Eric Abelquist, a certified health physicist with a PhD in nuclear engineering from the University of Tennessee, is joining the Department of Nuclear Engineering faculty in the fall of 2026 as a professor of practice.
Abelquist is the principal and founder of Abelquist Consulting, a premier provider of decommissioning health physics, Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM) compliance survey design, research, and strategic planning services.
“The nuclear renaissance is centered in East Tennessee. Helping to prepare the workforce for significant growth in the nuclear sector is very exciting to me,” Abelquist said. “Labor market analysts are projecting we will need more than 1,000 new health physicists and technicians to support the ongoing nuclear expansion. I’m looking forward to preparing the next generation of radiation protection professionals to address this emerging need.”
Abelquist was chief technology officer at United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR), a cleanup contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation. In that role, he led technology development in support of UCOR’s cleanup mission. Prior to UCOR, Abelquist worked at Oak Ridge Associated Universities for 27 years, most recently serving as executive vice president and chief research officer.
In 2014, Abelquist published a textbook entitled Decommissioning Health Physics: A Handbook for MARSSIM Users 2nded. From 2017 to 2018, he served as the president of the Health Physics Society.
Abelquist received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in radiation sciences from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He graduated from UT with a PhD in nuclear engineering with a radiological engineering concentration in 2008 and Master of Business Administration in 2014. His purpose for pursuing his PhD was to have the opportunity to become a professor later in his career.
“Now that time has arrived, I’m excited to teach health physics in the NE department at UT in this latest chapter of my career,” he said. “I hope to bring practical health physics experience to UT. The HP profession is also experiencing important changes in how we regulate and administer radiation protection programs. I hope to address these real-time changes with our UT students.”
Contact
Rhiannon Potkey ([email protected])