Jacob DeWitte, Ph.D., hasn’t slowed down since graduating from the University of Florida with his bachelor’s degree in nuclear and radiological engineering in 2008.
After leaving UF, he earned his master’s and doctorate degrees in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also spent time at General Electric, Sandia National Laboratories, Urenco USA and naval reactor research laboratories.
In 2013, he co-founded his own company. In 2014, he made Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30 list for his work in the nuclear energy sector.
And now, in 2026, he made UF’s heralded 40 Under 40 list — in addition to being appointed to the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
He serves as CEO of Oklo Inc. in Santa Clara, California. The company develops small, next-generation fast fission power plants to produce abundant, affordable, clean energy at a global scale, especially in remote and off-grid areas. Oklo’s fast reactors incorporate safety features and can be fueled by recycled waste.
“People talk about an energy crisis or dilemma, and nuclear energy is the long-term solution. It is 50 million times more energy dense per reaction than natural gas or coal, meaning 50 million times less waste,” Dewitte noted on Oklo’s website. “It is sustainable with fuel supplies that can easily power us for thousands to millions of years. It is clean and emission-free, is always on, and is one of the safest industries in US history.”
His expertise is in nuclear reactor design and analysis, spanning a variety of reactors including sodium-cooled fast reactors, molten-salt reactors and next-generation pressurized water reactors.
“I am working on developing technologies to make the most of our incredible nuclear fleet and advanced nuclear technologies that can make nuclear more competitive, available and widespread than ever before,” he noted on the Oklo website.
Oklo’s name is derived from the uranium-rich mineral deposits found in the Oklo region in Gabon, a former French colony in western Africa. Discovered in 1972, it’s the home of the only known natural nuclear reactor that was created by a self-sustained fission about two billion years ago.