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Students, Faculty, and Staff Earn Outstanding Recognitions

Due to the pandemic, the nuclear engineering department was not able to host its annual awards banquet in person. However, faculty, staff, and students received online recognition. Nothing will replace the in-person celebration, especially at graduation time, but the department is proud that its members have continued to shine through challenging times.

» Student Ambassadors

The NE department is extremely active and involved in various recruitment and outreach initiatives; for that, we heavily rely on the willingness and commitment of our faculty, staff, and student ambassadors throughout the year. This year’s ambassadors include Amanda Bachmann, Kyndal Biladeau, Parker Forehand, Emily Hutchins, Kate Joshi, Madison Ratner, and Jonathan Wing.

This year’s outstanding student ambassadors include Amanda Bachmann and Jonathan Wing who stood out for their willingness and commitment to the department. They were usually the first to step up whenever and wherever possible, as well as took on other responsibilities that propelled the efforts of the Department of Nuclear Engineering.

» Alpha Nu Sigma Inductees

The following top students were inducted into Alpha Nu Sigma, the nuclear engineering honor society: Robert KileMairead MontagueQuinton TerryKyle AndersonJohn Wagner, and Andrew Decker.

» Departmental Student Awards

Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award
This award was established to recognize a top undergraduate student who has excelled in the quality of her or his research contributions, peer reviewed and conference publications (as lead or co-author), patents, work presented at scientific conferences, and other scholarly work. This year’s recipient is Heath Davis, who has worked with Associate Professor Eric Lukosi on several projects related to advanced measurements and applications of inorganic scintillators since the spring of 2019. Heath also won a merit recognition at EUReCA.

Master’s Graduate Research Excellence Award
This award was established to recognize a top master’s student who has excelled in the quality of his or her research contributions, peer reviewed and conference publications (as lead or co-author), patents, work presented at scientific conferences, master’s thesis writing, or other scholarly work. The graduate committee chose Amanda Bachmann who has contributed to Assistant Department Head and Southern Company Fellow Jamie Coble‘s research program through a number of projects since her first year.

PhD Graduate Research Excellence Award
This award was established to recognize a top PhD student who has excelled in the quality and quantity of his or her original research contributions, peer reviewed and conference publications (as lead or co-author), patents, work presented at scientific conferences, dissertation writing, or other scholarly work. The award went to Peter Doyle, who has a sterling academic record, with seven published full-length journal articles (including five lead-authored), and four additional journal articles that are under journal peer review or in the final stages of preparation prior to submission. He has also published four conference proceedings papers. His PhD thesis research focused on aqueous corrosion studies on silicon carbide that has been proposed as a potential accident tolerant fuel cladding in light water reactors.

» Top Academic Performers

The department also commends its top academic performers in each grade for this extremely competitive award.

Top First-Years

  • Annie Berens
  • David Burgess
  • Lance Drouet
  • William Fritsch
  • Katie Karl
  • Marissa Knofczynski
  • Gabe Lentchner
  • Anthony Tom
  • Austin Zachary

Top Sophomores

  • Kenneth Bott
  • Jonathan Barthle
  • Cale Overstreet

Top Juniors

  • Emma Houston
  • Miller McSwain
  • Alex Zeringue

Top Seniors

  • Irfan Ibrahim
  • Luke Seifert
  • Sam Wehby

» Student First Step Awards

This is recognition for students who publish their first peer reviewed journal article. Publishing is an important step towards a scholarly career and should be celebrated.

  • Jonah Duran
  • Seungsup Lee
  • Thomas Looby
  • Anurag Maan
  • Cordell Delzer
  • Jacob Gorton
  • Sujana Chandrasekar

» Faculty Awards

Nuclear Engineering Professor of the Year Award
This year’s award goes to Associate Professor Ronald Pevey, who is retiring in May. The recipient is selected by NE seniors to recognize a professor’s teaching style and ability to convey complex engineering information. No professor can win the award two years in a row, and this is Pevey’s eighth time receiving the recognition.

Research Faculty/Associate Excellence Award
This year’s recipient is Caen Ang, Research Scientist I. The award recognizes a top research faculty member, research scientist, or postdoctoral researcher who has excelled in the quality and quantity of his or her original research contributions, peer reviewed and conference publications (as lead or co-author), patents, work presented at scientific conferences, dissertation writing, or other scholarly work, as well as for mentorship of students.

Nuclear Engineering Faculty Service Award
This award recognizes a faculty member for their outstanding service to UT and the department. This year, Assistant Department Head and Southern Company Fellow Jamie Coble received the honor in recognition for going above and beyond to serve the department, the university, and the greater community with generous volunteering of her time and energy.

Special Faculty Service Award
This award goes to an individual who has provided exceptional service to the department. This year’s winner is Professor Michael Howard, who is a long-time philanthropic supporter of the department and has more recently given his time and expertise to be the director of the Medical Physics Program.

» Staff Awards

Nuclear Engineering Outstanding Staff Award
This award was established to recognize a top staff member who demonstrates professionalism and a positive attitude, initiative, and the willingness to go the extra mile in his or her job responsibilities. This year’s recipient is Pam Arrowood.

Nuclear Engineering Staff Service Award
This award recognizes a staff member for their outstanding service to UT and the department. This year’s winner is Michelle McBee.

Outstanding Fellow Staff Award
This inaugural award recognizes a staff member’s hard work and willingness to do more throughout the year. The first recipient of this award is Tonya Mathes. Over the past year Tonya has helped to train other staff, taken on additional duties, and has been helpful at handling any request that comes her way.