Engineering a path to policy: Aristidis Loumis named ANS Congressional Fellow

Department of Nuclear, Plasma & Radiological Engineering alum Aristidis Loumis (BS ’18) has been named a 2027 Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow by the American Nuclear Society (ANS).

Loumis, who is currently pursuing a PhD in systems modeling and analysis at Virginia Commonwealth University, will begin the yearlong fellowship in January, working on Capitol Hill in a congressional office or committee. The fellowship gives scientists and engineers an opportunity to bring their technical expertise directly into the federal policymaking process.

For Loumis, the opportunity builds on an interest in nuclear policy that began while they were an Illinois student. In 2017, support from the department helped them participate in the Nuclear Engineering Student Delegation, where visits to organizations including the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy and Nuclear Energy Institute opened their eyes to policy as a potential career path.

Their experiences at Illinois also introduced them to advanced reactors, nuclear waste management and international approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle—interests that have continued throughout their career and graduate studies. As a Congressional Fellow, Loumis hopes to make nuclear science more accessible to policymakers while bringing attention to issues including nuclear waste management, environmental stewardship and energy affordability.

NPRE recently caught up with Loumis about the experiences at Illinois that helped shape their path, what the Congressional Fellowship means to them and their advice for students interested in taking nuclear engineering beyond traditional career paths.

You mentioned that Illinois supported your participation in the Nuclear Engineering Student Delegation in 2017. What do you remember most about that experience, and how did it shape your interest in nuclear policy?

• •  I remember getting to tour a variety of nuclear organizations and facilities including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Department of Energy and more. I didn't think of policy as a real option outside of academia until then. 

Looking back, were there particular professors, mentors, courses, or experiences at Illinois that helped put you on the path you’re on today?

• • A great mentor of mine was Dr. Katy Huff. Who teaches the Economics of the Nuclear Fuel cycle, and was the faculty advisor of the ANS student chapter at Illinois when I was president. Tomasz Kozlowski for helping garner my interest in advanced reactors. Clifford Singer and William Roy as well for teaching nuclear waste management, energy and international resources, and bringing me out to Sweden to study abroad under the Swedish nuclear waste management company (SKB). 

What does it mean to you to be selected as an ANS Congressional Fellow, particularly coming from a nuclear engineering background at Illinois?

• •  It is an opportunity for science to inform policy, but also an attempt to make nuclear science more accessible so that it may inform policy. Glenn T. Seaborg was an advisor to 10 U.S. presidents, as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, and I hope, like him, to be able to bring my nuclear background in answering nuclear science related policy questions. Personally, for me it is an opportunity to talk about the importance of nuclear waste management and environmental stewardship when it comes to considering the entire nuclear fuel cycle and take lessons from countries that may be further along in addressing it, like Sweden for example. My personal aspirations having grown up in a low-income home, to a single mother that was not always privy to affording their electricity, and hot water bills, and so I hope to help keep utilities prices low for our most affected communities.

What would you tell a current Illinois nuclear engineering student who is interested in using their technical background outside a traditional engineering career—especially in public policy?

• • Nuclear engineering has one of the largest overlaps with the government of any type of engineering. Nuclear science is not taught in schools typically, and so it is natural that engineers and scientists within our field would be enchanted by the opportunity to speak to these issues and provide objective information to all stakeholders interested in nuclear policy. Nuclear science needs engineers, but it also needs communicators and educators who can help break echo chambers and maybe make nuclear science seem less intimidating and more accessible. Alumni of NPRE have gone on to do many things inside and out of academia, and some have even become artists. Go where your curiosity and interests take you, not necessarily where you feel people are telling you to go.