The UT Department of Nuclear Engineering (NE) continues to bolster the pipeline of students into the nuclear security sector, and to the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12) in particular, through the UT and Y-12 Nuclear Engineering Technology Accelerator Program (NE TAP).
“UT has long been a leader in nuclear security research and development, and we have a history of successful partnerships with Y-12 at a smaller scale,” said NE Professor and Southern Company Faculty Fellow Jamie Coble. “The TAP allows us to connect and expand these partnerships through an enduring engagement with Y-12.”
NE Department Head Wes Hines established the NE TAP last year in collaboration with UT alum Grant Allard (MS industrial engineering ’23), who now leads Y-12’s Partnerships and Technology Transfer Program. The program’s mission is to educate and involve students in Y-12’s missions for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), including maintaining the US nuclear stockpile, reducing global nuclear threats, and fueling the US Nuclear Navy.
“Partnering with world-class experts at leading universities, such as UT, improves Y-12’s ability to develop a workforce that can meet current and future mission requirements,” said Allard.
Indeed, the partnership is so valuable that Y-12 and UT’s Tickle College of Engineering conduct three other TAPs: another in NE; one in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering; and one in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
“The TAPs act as force multipliers,” said Allard, “as students apply their focus and creativity to solving problems at Y-12 and beyond.”
When Hines announced his retirement this year, Coble stepped in to ensure that the mutually beneficial NE TAP continued.
TAP Students Contribute to Nuclear Security Innovations
The Y-12 NE TAP is geared toward high-performing NE students who express interest in future careers in the nuclear security industry. The program currently includes nine students, ranging from the undergraduate to the doctoral levels.
“This program enables us to involve students who are interested in building a career with Y-12, and the larger Nuclear Security Enterprise, in research that supports the national nuclear security mission,” Coble said.
Students in the NE TAP work closely with Y-12 engineers and scientists by conducting research and providing technical support, an applied experience that supplements their NE classes and co-curricular engagement with UT professors.
Michael May is a master’s level NE TAP student researching machine learning via cluster analysis, which is useful for uncovering patterns in large data sets. Participating in the TAP has helped shape his career plans.
“By working on-site at Y-12, I have been able to foster connections with my mentor and other employees and showcase my potential to them,” May said. “I also get the opportunity to learn more about how Y-12 operates both nationally and internally, including both the importance of its mission and its unique culture, helping me determine if it is a place I could see myself working.”
Some TAP students recently participated in Y-12’s Research, Development, and Maturation Proposal Call by identifying cutting-edge technologies that would support Y-12’s production mission, then developing proposals with guidance from their mentors.
“Working on research proposals gave these students an invaluable opportunity to see the earliest stages of the research process: developing an idea and requesting the support and funding to pursue it,” said Coble.
Developing innovative proposals is just one way that NE TAP students contribute to real progress at Y-12.
“Being a TAP mentor has been a great opportunity to work with very talented students and faculty mentors who want to build strong collaborations with Y-12,” said Vincent Lamberti, a Y-12 technical fellow. “The students learn new experimental or computational techniques and work on projects that aren’t usually conducted at universities, and Y-12 can pursue work that may otherwise have been impeded by resource limitations.”
“Our students are solving technically interesting problems that have clear applications at Y-12 and other facilities,” Coble said. “At the same time, the Y-12 scientists who serve as mentors to our TAP students—some of whom are NE alumni—get the chance to build the next generation of Y-12 employees from the ground up.”
Contact
Izzie Gall (865-974-7203, egall4@utk.edu)