Nuclear Forensics Education Award Program

Nuclear Forensics Graduate Fellowship Program

When is the deadline for the application?

 

The deadline for applying to this program is February 1st.

 

When will I hear if I was awarded the fellowship?

 

The Fellowship awards are generally announced mid April.

 

How many students are awarded the fellowship each year?

 

The number of awards given each year is dependent on the number of graduating Fellows currently in the program, available funding, and the qualifications of the candidates.

 

What areas of research and course work do I need to be involved in to apply?

 

The purpose of the NFGFP is to meet U.S. Government (USG) needs for highly trained scientists and engineers in technical areas in which there are ongoing federal research and development programs. Some of these areas include:

1. Technical Mission Area 1 (TMA 1): In general, the NTNF community is interested in advancements in the analysis and characterization of nuclear and other radioactive materials. Of particular importance are innovations in the speed, accuracy, and precision of determining the physical, chemical, isotopic, micro-structural, and/or morphological properties of materials. Specifically in FY2013, the USG is primarily seeking significant developments in the quantification of micro-structural and morphological measurements of bulk uranium and plutonium materials in both oxide and metal forms.

2. Technical Mission Area 2 (TMA 2): Following the detonation of a nuclear device, solid debris samples to be analyzed are expected to contain trace-level quantities of nuclear materials combined with material from the immediate environment around the detonation site, which may have been activated and is assumed to have been vaporized and recondensed. As such, debris for dissolution is expected to have formed at high temperatures and contain silicates and other hard-to-dissolve materials. Solid fallout debris is typically in a glassy matrix containing parts per million (ppm) quantities of plutonium or uranium with radioactive fission products. Improvements are sought in the characterization and analysis of nuclear and non-nuclear constituents within these nuclear and post-detonation debris materials, including those present in trace quantities.

3. Technical Mission Area 3 (TMA 3): General studies that improve our understanding of how relevant stages of the nuclear fuel cycle create, persist, or modify discriminating material characteristics in the metal or oxide forms of uranium or plutonium. FY2013 activities should focus on identifying discriminating characteristics that help assess the process history and provenance of bulk uranium and plutonium materials produced in the enrichment, conversion to oxides, and conversion to metal stages of the fuel cycle, and developing simulations that predict material characteristics from parameterized processes.

 

How many years can I be a fellow?

 

The initial fellowship appointment is for a 12-month period and renewable for up to a total of 60 months or five (5) years.

 

Do I need to participate in a practicum?

 

Yes. Fellows are required to participate in two practicums for at least three months at a national research laboratory to gain hands-on experience. Participating National Laboratories can be found in the program description.

 

Do I need to be a full-time student?

 

Yes. During the fellowship period, fellows are expected to be registered and enrolled as full-time graduate students, and performing study and research within the objectives of the fellowship program. During the summer, fellows should be involved in full-time research related to the completion of their degrees, be enrolled in classes, or be on practicum assignments.

 

How much financial support will I receive?

 

Fellows receive a monthly stipend in the amount of $2,400. The Fellow's basic stipend is augmented by an additional $500 (prorated) each month during the practicum. For more info. please refer to the 'Fellowship Benefits' section in the NFGFP program information on this site.

 

Do I need to be in school for my Ph.D.?

 

Yes, all fellows must be entering a doctoral program or currently pursuing a Ph.D. to participate in the Nuclear Forensics Graduate Fellowship Program.

 

Can I apply as an undergraduate?

 

The program is open to all individuals who will be entering graduate students or who are currently enrolled in a qualified course of study (see technical areas) but have not yet selected a thesis topic.

 

Do I need to be a United States citizen?

 

Yes, for this fellowship, being a U.S. citizen is a requirement.

 

Nuclear Forensics Undergraduate Scholarship Program

When is the deadline for the application?

 

The deadline for applying to this scholarship is February 1st.

 

When will I hear if I was awarded the scholarship?

 

The scholarship awards are generally announced in March.

 

What areas of research and coursework do I need to be involved in to apply?

 

The purpose of the NFUSP is to introduce outstanding undergraduate students to ongoing federal research and development work related to technical nuclear forensics, focused in the following areas:

1. Technical Mission Area 1 (TMA 1): In general, the NTNF community is interested in advancements in the analysis and characterization of nuclear and other radioactive materials. Of particular importance are innovations in the speed, accuracy, and precision of determining the physical, chemical, isotopic, micro-structural, and/or morphological properties of materials. Specifically in FY2013, the USG is primarily seeking significant developments in the quantification of micro-structural and morphological measurements of bulk uranium and plutonium materials in both oxide and metal forms.

2. Technical Mission Area 2 (TMA 2): Following the detonation of a nuclear device, solid debris samples to be analyzed are expected to contain trace-level quantities of nuclear materials combined with material from the immediate environment around the detonation site, which may have been activated and is assumed to have been vaporized and recondensed. As such, debris for dissolution is expected to have formed at high temperatures and contain silicates and other hard-to-dissolve materials. Solid fallout debris is typically in a glassy matrix containing parts per million (ppm) quantities of plutonium or uranium with radioactive fission products. Improvements are sought in the characterization and analysis of nuclear and non-nuclear constituents within these nuclear and post-detonation debris materials, including those present in trace quantities.

3. Technical Mission Area 3 (TMA 3): General studies that improve our understanding of how relevant stages of the nuclear fuel cycle create, persist, or modify discriminating material characteristics in the metal or oxide forms of uranium or plutonium. FY2013 activities should focus on identifying discriminating characteristics that help assess the process history and provenance of bulk uranium and plutonium materials produced in the enrichment, conversion to oxides, and conversion to metal stages of the fuel cycle, and developing simulations that predict material characteristics from parameterized processes.

 

Do I need to be a United States citizen?

 

Yes, for this scholarship, being a U.S. citizen is a requirement.

 

Nuclear Nonproliferation International Safeguards Graduate Fellowship Program

When is the deadline for the application?

 

The deadline for applying to this program is March 1st.

 

When will I hear if I was awarded the fellowship?

 

The Fellowship awards are generally announced in mid April.

 

How many students are awarded the fellowship each year?

 

The number of awards given each year is dependent on the number of graduating Fellows currently in the program, available funding, and the qualifications of the candidates.

 

What area of research and coursework do I need to be involved in to apply?

 

The objective of the Nuclear Nonproliferation International Safeguards Graduate Fellowship (NNIS) program is to meet NNSA's need for highly trained scientists and engineers in the technical areas in which NNSA has ongoing research and development programs. At present, these areas include the following:

• Advancements in analytical techniques and instrumentation used in determining inventory and characterization of nuclear materials.
• Identifying ways to improve instrumentation and techniques for the physical, chemical, and radiological analysis of nuclear or radioactive materials, and any associated materials at both the bulk and trace levels.
• Development of new and innovative methods and improvements to existing methods and instrumentation for chemical and radiological characterization, as well as the development of new and advanced approaches applicable to laboratory, field and in process methods.
• Development of improved approaches to integrating international safeguards into the early design of nuclear facilities
• Development of advanced safeguard approaches and techniques that can be applied to existing and future nuclear facilities, including, inter alia, uranium enrichment, reprocessing, and reactor facilities.
• Development of additional technologies that can be used to detect, verify, and monitor nuclear materials as it relates to production and proliferation.
• Advanced techniques for information retrieval, management, and analysis to optimize information utilization and enhance capabilities for detection of undeclared nuclear materials and activities.
• Innovative ways to strengthen safeguards and security infrastructures, through training and other capacity building measures, in countries with credible plans to develop the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

 

How many years can I be a fellow?

 

The award is limited to 24 months for master's candidates and 48 months for doctoral candidates.

A fellowship appointment may not exceed 48 months and all appointments will be prorated for previous graduate work.

 

Do I need to participate in a practicum?

 

Each fellow is required to complete a three-month practicum at a designated DOE/NNSA facility. These will primarily be DOE national laboratories. The practicum is normally held during the summer at the end of the first academic year.

To encourage a broad range of experience, a practicum assignment will ordinarily only be approved for a practicum facility more than 50 miles from the fellow's university. DOE/NNSA practicum facilities can be found here.

 

Do I need to be a full-time student?

 

During the fellowship period, fellows are expected to be registered and enrolled as full-time graduate students, and must perform study and research within the objectives of the fellowship program.

 

How much financial report will I receive?

 

Fellows receive a monthly stipend in the amount of $2,200. The fellow's basic stipend is augmented by $500 (prorated) each month during the practicum. Stipends are mailed to the fellow or directly deposited into the fellow's bank account each month directly.

 

Do I need to be in school for my Ph.D.?

 

No.  This fellowship is open to all individuals who will be starting graduate studies (Masters or Doctoral) or graduate students (Masters or Doctoral) who are currently enrolled in a qualified course of study (see technical areas) and have at least one full year of graduate work remaining at the beginning of their fellowship term.

 

Can I apply as an undergraduate?

 

Yes. This fellowship is open to all individuals who will be starting graduate studies or graduate students who are currently enrolled in a qualified course of study (see technical areas) and have at least one full year of graduate work remaining at the beginning of their fellowship term.

 

Do I need to be a United States citizen?

 

Yes, for this fellowship, being a U.S. citizen is a requirement.

 

Rickover Fellowship Program in Nuclear Engineering

When is the deadline for the application?

 

The deadline for applying for the Rickover Fellowship Program is January 31st.

 

How many students are awarded the fellowship each year?

 

The number of awards given each year is dependent on the number of graduating Fellows currently in the program, available funding, and the qualifications of the candidates.

 

When will I hear if I was awarded the fellowship?

 

Rickover Fellowship awards are generally announced mid April.

 

What areas of research and course work do I need to be involved in to apply?

 

QUALIFIED ACADEMIC AREAS

Rickover fellows must be enrolled in an academic course of study and pursue research applicable to the science and engineering programs for the Rickover Fellowship Program in Nuclear Engineering. A fellow's academic program must be structured so that it supports one of the following research areas:

AREAS OF RESEARCH

REACTOR PHYSICS

• Research on data for modeling nuclear phenomena including their improvement and assessment against worldwide experiments

• Development of advanced Monte Carlo techniques to solve the neutron transport equation for complex material arrangements in three-dimensional geometries using novel variance reduction procedures

• Improvements in methods using the diffusion approximation for calculating core neutronic behavior with burn up in the design of reactors

• Development and application of accurate and efficient deterministic methods for solution of the neutron transport equation for realistic, three-dimensional reactor core geometries.

• Investigation of procedures with improved accuracy and efficiency for evaluation of important reactor design parameters

• Development of advanced experimental techniques (e.g. measurement of sub-criticality, determination of fissile content in spent fuel)

• Development of advanced or innovative reactor design concepts

MATERIALS SCIENCE
• Performance prediction of nuclear fuels
• Advanced materials for use in neutron environments
• Corrosion in nuclear environments
• Fission product attack of materials
• Instrumentation for in-core measurements
• Fundamental studies of neutron and fission fragment damage to materials
• Computational material science studies

THERMAL HYDRAULICS AND COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS
• Measurements and modeling of the characteristics of thin liquid films in two-phase flow
• Measurements and modeling of void fraction, velocity and interfacial area in two- phase flow regimes under a wide range of conditions
• Mechanistic modeling of critical heat flux in the nucleate boiling and departure from nucleate boiling (DNB) regime
• Direct measurement and modeling of wall shear and pressure drop in two-phase flow
• Measurement and modeling of the size of liquid droplets and entrainment rates in annular two-phase flow
• Investigation of the calculational stability of various two-phase flow source terms
• Measurements and modeling of transient two-phase flow
• Development of a single-phase and/or two-phase Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) validation, uncertainty quantification and best-estimate plus uncertainty design methods
• Measurement of single-phase and/or two-phase flow field quantities required to validate CFD methods
• Development of new turbulence models for internal, anisotropic flows for application to CFD

SHIELDING
• Improved parallel efficiency in deterministic transport calculations
• Discontinuous mesh computations for large 3D problems
• Application of Monte Carlo to large scale shielding problems
• Hybrid Monte Carlo/deterministic shielding methods

 

How many years can I be a fellow?

 

The award is limited to 48 months maximum for doctoral candidates. Awards may be limited to less time than the maximum in some situations.

 

Do I need to participate in a practicum?

 

Rickover Fellows are required to participate in at least two practica for at least three months each at a DOE Naval Reactor research laboratory to gain applied experience. A DOE Security clearance must be obtained and maintained for each practicum.Yes. Fellows are required to participate in two practicums at a DOE Naval Reactor research laboratory to gain hands-on experience.

 

Do I need to be a full-time student?

 

Yes. Fellows are expected to be registered as full-time graduate students and performing study and research within the objectives of the fellowship program.

 

How much financial support will I receive?

 

Fellows receive a monthly stipend in the amount of $2,600. The Fellow's basic stipend is augmented by an additional $650 (prorated) each month during the practicum.

 

Do I need to be in school for my Ph.D.?

 

Yes. The program is open to individuals who will be starting a Ph.D program or individuals who are already enrolled as doctoral students.

 

Can I apply as an undergraduate?

 

The program is open to all individuals who will be entering graduate students or who are currently enrolled in a qualified course of study but have not yet selected a thesis topic.

 

Do I need to be a United States citizen?

 

Yes, for this fellowship, being a U.S. citizen is a requirement.  Dual citizenship is not permitted.