her demonstrated potential to contribute to strengthening the vitality of the U.S. science and engineering enterprise. Congratulations, Charlyne! Read more about it here.
2/12/2018 - Did you see the February issue of Nuclear News?
Check it out, Riley is on the cover of Nuclear News! Nuclear News is the official magazine of American Nuclear Society (ANS) and is recognized as the flagship trade publication for the nuclear field. News reports cover plant operations, maintenance, security, international developments, waste management, fuel, and industry. The magazine has been published by the American Nuclear Society since 1959. February issue highlights NSUF capabilities, including University of Florida's NFMC! The latest issue of the magazine can be accessed here.
2/1/2018 - NSUF awards rapid turnaround experiment research proposals
Congratulations to Riley Parrish and Charlyne Smith for receiving Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) rapid turnaround experiment (RTE) funding! Rapid Turnaround Experiments offer researchers the opportunity to perform quick analysis of a small number of samples. Riley's proposal "Microstructural characterization of ~7% burn-up MOX fuel"; and Charlyne's proposal "Atom probe tomography of fission gas bubble superlattice in U-Mo fuel" have been selected from a large pool of proposals submitted by national laboratories and US universities. What is even more exciting, Matt's project utilizes new NSUF partner facility - NFMC! Well done! Full list of awarded projects can be accessed here.