Dennis Whyte, the head of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, announced today the appointment of Professor Jacopo Buongiorno as associate department head, effective immediately.
Buongiorno is an international leader in fission energy systems, with expertise in multiphase flow and heat transfer; advanced reactor design; and reactor thermal-hydraulics and safety. His recent research has produced several innovations in fission energy, including the use of nanofluids in nuclear applications and insights into the fundamentals of boiling, surface effects on boiling heat transfer, and the design of an offshore floating nuclear power plant.
Buongiorno earned his BS and PhD in nuclear engineering from the Polytechnic of Milan and MIT, respectively. He has won numerous awards, most recently, MIT's MacVicar Faculty Award, in 2014, and the American Nuclear Society's Landis Young Member Engineering Achievement Award, in 2011.
As associate department head, Buongiorno will broadly focus on academic organization and oversight. He will work closely with the department’s undergraduate and graduate committees, as well as the student body, in assuring a consistent and excellent educational program. In addition to his role as associate department head, Buongiorno is serving as acting director of the Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems at MIT.
