Nuclear Engineering:
Faculty

Ali Abdou, Ph.D.

Department:

Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

Institution:

Kansas State University

Professor Ali Abdou received a B.S. degree in nuclear engineering from the Alexandria University, Egypt in 1992, M.S. in Nuclear Engineering in 2002, M.S. in Computational Sciences in 2003 and Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering in 2005 all from the University of Wisconsin Madison. Professor Abdou has over 15 years of experience in the nuclear science and engineering fields. He participated in the design, pre-operation, inauguration and operation of Egypt’s second test and research nuclear reactor ETRR-2 from 1994 to 1999. He is licensed radiation protection and health physicist from Argentinean ENRN and Egyptian NRC in 1996 and 1997 respectively. From 2005 to 2009, he was working as Senior Process Development Engineer at Portland Technology Development, Intel Corporation in the area of plasma etching and semiconductor nanofabrication. He was responsible for the process development of shallow trench isolation for 65nm, 45nm and 32nm nodes. He has wide expertise in plasma processing techniques used in the fabrication and characterization of semiconductor nano/micro structures. In early 2009, he joined the department of mechanical and nuclear engineering at Kansas State University as an assistant professor of nuclear engineering. His current research interests include: development of nano-second compact multi-radiation sources based on the dense plasma focus devices, the research and development of plasma etching in semiconductor nanofabrication, optical emission spectroscopy and x-ray emission from plasmas. Prof. Abdou has authored or co-authored over 30 research publications.

Steven Biegalski, Ph.D.

Department:

Mechanical Engineering

Institution:

University of Texas-Austin

Dr. Steven Biegalski earned his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May 1996. He joined the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin in 2002 and now serves as Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He is affiliated with the Nuclear and Radiation Engineering Program. Dr. Biegalski is currently the Director of the Nuclear Engineering Laboratory (NETL). He is licensed as a Professional Engineer in the states of Texas and Virginia. His research focuses on nuclear analytical methods, nuclear instrumentation, nuclear reactor design, and nuclear reactor operations. Dr. Biegalski’s research includes the development and utilization of instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), prompt gamma-ray activation analysis (PGAA), neutron depth profiling (NDP), and neutron radiography. He also conducts research that supports nuclear explosion monitoring and nuclear forensics. He has experience modeling environmental pathways with a special focus on atmospheric transport modeling. In the past he has worked to develop technology in support of nuclear treaties. Research interests include: nuclear instrumentation and nuclear spectroscopy; nuclear analytical methods including instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), prompt gamma-ray activation analysis (PGAA), neutron depth profiling (NDP), and neutron radiography and tomography; analysis of environmental media with nuclear methods; modeling of environmental pathways; nuclear forensics; computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

Shannon M. Bragg-Sitton, Ph.D.

Department:

Nuclear Engineering

Institution:

Texas A&M University

Carolyn Heising, Ph.D.

Department:

Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering

Institution:

Iowa State University

Professor Heising's research areas include: reliability and quality engineering, probabilistic risk analysis (PRA), statistical quality control (SQC), total quality management (TQM), and technology safety assessment. In particular, she is a well-known expert in nuclear power plant safety, condition monitoring, and predictive maintenance. She spent her last sabbatical leave (2008-09) at General Atomics Company in San Diego, California working in the gas reactor group on fuel cycle studies, including an investigation of thorium usage. She has given several invited seminars on thorium, including at the World Nuclear Fuel Cycle conference in Sydney, Australia in April, 2009, at the nuclear engineering departments at the University of California, Berkeley in April, 2009 and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in September, 2009, as well as presenting the paper at the American Nuclear Society (ANS) November, 2009 meeting in Washington, DC in the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) topical. Professor Heising also visited Qatar University in March of 2007 as member of the Industrial Engineering Advisory Committee, and then, was invited to present a workshop on safety in the LNG industry in January, 2008 at Qatar University in Doha, Qatar. Moreover, she attended the Deming Institute at Purdue University in October, 2009 and is initiating a distance education version of IE 561, Continuous Process Improvement, in the Spring of 2010 based on efforts with CoE alumni Dick Steele. She also attended the Big XII Engineering Consortium in Kansas City during October, 2009 as a member of the ISU nuclear engineering minor program, where her IE 537 Reliability and Safety course was requested as a PRA applications to nuclear engineering distance education course for offering next summer, 2010.

Sheldon Landsberger, Ph.D.

Department:

Mechanical Engineering

Institution:

The University of Texas at Austin

Dr. Landsberger is Coordinator of the Nuclear and Radiation Engineering Program in the Mechanical Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Austin. He has served on the faculty of the College of Engineering since 1997. He has published numerous technical articles and publications. Dr. Landsberger is also a member of the University of Texas Materials Institute. He was appointed as Director of the UT Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory (NETL) in Spring 2002. He received the Glenn Murphy Award from the Nuclear and Radiological Division of the American Society of Engineering Education, recognizing his notable professional contributions to the teaching of undergraduate and graduate nuclear engineering students. He also received the Hayden Head Centennial Endowed Professorship from the College of Engineering. Dr. Landsberger is primarily involved in the determination of heavy metals in environmental samples using nuclear analytical methods. He has had experience many years of experience in analyzing air samples from the Arctic, Great Lakes, and other urban and rural areas. In particular he has developed improved nuclear techniques to better determine the elements of critical importance in identifying regional sources of airborne particles, and characterizing solid waste leaching dynamics. His current research interests include low-level counting of natural radioactivity, corrosion studies, Compton suppression gamma-ray spectrometry and risk assessment in radioactivity handling.

William H. Miller, Ph.D.

Department:

Nuclear Science and Engineering Institute

Institution:

University of Missouri-Columbia

Dr. Miller has been in the Nuclear Engineering Program at University of Missouri-Columbia for 31 years. He currently has 10 active research grants, largely focused upon innovative uses of radiation, radiation detection, cancer treatment dosimetry, and curriculum development for Radiation Protection Technicians. In addition to his teaching duties in the Nuclear Science and Engineering Institute, he has been Director of the Nuclear Science for Secondary High School Teachers Workshop for 26 consecutive years. He has developed a distance education refresher course for industry personnel in preparation for the Certified Health Physics exam. He is currently Principle Investigator for a $2.3M Department of Labor grant to disseminate web-based curriculum for Radiation Protection Technician workers.

J. Kenneth Shultis, Ph.D.

Department:

Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

Institution:

Kansas State University

Dr. Shultis joined the Kansas State University faculty in 1969, and has since served as a key player in the rebuilding of the nuclear engineering program. Once the only nuclear faculty member in 2000, he is now Nuclear Program Director over a thriving area with more than 60 students and $4.5 million in research. Author and co-author of five books, Dr. Shultis specializes in radiation shielding and interaction effects.