Nuclear Engineering Faculty

Dr. Joseph Newkirk

Department Chair and Professor

Research Interests

Additive manufacturing, powder metallurgy, wear and corrosion resistant alloys, high temperature materials, aerospace materials, nuclear materials, and heat treating

Dr. Ayodeji Alajo

Associate Professor

Research Interests

High fidelity nuclear systems design and modeling, advanced fuel cycles, radioactive waste management and nuclear systems safety

Dr. Carlos Castano

Associate Professor

Research Interest

Energy, nuclear materials, plasma material interactions, hydrogen in materials, radio electromechanical effects and nanotechnology

Dr. Joseph Graham

Associate Professor, Associate Chair of Research and Director of Nuclear Reactor

Research Interest

Radiation effects in ceramics, radiation solid interactions, nuclear fuel properties and nuclear waste forms 

Dr. Joshua Schlegel

Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Academics

Research Interest

Two-phase flow experiments and modeling, nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics, heat transfer and fluid mechanics

Dr. Shoaib Usman

Associate Professor

Research Interest

Radiation transport, radiation protection, radioactive waste management

Joint Appointment Faculty

Dr. Muthanna Al-Dahhan

Curators' Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering

Research Interest

Reactor Engineering, Transport-Kinetic Integration, Advanced Measurement and Computational Techniques, Clean and Alternative Energy and Environment, Multiphase Reaction Engineering, and Advanced Measurement Techniques

Dr. Syed Alam (Syed Bahauddin Alam)

Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Nuclear Plasma and Radiological Engineering

Research Interest

Multiscale & Multiple Modeling, digital twin, explainable and trustworthy AI, uncertainty quantification, robust optimization

Dr. John Gahl

Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia

Research Interest

Nuclear, plasma and beam science, Material science in extreme environments

Dr. Joseph Smith

Professor in Chemical & Biochemical Engineering and Laufer Endowed Energy Chair

Research Interest

Hybrid energy systems, Fuels combustion and gasification, Industrial gas flare design, operation, and regulation, Process modeling, monitoring, control, and operation, and Coal/biomass gasification

Dr. Haiming Wen

Assistant Professor in Material Science and Engineering

Research Interest

Development and fabrication of advanced materials such as bulk nanostructured alloys, high entropy alloys and bulk metallic glasses with dramatically improved mechanical properties and irradiation resistance than conventional materials, Microstructure characterization of materials using transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography, Mechanical behavior and deformation mechanisms of materials, Application of advanced materials in energy, transportation and defense, Nuclear fuels and structural materials designed for current and next generation nuclear reactors, and Irradiation effects in materials

Emeritus Professors

Dr. Arvind S. Kumar

Emeritus Professor

Research Interest

Nuclear materials, Radiation effects, Mechanical properties

Dr. Gary E. Mueller

Emeritus Associate Professor

Research Interest

Nuclear power safety, Particle bed heat transfer, Space nuclear power, Radioactive waste minimization, Packed bed characterization, Radial porosity, Analytical solutions, and Subatomic particle interactions