Nuclear Science and Engineering

“My parents loved the idea of me being a doctor, and then when I decided on nuclear engineering, they wanted me to look into medical physics,” says Caroline Colbert, a senior in nuclear science and engineering.

Caroline Colbert: Paving a path to medicine

Nuclear science and engineering senior Caroline Colbert has found herself on an unexpected career path in the medical field.

December 12, 2016

MIT senior Rasheed Auguste’s parents emigrated from Haiti to Boston as teenagers and completed master’s degrees in the U.S. “When I was born, the standard was, ‘we have master’s degrees; a PhD is the next step for this next generation.’ That was always the bar,” says Auguste. “It just so happens I got lucky. I actually do want this PhD that was prescribed from birth.”

Nuclear engineering student advocates for change on campus and Capitol Hill

Senior Rasheed Auguste is fueled by passions for science, policy, and creating a more inclusive MIT.

December 7, 2016

Images produced from computer simulations show the response of a graphene surface as a silicon tip slides over it. Relative forces of atomic friction on the surface are shown by colors: Red points are “pushing” sites that help propel the tip along the surface, while blue points are “pinning” sites of greater friction that inhibit the tip’s motion.

The science of friction on graphene

Sliding on flexible graphene surfaces has been uncharted territory until now.

November 23, 2016

“I’m working on bigger questions not only from a scientific perspective, but also from a societal perspective,” says Brian Henderson, Stanton Fellow in Nuclear Science and Security.

Brian Henderson: Experimenting with physics and policy

Nuclear Science and Engineering Stanton Fellow Brian Henderson brings his physics experience to bear on nuclear weapons disarmament policies.

November 21, 2016

“As a child I would throw a ball through the air and wonder why it made a curved shape; I would hold an ice cube in my hand and wonder at the processes that made it melt. And it turned out there are physical models for all those things and you can explain them somehow with math. That was just really beautiful for me,” says MIT graduate student Libby Tolman.

Fusing theory and practice

Grad student Libby Tolman melds the elegance of theoretical physics with practical applications of nuclear science.

November 14, 2016

First row (left to right): Matteo Bucci, Tal Cohen, and Ali Jadbabaie. Second row (left to right): Zachary P. Smith, Stefanie Mueller, Adam Belay, David Sontag, and Virginia Vassilevska Williams. Third row (left to right): Max Shulaker, Jennifer Rupp, Ryan Williams, Carmen Guerra-Garcia, and Zachary Hartwig

New engineering faculty for 2016-2017

The School of Engineering welcomes 13 new professors.

October 27, 2016

The interior of the fusion experiment Alcator C-Mod at MIT recently broke the plasma pressure record for a magnetic fusion device. The interior of the donut-shaped device confines plasma hotter than the interior of the sun, using high magnetic fields. Postdoc Ted Golfinopoulos, shown here, is performing maintenance between plasma campaigns.

New record for fusion

Alcator C-Mod tokamak nuclear fusion reactor sets world record on final day of operation.

October 14, 2016

Alex Tingly (right), a graduate student in the Department of Physics, and senior research scientist Earl Marmar, head of the Alcator C-Mod project since 2002, review data on synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons in plasma.

High-intensity fusion

MIT’s Alcator C-Mod nuclear reactor winds down — and defines its legacy on its final run.

October 14, 2016

“Science was always second-nature to me since I was a kid. I spent a lot of time just tinkering around, breaking stuff apart and building it back up,” says Benoit Forget, associate professor in MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering.

Benoit Forget: Unraveling complexities of nuclear reactors

By making detailed simulations of reactor cores, the MIT engineer is helping to advance new designs.

October 3, 2016

MIT Communication Lab Director Jaime Goldstein says a new online tool will help deadline-driven graduate students write at any hour of the day.

Engineer, explain thyself

A new online tool helps graduate students communicate — in their own languages.

September 27, 2016

“We have great people who I can talk to about anything, from nitty-gritty physics details to the loftier goals of getting this implemented in the political future,” says grad student Jayson Vavrek of the Laboratory of Nuclear Security and Policy.

Turning particle detectors into weapons detectors

Nuclear science and engineering PhD student Jayson Vavrek applies particle physics to solve problems with nuclear weapons disarmament.

September 26, 2016

"When I learned about fusion I thought: This is the future!” —Silvia Espinosa, PhD candidate

On the edge of discovery

For PhD student Silvia Espinosa, a passion for solving theoretical puzzles fuels a quest for fusion energy.

September 13, 2016

In a new concept for battery cathodes, nanometer-scale particles made of lithium and oxygen compounds (depicted in red and white) are embedded in a sponge-like lattice (yellow) of cobalt oxide, which keeps them stable. The researchers propose that the material could be packaged in batteries that are very similar to conventional sealed batteries yet provide much more energy for their weight.

New lithium-oxygen battery greatly improves energy efficiency, longevity

New chemistry could overcome key drawbacks of lithium-air batteries.

July 25, 2016

"It is easier to make a replacement nuclear weapon from scratch than to try to pass off a fake object as a weapon," says R. Scott Kemp in MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering about a new method to verify that a country's claimed warheads are authentic without disclosing classified information.

A novel approach to a longstanding challenge in nuclear arms control

MIT researchers develop a “physical cryptography” for secure and accurate accounting of the world’s nuclear arsenals.

July 19, 2016

MIT nuclear science and engineering professors Jacopo Buongiorno (left) and Dennis Whyte will lead a multidisciplinary team working on a Future of Nuclear Energy Technologies study.

Buongiorno, Whyte win Sloan Foundation grant

$1M Sloan Foundation grant supports NSE-led Future of Nuclear Energy Technologies study

July 13, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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