UF Nuclear Engineering Program

Welcome to the University of Florida Nuclear Engineering Program home page. Housed within the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering’s Department of Materials Science & Engineering, the program offers students an opportunity to work on research teams related to backscatter radiation, extreme environments testing and nuclear fuel cycles. Students also conduct research alongside academics and in partnership with national labs and government agencies, including Idaho National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy.

At UF, we’re developing the next generation of nuclear engineering leaders by performing high-impact research and providing exceptional educational programs. We build on our unique strength as a department by combining the disciplines of both Nuclear Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering to benefit society locally, nationally and globally.

Faculty Research Areas

Nuclear technology and research contribute in multiple ways to our health, development and safety. You may not realize it, but it's utilized across nearly all aspects of our lives and community, from clean energy production to medicine to agriculture.

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Research Facilities

The Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering’s Research Service Centers support and enhance the research, education, and public service missions of the University of Florida by providing access to characterization and process instrumentation.

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Why Nuclear Engineering at UF?

At UF, we’re developing the next generation of nuclear engineering leaders by performing high-impact research and providing exceptional educational programs.

Find Out More Nuclear Engineering Program

Faculty Research Areas

Nuclear technology and research contribute in multiple ways to our health, development and safety. You may not realize it, but it's utilized across nearly all aspects of our lives and community, from clean energy production to medicine to agriculture.

Find Out MoreNuclear Engineering Program

Nuclear Engineering Faculty

Photo of Assel Aitkaliyeva Assel AitkaliyevaAssociate Professor

Work 176 Rhines Hall (352) 846-3778

Ph.D., 2012, Texas A&M University

Research Interests: Nuclear Fuels and Materials, with emphasis on characterization and property evaluation; Mechanical and Thermal properties of materials; Reactor Irradiation; Radiation damage in materials; Ion Implantation; Kinetics; Composites; Nanostructured materials; Multi-Scale simulation of nuclear fuel.

Lab Website: MAterials for Nuclear Advancement and Technology in Extreme Environments (MANATEE) Group

Photo of James Baciak James BaciakProfessor, Florida Power and Light Professor

Work Nuclear Annex 113 (352) 273-2131

Research Interests: Applied aspects of cargo monitoring, detector testing and characterization for gamma-ray spectroscopy, as well as development and analysis of techniques for environmental sampling and surveys related to on-site inspections.

Photo of Andreas Enqvist Andreas EnqvistNuclear Engineering Program Director, Florida Power and Light Professor, Associate Professor

Work 100A Rhines Hall (352) 294-2177

Ph. D. Chalmers, University of Technology, Sweden

Research Interests: Nuclear safeguards, detection statistics of radiation from fissile materials, and the physics behind particle-detector interactions. Neutron physics & detectors. Neutron noise signals. Radiation signal analysis

Lab Website: Enqvist Research Group

Photo of Ira Harkness Ira HarknessInstructional Assistant Professor, Director of IT and Facilities

Work 116 Rhines Hall 352-846-3329

Ph.D., 2018, University of Florida

Research Interests: Monte Carlo methods; neutron transport; nuclear safeguards and nonproliferation

Photo of Kyle C. Hartig Kyle C. HartigAssistant Professor

Work 180 Rhines Hall (202) 270-4721

Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University

Research Interests: Remote Sensing, Nuclear Nonproliferation/counterproliferation, Nuclear Security, and Nuclear Policy

Lab Website: Hartig Research Group

Photo of Chris McDevitt Chris McDevittAssociate Professor

Work 174 Rhines Hall (352) 846-3785

Ph.D., 2008, University of California San Diego
Research Interests: Computational and Theoretical Plasma Physics, Magnetic and Inertial Confinement Fusion, Plasma Turbulence, Momentum Transport, Runaway Electrons, Monte Carlo Methods

Lab Website: McDevitt Lab

Photo of Jyothier Nimmagadda Jyothier NimmagaddaResearch Assistant Scientist

Work UFTR 557 (352) 294-2102

Ph.D., 2015, Idaho State University
 
Research Interests: Reactor Physics Experiments, Non-destructive radiation imaging, Monte-Carlo Methods, Pre and Post Irradiation Analysis, Medical Imaging, Radiation Detection

Photo of DuWayne Schubring DuWayne SchubringInstructional Associate Professor, NE Undergraduate Coordinator

Work 317A MAE (352) 294-7870

Ph.D., 2009, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Research Interests: Two-phase flow, nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics, quantitative visualization, nuclear reactor safety, computational and numerical methods including coupled codes, advanced nuclear power systems

Photo of Michael Tonks Michael TonksProfessor and Associate Department Chair, Alumni Professor of Materials Science & Engineering

Work 100D Rhines Hall (352) 846-3779

Ph.D., 2008, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Research Interests: Computational materials science, Computational mechanics, Coevolution of microstructure and properties, Materials in Harsh Environments, Mesoscale modeling and simulation, Nuclear materials, Numerical methods

Lab Website: Tonks Research Group

Photo of Don Wall Don WallDirector, UF Training Reactor (UFTR), Professor of Practice

Work 311 MAE Building (352) 273-2662

Ph.D. 2001, Florida State University

Photo of Nathalie Wall Nathalie WallProfesssor

Work 323 MAE Building (352) 273-0279

Ph.D., 1993, University of Paris, XI

Research Interests: Radiochemistry, Nuclear Wastes, Nuclear Forensics, Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Environmental Behavior of Radionuclides

Lab Website: Wall Research

Photo of Justin Watson Justin WatsonAssociate Professor and NE Graduate Coordinator

Work Rhines 178 (352) 273-0241

Ph.D., 2010, Penn State University

Research Interests: Reactor Kinetics and Dynamics, Neutronics, Thermal Hydraulics, Multiphysics Simulation, Advanced Numerical Methods, Applied Mathematics, Advanced Code Coupling Techniques, Scientific Software Development, High Performance Computing

Lab Website: Florida Advanced Multiphysics Modeling and Simulation (FAMMoS) Lab

Photo of Yong Yang Yong YangAssociate Professor

Work 202A Rhines Hall (352) 846-3791

Ph. D., 2005, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Research Interests: structural and fuel materials for nuclear energy systems; LWRs sustainability and aging management; advanced fabrication and joining technologies; used fuel dry storage and disposition.

Lab Website: MAterials for Nuclear Advancement and Technology in Extreme Environments (MANATEE) Group

 

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