The University of Tennessee-led Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Enabling Capabilities in Technology (DNN TECH) Consortium recently hosted more than 300 nuclear science and engineering students, faculty, national laboratory researchers, and program managers from across the country for the annual University Program Review (UPR) meeting.
Held at UT’s Student Union from June 2-4, UPR 2026 highlighted accomplishments and research from more than 40 universities participating in the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research & Development consortia, connecting students with Department of Energy/NNSA nuclear nonproliferation work and national laboratories as they address emerging nuclear nonproliferation challenges.
The meeting included a welcome message from UT Provost John Zomchick, overview talks from consortia directors, 128 technical oral and poster student presentations, an early-career laboratory staff panel, and five breakout sessions to support cross-consortium collaboration.
UT nuclear engineering PhD students Kate Joshi and Lance Drouet won awards for Best Poster and Best National Laboratory Collaboration, respectively.
“The feedback received so far about the meeting, as well as the accomplishments of the new DNN TECH Consortium directed by UT Professor and UCOR Fellow Jason Hayward has been overwhelmingly positive” said DNN TECH Program Manager Alex Proksch. “It says a lot about UT to be selected by DOE/NNSA as the lead institution of a Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation R&D consortium. This is a significant responsibility, and we’re thankful to UT leadership for their support.”
National Nuclear Leaders
Following 10 years of experience in the UC Berkeley-led Nuclear Science and Security Consortium (NSSC), UT nuclear engineering faculty, including Hayward and Assistant Professor Sandra Bogetic, who is the DNN TECH education and training lead, were well prepared to successfully launch the DNN TECH Consortium in 2025.
The $25 million program spans 15 academic institutions and eight national laboratories, with the mission to develop a skilled workforce capable of advancing the nation’s nuclear nonproliferation capabilities. DNN TECH’s R&D focuses are on earth, environmental, atmospheric and space sciences; radiochemistry and nuclear chemical engineering; advanced nuclear fuel and reactor systems engineering; detection, characterization and response methodologies and tools; and data science for nuclear nonproliferation.
“Leadership in nuclear security and nonproliferation research at the University of Tennessee has continued to grow over the past few decades, and this University Program Review was an excellent opportunity to showcase this leadership” Hayward said. “It has recently become clear that the state of Tennessee has become the national leader in advanced nuclear, enhanced by its close collaboration with DOE/NNSA national labs and nuclear industry, so it’s fitting that we were able to host such a wonderful meeting to describe our technical contributions and show our state-of-the-art facilities.”
Photo Gallery
Check out some of the photos from the National UPR Meeting.
Contact
Rhiannon Potkey ([email protected])