At UIUC, we're dedicated to the professional development of our members and the furthering of their overall knowledge of nuclear sciences regarding legislation, community outreach, and engineering.
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Meet the officers and fellow members to get more involved! Check the calendar below or newsletter for the next one.
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This calendar is continually updated and contains dates for all confirmed ANS events, deadlines, and more. Interact with the calendar to find details on the location, time, and date of events. If you would like to suggest an event to host or for ANS to participate in, feel free to reach out to us!
View our Members of the Month and check out available employment opportunities and scholarships below!
Congratulations to Tommi Bachta, April's member of the month! Tommi is a freshman from Elburn, Illinois and is interested in pursuing the plasma track in NPRE. She became interested in nuclear energy due to her parents, who got her excited about the idea of fusion. During high school, she completed a passion project related to the progress of tokamak technology. One of Tommi's highlights in April was getting to present her project at Engineering Open House.
Congratulations to Ashish Kashyap, March's Member of the Month! Ashish is a first-year NPRE major from Connecticut, pursuing the plasma concentration. His interest in the plasma track is based on his desire to increase clean energy production through fusion technology. He was attracted to nuclear engineering after considering fusion's promise of clean, efficient energy at large scales, which has the potential to catalyze all forms of technological development. Since coming to University of Illinois, he has been exploring the many other uses for plasmas besides fusion, such as applications related to materials science and semiconductor manufacturing. Ashish's highlights from March were the Boy Scout's outreach event, the Braidwood plant toor, and the work he's done using CAD software and printing parts for the Plasma Toroid EOH project.
Congratulations to Joey Kerchenfaut, February's Member of the Month! Joey is a third year physics major from Minooka, Illinois. Originally his interests in physics were in condensed matter theory, but since jointing ANS, his interests have changed to high-energy nuclear physics and the strong nuclear force and how it pertains to particle interactions. He became interested in nuclear science mainly because of his dad, who worked for Constellation at Dresden Clean Energy Center, so much of Joey's knowledge of how wonderful nuclear energy is came straight from him. Joey was motivated to join ANS mainly because of how his friends described it as a good place to meet interesting people and learn useful skills, but in a short time it permanently changed his outlook on his career. One of Joey's big highlights for February is the weekly project development meetings and the OpenMC project meetings.
Sam is from Cincinnati, Ohio and is currently a sophomore pursuing the plasma concentration, with a minor in computer science. Sam chose to pursue nuclear engineering because he believes it is essential to our future as our need for energy continues to grow.
Kennedy is from Brighton, Illinois and is interested in pursuing the plasma concentration. She became interested in nuclear after Professor Ruzic gave a presentation in her ENG 101 class, which first introduced her to the program. This month, she joined a research group under Professor Curreli and she has been working in project development on the plasma speaker as the electrical lead.
Justin is from Woodridge, Illinois, and he plans on pursuing the plasma and fusion track. He got into nuclear simply because it sounded like an incredible field to pursue, plus some of his relatives had gone into the industry before. One of Justin's highlights from October is seeing project development get up and running and all of the engagement with it.
Thomas is from DC, but grew up in Maryland. Right now, he is interested in pursuing the power concentration in NPRE. Thomas got into nuclear engineering after reading about advancements in fusion technology, which he found very intriguing. Another big reason Thomas chose NPRE is due to the non-competitive and close-knit environment that he values.
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If you are unsure of who to contact, feel free to email ansatuofi@gmail.com with general questions, comments, or concerns.
pfernau2@illinois.edu
Piper Fernau is a senior in NPRE with a concentration in Power. She conducts research in the Synthesis, Plasma, Energy, Conversion (SPEC) Lab, where she focuses on PFAS degradation through plasma and electrochemical methods. Piper also serves as the Lead Engineering Learning Assistant for the NPRE department and was selected as a 2025 Nuclear Engineering Student Delegate, representing her commitment to nuclear policy and national advocacy efforts. Outside of academics, she enjoys baking, embroidering, and thrifting.
Mia is a junior in NPRE from Phoenix, AZ. She is doing research with the Illinois Plasma Institute working on projects involving graphene functionalization and plasma analysis. Outside of ANS, Mia is a mentor for Women in Engineering and a member of Women in Nuclear. She enjoys reading, diving, and cooking.
Arnav is a junior studying Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering and is also a student in the Hoeft T&M Program. He conducts plasma-material interaction research on the hybrid tokamak/stellarator reactor affectionately known as HIDRA; he has also interned at the NRC and Fuse Energy Technologies. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer, drawing, and working on launching rockets to reach space.
Kennedy is a junior in NPRE with a concentration in Plasma and Fusion Science and Engineering. Over the summer she worked with Professor April Novak's Multiphysics and Multiscale research group on adaptive meshing with neutron transport simulations and is planning to get involved with another research group during the school year. In her free time, Kennedy enjoys board games, listening to music, and hanging out with friends.
Tommi Bachta is a sophomore in NPRE with a concentration in Plasma and Fusion Sciences. She is doing research at the Center for Plasma-Material Interactions on gas composition and decomposition under laser exposure. Her other interests include acting, singing, and foreign language.
Mia is a sophomore in NPRE from Phoenix, AZ. She will be joining a research group soon. Outside of ANS, Mia is a mentor for Women in Engineering and a member of Women in Nuclear. She enjoys reading, diving, and cooking.
Justin is a junior in NPRE concentrating in Plasma and Fusion Science. He does research at the Center for Plasma-Material Interactions on flowing liquid lithium loops. In his free time, he enjoys playing violin, hanging out with friends, and writing with fountain pens.
Jack is a junior in NPRE concentrating in Plasma and Fusion Science. He is also majoring in Physics (Nuclear Physics track) and is pursuing a minor in Semiconductor Engineering. He does research at the Center for Plasma-Material Interactions characterizing the interactions of tin ions in an extreme ultraviolet lithography source and with the MARTIANS lab working on developing real-time systems built on neural operators to monitor advanced reactor heat pipe systems. He has interned with the High Current Implantation group at Samsung Austin Semiconductor and also with Argonne National Laboratory calculating temperature profiles for heavy ion irradiations. Besides academics, Jack enjoys playing chess, weightlifting, and competing in any and all sports.
Mikey is a junior in the Power concentration of NPRE. He enjoys ANS social events, and dressing up as a banana for nuclear outreach. In his free time you can find him bouldering, enjoying the outdoors, and playing Spirit Island, Borderlands or Balatro.
