CANYON, TX – Four students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville have won awards in the 2018 Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards, sponsored by the US Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Technology R&D.
Kelsa Benensky, a PhD student in Nuclear Engineering, has been awarded a Second Place prize in the Open Competition in the category of Advanced Fuels. Her award-winning research paper, “Evaluation of Novel Refractory Carbide Matrix Fuels for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion,” was presented at the conference Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space in February 2018.
Eric O’Quinn, a PhD student in Nuclear Engineering, has been awarded a prize in the Competition for Students at Universities with Less than $600 Million in 2016 R&D Expenditures. His award-winning research paper, “Inversion in Mg1−xNixAl2O4 Spinel: New Insight into Local Structure,” was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society in July 2017.
Daniel Rutstrom, an undergraduate student in Materials Science and Engineering, has been awarded a prize in the Competition for Students at Universities with Less than $600 Million in 2016 R&D Expenditures. His award-winning research paper, “Investigating New Activators for Small-Bandgap LaX3 (X = Br,I) Scintillators,” was published in the Journal of Crystal Growth in February 2018.
Gavin Ridley, an undergraduate student in Nuclear Engineering, has been awarded a prize in the Undergraduate Competition. His award-winning research paper, “Introduction to Moltres: An Application for Simulation of Molten Salt Reactors,” was published in the journal Annals of Nuclear Energy in April 2018.