NPRE Illinois bringing large numbers to ANS 2016 Student Conference

The University of Illinois will have an exceptional showing at the upcoming American Nuclear Society (ANS) Student Conference, with nearly one-third of current Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering undergraduates registered to attend.

The ANS student chapter at Illinois is bringing 52 students, and one other NPRE student is participating independently, said Kathryn Mummah, president of the Illinois chapter. The number compares with 24 NPRE students who attended the 2015 conference, and 13 who attended the 2014 conference.

Mummah and other ANS officers started efforts last fall to recruit NPRE students for the conference, being held Thursday through Sunday (March 31-April 3) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In addition to increasing attendees, the recruitment efforts also persuaded 15 NPRE students to become new members of ANS.

“I went to my first conference when I was a freshmen, and thought it was the best experience ever,” said Mummah, now a junior. “I learned more about the nuclear industry there than I did in my first three semesters. Since then, I’ve been determined to get as many students to go to the conferences as possible.”

The local ANS officers advertised the event more often and earlier than in past years. "This year, I started advertising during the second week of school in NPRE's Senior Design class," said local chapter secretary Aristidis Loumis. "I knew that if the seniors would be interested that everyone else would follow. I stressed to them that this would be a great opportunity to find jobs, and also a great opportunity to display their research they were doing in class.

"I worked with Professor (Jim) Stubbins, Head of NPRE, to make the class deadlines align with the deadlines for the conference," Loumis continued. "Basically, anyone taking the (senior design) class and meeting their deadlines could also present at the conference. Within that week, I had 22 seniors signed up (out of a class of 34 students). The third week of class I contacted Becky Meline, Coordinator of Academic Programs, and asked if ANS could make an announcement during the NPRE Undergraduate Seminar, which almost all the underclassmen attend. They knew all the seniors were going, and I also offered times I would be in the student lounge helping people with the process of signing up, which can be a bit confusing for newbies."

The officers also invested effort in talking one-on-one with other students."I followed up with recruiting people by word of mouth, never letting a single person walk by without asking why they aren't signed up!" Loumis said.

Mummah shared that she had received an internship offer at a past conference, and that other students had landed jobs. “I talked about the networking possibilities,” she said. “The career fair (at the conference) is amazing. There’s some 30 companies, with national labs, utilities, and radiological firms.”

In addition to the networking benefits, the conference will give many NPRE students a chance to show off their work. Their projects are entered in one innovation competition, three poster competitions, and nine podium presentations. Several of the projects have been the work of senior design teams.

The number of Illinois students exceeded Mummah’s expectations. “My goal was actually 32 people – Georgia Tech and Wisconsin last year both had 30,” she said. “(Illinois) won’t beat Wisconsin (this year), but I would be really surprised if anyone else shows up with more than us. It definitely gave us a boost that the location is so close.”