Volume 6, Number 3
April 2009

Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute
by D. Grant Ford

I began working at the Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI) at the beginning of 2008. As the youngest staff member, it was a natural fit from the very beginning for me to spend part of my time managing students and their research projects. Having recently gone through the Texas A&M University (TAMU) graduate system, I was familiar with the typical problems our students encounter and their solutions. More importantly however, I remember what it’s like to be a student and know what our students’ needs are.

My research is typically complimentary to research being performed by one of the NSSPI students. While the research is mostly done in parallel, there are always certain key areas of intersection. For example, we have a two-student team developing a direction sensitive neutron detector. The team consists of an undergraduate student interested in attending graduate school for materials research and development and one of our graduate students in nuclear engineering.
Our undergrad focuses his efforts on determining appropriate semi-conducting materials to use in our new detector concept.

His research will culminate in a senior undergraduate thesis to add to his resume, something not required at TAMU but highly encouraged. Our graduate student is earning his M.S. in nuclear engineering through the modeling of various existing detector systems and the new detector design concepts the team has developed. His analysis of the relative effectiveness of each new design to the existing baseline will be crucial in determining the feasibility of any new design. My research on this project focuses on the signals analysis and measurement tolerances required for acceptable directionality measurements.

One of the most important mechanisms within NSSPI is the many “sounding boards” our students have for their ideas.

All NSSPI students meet once every two weeks to discuss their projects. The typical format of this meeting consists of one of our teams of students (our teams are organized into groups of students with similar research topics) presenting to the rest of the research group. These presentations can range from students presenting the possible topics for their PhD dissertation, to students presenting their conclusions from years of research.

These types of presentations serve to educate the rest of the research group in addition to providing the necessary feedback and insights our students need to ensure their research is correct and complete. Additionally, the many staff members of NSSPI (post doctorate, research engineer, etc) all have open door policies, and are generally more available than the traditional faculty that must teach classes.
These opportunities provide the students with a source of feedback and assistance any time it is needed. While these support structures provide vital assistance to the NSSPI students, they also meet with their advisor once a week to set priorities, milestones, and get feedback for their research.

In addition to my research and assistance with the management of students, part of my time is spent developing outreach material for safeguards education. The near-term goal of this effort is to ensure that every graduate of the TAMU Nuclear Engineering (NUEN) Department has a strong grasp of what safeguards are, why they are important, and how they are implemented in the international community. A short series of lectures is being developed as a result of action items from the INMM/ESARDA working group on safeguards education and training and we intend to introduce them into existing TAMU courses that are mandatory for all nuclear engineering undergraduate and graduate students.

Once our initial goal of introducing safeguards curriculum into NUEN courses is met we intend to tailor these lectures to a broader audience at TAMU. After all, the problems in the safeguards community cannot be solved by nuclear engineers alone. By introducing safeguards as a viable career path into the broader student body of physicists, mathematicians, political scientists, etc we can ensure that the next generation of safeguards experts is properly equipped.

While I intend to finish my career in academia, I do not intend to spend all of it there. The opportunities at NSSPI are many and varied for all of our students and staff, but I would like to eventually earn a PhD as part of my contributions to NSSPI and spend time in the broader safeguards community before returning to safeguards education.