Category: Alumni Spotlight

Jacob DeWitte, a UF nuclear engineering alum and CEO of Oklo Inc., was named to the 40 Under 40 list for his work developing innovative, small-scale nuclear reactors for clean, reliable energy.

When Jason Gibson received his doctorate from the University of Florida’s Department of Materials Science & Engineering, or MSE, in 2024, it was the culmination of years of work at the intersection of superconductors and artificial intelligence.   Perhaps it’s no surprise that he went on to co-found Quantum Formatics, a company focused on using AI to build reliable and manufacturable superconductors.  His colleagues […]

When Dr. Sagid Salah (B.S. ’58, M.S. ’60, Ph.D. ’64) first arrived in Gainesville in 1954, he was 21 years old, had just survived nearly four years as a prisoner during the Korean War, and was technically stateless. He spoke English thanks to a Catholic priest and a missionary who had tutored him in the […]

Our two Alumni Awards are presented to graduates who exemplify the values of the department, demonstrate exceptional achievement and potential in their early to mid-careers, and serve as positive role models for our current and future materials science and nuclear engineering students. The Early Career Alumni Award This year’s Early Career Alumni Award winner is […]

A long road to freedom and opportunity yields an indestructible legacy for future generations of UF engineers  by Shawn Jenkins On the tropical patio of his Longwood, Florida, home nestled against the Wekiva River, Ben Botic pulls out a small dusty suitcase and unpacks a tattered trove of adventure, risk and dogged persistence. “These are […]

The American Nuclear Society (ANS) has selected UF alumnus Matthew Marzano, M.S. ‘11, nuclear engineering, to serve as the 2022 Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow. Marzano is a senior reactor operator at Exelon Generation’s Braidwood nuclear power plant in Braidwood, Ill.  Established in 2000, the Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship, also known as the ANS Congressional […]

University of Florida Department of Materials Science & Engineering alumnus Dr. Alvaro Della Bona, D.D.S, Ph.D., FADM (Ph.D. MSE ’01), has been awarded the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) Wilmer Souder Award in Dental Materials. Dr. Della Bona is a dentist, researcher and senior professor at the University of Passo Fundo in Brazil. He […]

Our 2021 Distinguished Early Career Alumni Award winner is Jacob DeWitte, Ph.D., a nuclear reactor developer commercializing next-generation fission power systems. Dr. DeWitte is a co-Founder and the CEO of Oklo, Inc., a Sunnyvale, California-based company developing and building small nuclear reactors. Dr. DeWitte is originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and completed his undergraduate studies […]