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.
Arnav is a senior 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 also works in Professor Di Fulvio's group on MCNP simulations and experimental design for a pebble tracking system in a pebble bed reactor. He has also interned at the NRC, Fuse Energy Technologies, and ORNL. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer, drawing, and working on launching rockets to reach space.
Mia is a senior in NPRE from Phoenix, AZ. She is doing research with the Illinois Plasma Institute working on projects involving plasma diagnostics and materials synthesis. Outside of ANS, Mia is a mentor for Women in Engineering and a Outreach Chair of Women in Nuclear. She enjoys reading, diving, and cooking.
Kennedy is a senior in NPRE with a concentration in Plasma and Fusion Sciences. She is doing research in the Multiphysics and Multiscale Research Group with Professor Novak on developing new methods for computationally calculating reaction rates on materials within a tokamak. She is also doing research in Professor Di Fulvio's Nuclear Measurement Laboratory on improving OpenMC capabilities for detector modeling. Kennedy is also involved in Women in Nuclear. In her free time, she enjoys playing board games, listening to music, and hanging out with friends.
Nikunj is a NPRE sophomore from Cleveland, OH. For the past year and this summer, he's working on range verification of proton therapy using fast neutrons and gamma rays at Nuclear Measurement Lab. On campus, Nikunj serves as the Secretary for the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) and is a member of Tau Beta Pi an engineering honor society. During his free time, he enjoys 3D printing, badminton, and basketball.
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.
Danny is a sophomore in NPRE from Northbrook, IL. He does research with ABC Lab involving nitrate salt viability in secondary cooling systems for fusion reactors. His hobbies outside of ANS involve writing and fitness.
David is a sophomore in NPRE from Chicago, Illinois. He is doing computational research on microreactors and an experimental research project with the Center of Plasma-Materials Interactions, working with ASML. Outside of ANS, David enjoys playing basketball, working out, and hanging out with friends.
Ema is a sophomore in NPRE with a concentration in Plasma and Fusion Science. She does research in the Multiphysics and Multiscale lab on neutronics and computational mesh generation for tritium extraction and in the Modeling of Nuclear Materials lab on high entropy ceramics and machine learning. In her free time, she enjoys painting and playing board games with friends.
Megan is a sophomore in NPRE + Data Science. She has previously conducted research in the Advanced Reactors and Fuel Cycles group and is a part of the plasma sterilization PDC project. Outside of ANS, Megan is an instructor for Learn-To-Skate classes and a mentor for Women in Engineering. She enjoys reading, playing cards, and trying new foods.
