NPRE students receive DOE fellowship, scholarships

6/24/2009 Nitin Lakshman Rao

Written by Nitin Lakshman Rao

NPRE students receive DOE fellowship, scholarships

Congratulations are due NPRE graduate student Ian Percel and eight NPRE undergraduates, the recent recipients of a fellowship and scholarships, respectively, from the U.S. Department of Energy. The awards are part of the $2.9 million Nuclear Energy Universities Program (NEUP) the DOE has initiated to support the next generation of American nuclear energy development.

 

US Department of Energy
US Department of Energy
Advised by NPRE Prof. Roy Axford, Percel will receive $150,000 over three years to help pay for tuition and fees, a research stipend and research expenses. The Chicago native earned his bachelor’s degree in NPRE in 2008.

 

NPRE undergraduates receiving $5,000 each over the next year from the program are Dieter B. Brommer of Exeter, New Hampshire; Jonathan George of Bolingbrook, Illinois; Timothy P. Grunloh of Teutopolis, Illinois; Jon B. Hansen of O’Fallon, Illinois; Matthew J. Jasica of Broomfield, Colorado; Brian Kleinfeldt of Flossmoor, Illinois; Cody A. Morrow of Virden, Illinois; and Alexander W. Rehn of Flossmoor, Illinois.

The DOE awarded a total of 16 fellowships to U.S. graduate students, and 70 scholarships to U.S. undergraduates.

NEUP supports the country's nuclear energy research infrastructure at schools across the country, while attracting high-quality undergraduate and graduate students into nuclear science and engineering disciplines. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, about half of the nuclear industry’s workforce will be eligible to retire during the next 10 years. The scholarships and fellowships under the NEUP program will help make sure nuclear scientists and engineers are trained to replace these workers and maintain America’s role as a leader in the nuclear energy research.

Said DOE Secretary Steven Chu, "America’s leadership in nuclear energy research will be critical in addressing the country's long-term energy independence and climate change goals. We need to ensure that the next generation of nuclear scientists and engineers have the training they need to research, design, build, operate, and maintain U.S. nuclear power plants. Investing in these students' educations and the necessary infrastructure and equipment at their universities will help keep the United States at the research forefront for this important zero-carbon energy source."

Writer: Susan Mumm editor/alumni affairs coordinator, Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, 217/244-5382 (campus office), 217/821-6866 (cell) 217/347-2166 (home office).


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This story was published June 24, 2009.