Research head start expands NPRE senior's versatility

7/9/2019 Susan Mumm

Written by Susan Mumm

Research head start expands NPRE senior's versatility
Stuti Surani (far right) with her mentors at Idaho National Laboratory. From left, Dr. David Chichester, Dr. Zain Karriem and Mr. Jay Hix.
Stuti Surani (far right) with her mentors at Idaho National Laboratory. From left, Dr. David Chichester, Dr. Zain Karriem and Mr. Jay Hix.

Stuti Surani, who will be a senior in NPRE this fall, is a prime example of the benefits a student can reap from starting research early as an undergraduate.

She began as a freshmen, and has worked with three NPRE professors: Rizwan Uddin in the Virtual Education and Research Laboratory (VERL); Tomasz Kozlowski, who heads the Analysis of Reactor Transients and Stability (ARTS) group; and Angela Di Fulvio, leader of the Neutron Measurement Laboratory.

Surani was proactive in contacting faculty members to work in their labs: “In my first semester, I tried to connect with as many professors as possible. I think I talked to four or five professors about research.”

In VERL, Surani learned how to manipulate Unity game software to create the virtual experience of a nuclear reactor. In Kozlowski’s group, she assisted a graduate student in computer simulations and data analysis for uncertainty quantification research. For Di Fulvio, Surani has been developing and characterizing a neutron spectrometry system, a project that led to her current internship this summer at Idaho National Laboratory, under the supervision of Dr. David Chichester and Dr. Zain Karriem.

Participating in research has created experiences Surani couldn’t have found in the classroom. “I learned about different subfields of the department. It also allowed me to have a diverse and rounded resume,” she said. “This helps you choose from different fields for grad school or industry. For example, I can work in both reactor physics and radiation detection, due to having experience in both.

“Research is very different from courses. While working on a project, you develop an in-depth understanding of the field and apply your knowledge. You make a lot of mistakes and learn through practice rather than just through studying. This makes each experience valuable.”

Other gains for Surani have included being published as a co-author on a research paper with Kozlowski’s group (“Application of Game Theory Principles on the Sensitivity Analysis of the Two-Group Homogenized Cross-Sections.” In Proc: The Fourth International Conference on Physics and Technology of Reactors and Applications=(PHYTRA4), Marrakech, Morocco, September 17-19, 2018, pp. 759-770.); and securing her current internship, a direct result of her work with Di Fulvio. Surani furthermore was chosen for NPRE’s 2019 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award.

Working with several research groups has helped Surani zero in on her interests. “The two main focuses of my different research groups were reactor physics and radiation detection, which are very different fields,” she said. “Reactor physics for me was an exciting and challenging field that I was very much interested in. However, with radiation, I could focus more on the physics of the problem and that was more attuned to my tastes. Unless I switched concentrations, I would never have realized this, because a lot of this understanding comes from taking it into practice.”

Surani plans to graduate in May 2020 and continue her studies in graduate school. Her advice for incoming undergraduates? “Start early. As a freshman or sophomore student, there isn’t a lot of expectations from you, you can pay less attention to school, and you get to develop your skills early on which can help with internships. Regardless of if you want to do grad school or go into industry, having some research experience is always beneficial and allows you to learn much more about the field than just classes can provide.”

And she adds, “Set your own priorities. When doing research, make sure that you are not neglecting schoolwork. Similarly, if you are assigned a research project, make sure that you can work on it consistently. Most of the time, professors understand that schoolwork can be a bit too much sometime. Communicate your situation clearly with them. You can set your pace and work accordingly.”

 

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This story was published July 9, 2019.