Illinois ANS Student Chapter Earns National Recognition

Congratulations to the University of Illinois American Nuclear Society Student Chapter for winning the national ANS Samuel Glasstone Award! The Glasstone Award recognizes the outstanding student ANS section of the past year, and this is the first time in the honor’s 41-year history that Illinois has won. The Illinois group won an Honorable Mention designation in 1988.
 
“I am very excited for our chapter for winning the Samuel Glasstone Award this year,” said Brian R. Kleinfeldt, 2010-11 ANS president, who was also officially commended for his  leadership of the group this past year. “This is a great honor for us and I am very proud of our members for their hard work and creativity that made this year special. I think what made this year different for our ANS chapter was a focus on community service and public outreach.”
 
Among the outreach efforts, the ANS group helped coordinate NPRE’s response to the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plants in Japan in March. The day after the tsunami catastrophe, ANS members helped prepare slides that NPRE faculty used in presenting a seminar that was widely promoted across campus. The seminar drew over 300 people. Two days after the event, ANS also convened a general meeting for its own membership, inviting NPRE Prof. Rizwan Uddin to field questions. Kleinfeldt and ANS member Matthew Duchene also tried to provide public understanding through a letter to the editor they wrote for the school newspaper, the Daily Illini.
 
ANS also helped the NPRE Department organize and host NPRE 2011 Interchange, a Homecoming event that drew about 15 alumni back to campus to meet with students to discuss the nuclear industry and careers. The group, whose membership grew from 60 to 80 individuals over the past year, hosted several company visits to campus and convened a resume workshop to foster professional development.
 
The group started a Youtube channel, featuring video on early reactor tests and civil defense operations. Other activities in which ANS members participated included
• E-Night, a College of Engineering event to recruit new members to student organizations;
• iHelp, a campus-wide community service event;
• meetings with local Boy Scouts to help them earn their Nuclear Science Merit Badges;
• bake sales for Relay for Life and for victims of the Japanese nuclear disaster;
• Engineering Open House (in which ANS won the Spirit of Illini Engineering Award);
• Mom’s Weekend;
• meetings with prospective NPRE students;
• and several social events.
 
Kleinfeldt believes the recognition bodes well for the ANS chapter’s future. “We have new officers and a lot of momentum from this past year,” he said. “I think that the Illinois ANS chapter will be able to accomplish whatever we set our minds to.”