Category: News

Researchers at the University of Florida are developing advanced technologies to detect nuclear activity from space.

Nuclear engineering doctoral student Rachel Rigsby recently became a fellow of the Rickover Fellowship Program in Nuclear Engineering, a program sponsored by the Naval Reactors Division of the U.S. Department of Energy.  

The University of Florida’s Materials Science and Engineering students claimed back-to-back victories at the 2026 TMS Materials Bowl, showcasing their expertise in materials science and the strength of their teamwork in a high-speed, trivia-style competition.

Ravit Silverstein, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Florida, received a national early career award from The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society. Her research focuses on designing stronger, more resilient materials for extreme environments using atomic-scale engineering and advanced microscopy techniques.

University of Florida researchers are using machine learning on the HiPerGator supercomputer to tame the extreme plasma inside tokamaks. Their work aims to make fusion energy—a carbon-free, sun-powered source—safer and more attainable.

Enrique Medici and Hannah Patz were selected for the highly competitive Training in Radiological and International Nuclear Security (TRAINS) Fellowship, a program connecting top graduate students with leading institutions and national laboratories in the United States and Europe to advance nuclear security and nonproliferation efforts.

UF engineer and electron microscopy expert Nicholas Rudawski uses YouTube to help others learn to operate electron microscopes and understand electron microscopy concepts and fundamentals.  

UF welcomed finalists from the Powering the Community AI Design contest, where high school teams presented AI-driven smart grid strategies to Duke Energy engineers. The showcase marks the program’s continued growth in inspiring the next generation of Florida’s energy innovators.

For Hugo Ortega, a UF engineering-alumnus-turned-yacht-captain and reality star, being on Below Deck is a real-time test of the systems thinking and problem-solving skills he learned as a materials science major.

Built in 1959 and operating out of the Nuclear Engineering program in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, the UF training reactor is one of fewer than 30 reactors still operating in the United States. The college uses the reactor to train students in nuclear science and reactor operations, and in lab courses.