“We did very well; it was very successful,” said ANS Illinois chapter President Kathryn Mummah. “To win seven different things, we really brought our ‘A’ game.”
“The success of our students at the ANS Student Conference is a true reflection of the quality of their academic and research work as well as their great leadership capabilities,” said NPRE Department Head Jim Stubbins.
With 54 Illinois students attending, the most of any university besides the host school, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Illinois group won seven prizes, including a Commendation for Service and Leadership for Mummah. A total of 550 students from universities across the country participated in the annual conference. After Illinois, the top number of attendees from any one visiting university totaled 20 individuals.
Among the Illinois chapter’s award-winning presentations, projects and posters were:
- “Crystalline Rock Repository in the Northeastern United States: An Analysis of Technical, Political, Economic, and Logistical Feasibility;” Best Presentation in Fuel Cycle & Waste Management Division; presenter Shanna Bobbins and group members Steven Jensen, Michael Benedict and Kevin Chowaniec
- “High Power Pulsed Magnetron Sputtering Magnet Pack Modeling for a Linear Magnetron;” Best Presentation in Material Science & Technology Division; presenter Jake T. McLain
- “Development of Virtual Labs, Games and Training Tools at the University of Illinois 3D Immersive Exercises;” Best Presentation in Education & Work Force Development Division; Justin Joseph
- “Public Image in Spent Fuel Disposal: Lessons Learned from Sweden’s SKB;” Best Presentation in Public Image Division; Kathryn Mummah
- “Solar Thermal Radionuclide Updraft Tower (STRUT);” Second Place for Best Poster Presentation; Aristidis (Aries) Loumis, Ari Krause, and John Karahalios
- “Utilization of Commercial Nuclear Reactor Fleet for the Production of 99Mo;” Third Place for Best Poster Presentation; Dan Strat.
Other projects entered from Illinois were
- “A 3D, Interactive and Virtual Dose Minimization Game for Education and Training;” Education, Training & Workforce Development Division; Gavin Mattingly
- “Computational Investigation into Hydrogen Diffusion, Threshold Energies and Recoil Events in Alpha-phase PdHx;” Materials Science & Technology Division; Joseph Serio
- “Radiation Sensor Network within a Virtual Environment;” Nuclear Nonproliferation & Policy Division; Christian D. Zircher
- “Remote Assessment of Radioactive Security Threats: Prototyping of an Energy Capable Mobile Detection Unit;” Detection & Measurement Division; Andrew N. Groll
- “Spatio-Temporal Methodology for Estimating Loss-of-Coolant Accident Frequencies in the Risk-Informed Resolution of Generic Safety Issue 191;” Operations & Power Division; Nicholas W. O’Shea
- “Digitization of Flow Control in the Recirculation System of a BWR;” Poster Presentation; Jonathon M. Helck, Cory Powers, and Nicholas Bridge
- “Conce ptual Design of a High-Performance Plasma Thruster Using Electron Bernstein Wave (EBW) Heating and REBCO Superconductors;” Poster Presentation; Jared C. Bowman
See more photos on the ANS at Illinois Facebook page!