The University of Tennessee is part of a University of California, Berkeley-led consortium that was awarded a $25 million grant by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration in December 2025 for research and development in nuclear science, engineering, and security.
The grant, awarded for the fourth time to a UC Berkeley-led consortium, follows the announcement of a funding opportunity issued in 2024. UT is one of nine universities and six national laboratories involved in the consortium.
The new award will focus on two objectives:
- Perform research in the basic science and engineering disciplines foundational to nuclear nonproliferation in collaboration with DOE national laboratories
- Develop world-class nuclear scientists and engineers with expertise in the critical disciplines required for careers in the national laboratories and other government agencies with nuclear missions.
The faculty members from the Tickle College of Engineering involved in the consortium are Charles Melcher, a joint research professor in the Departments of Nuclear Engineering (NE) and Materials Science and Engineering (MSE); MSE Associate Professor Mariya Zhuravleva; and NE Assistant Professor Sandra Bogetic.
“For more than five years, MSE and NE will continue to collaborate to advance materials for radiation detection and nuclear energy systems,” said Melcher, who is also the director of UT’s Scintillation Materials Research Center. “Innovation in detector materials is at the core of developing novel detector capabilities.”
The mission of the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium is to train the next generation of nuclear scientists and engineers, while carrying out research and development ranging from basic aspects of new technology and methods to programmatic work directly supporting the NNSA’s nuclear security and nonproliferation missions.
In addition to UT and UC Berkeley, the other consortium members include Air Force Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Michigan State University, North Carolina State University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of Washington.
The nine universities will partner with six national laboratories: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories.
UT was selected to be the host university for the annual University Program Review (UPR) meeting, which is scheduled for June at the UT Student Union.
“We are honored to host the UPR meeting,” Melcher said. “UPR offers an opportunity to spotlight our vibrant campus and welcome leading scientists from top universities and national laboratories across the DOE consortia.”
Contact
Rhiannon Potkey (rpotkey@utk.edu)