- Nuclear engineering doctoral student Rachel Rigsby recently became a fellow of the Rickover Fellowship Program.
- The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the South Carolina Universities Research and Education Foundation.
- Fellows receive a monthly stipend and support of their educational goals, with guaranteed employment at the end of the fellowship period.
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.
Rigsby is advised by Yong Yang, Ph.D., an associate professor in UF’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
The Rickover program supports doctoral-level students for the development of science and engineering technology as it pertains to naval nuclear propulsion. The program prepares students for roles in naval nuclear propulsion and supports the broader objective of advancing fission energy.
The program focuses on critical technical fields such as reactor physics, nuclear materials science and engineering, radiation shielding technology, thermal hydraulics, computational fluid dynamics, acoustic technology, artificial intelligence technology, quantum computing and fracture mechanics.
The fellowship is administered in part by the South Carolina Universities Research and Education Foundation, which is composed of the four major research institutions in South Carolina: the Medical University of South Carolina, Clemson University, South Carolina State University and the University of South Carolina.
Rickover fellows are required to obtain and maintain a security clearance. At the end of the fellowship appointment period, they are guaranteed employment by the company operating the naval nuclear laboratory at either the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory near Pittsburgh or Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Albany.
Fellows receive a monthly stipend, support for their tuition and fees, reimbursement for practicum and conference travel and may apply to receive assistantship awards. In addition, the fellow’s advisor from the NNL will be appointed to the fellow’s graduate committee at their host institution, pending approval.