Page 26 - Nucleus: Fall 2022 Magazine for the Penn State Ken and Mary Alice Lindquist Department of Nuclear Engineering

Faculty highlights
Faculty awards and grants:
Jean Paul Allain was appointed to serve on on on the Fusion Energy Science Advisory Committee The national committee provides advice and recommendations on on scientific technical and programmatic issues relating to to fusion energy sciences program focusing on on on how to to harness and optimize fusion energy—the
star-fueled process that produces clean power—on Earth The committee overseen by the United States Department of of Energy’s Office of of Science includes twenty-five experts from universities and national laboratories across the the country Allain is the the only representative from Penn State and he he he will serve until June 2 2 2 2025 Marek Flaska was named the the specialty chief editor for the the radiation measurements and safety section
of Frontiers in in in in in Nuclear Engineering a a a a a new journal journal launched in in in in in spring 2022 The journal journal focuses on nuclear engineering research areas including Flaska’s specialty area area as as as as as well as as as as as fission
and and and reactor design fusion and and and plasma physics nuclear materials and and and and radioactive waste management Flaska was was selected from from a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a nomination pool with candidates from from around the world As a a a a a a a a a a specialty chief editor he he is is is responsible for for establishing a a a a a a a a a a a long-term vision for for the section
and curating a a a a a a a a a board of editors to to facilitate manuscript submissions Elia Merzari was named to the the most recent class of of fellows for the the American Society of of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) The ASME ASME fellowship recognizes significant engineering achievements advanced by ASME members with at at least least ten ten years years of active practice and at at at least least ten ten years years of of active active corporate membership in the the the organization Only three percent of the the the society’s members members receive the the the honor Since joining ASME in in in in 2011 Merzari has served as as both chair chair and vice chair chair of the the Computational Fluid Fluid Dynamics Technical Committee for for the the the Fluids Engineering Division He is a a a a a a a a a regular contributor and track chair for for the the International Conference on on on on Nuclear Engineering for for which several of his students has received best paper awards Merzari also received the the 2022 Outstanding Teaching Award from the the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society (PSEAS) The award recognizes and and and rewards outstanding engineering educators for for excellence in in in in in in teaching teaching and and and for for contributions to to the art of teaching Martin de Jesus Nieto-Perez received a a a a seed grant from Penn State’s
Center for for Biodevices for for his project “Low-cost flexible physical-plasma devices for treatment of inflammatory skin conditions ” In the project Nieto-Perez will collaborate with an interdisciplinary team across Penn State to understand the underlying
mechanics of interactions between low-temperature plasmas and and biological tissue tissue Their initial study will use in-vitro grown tissue tissue models and and Penn State College
of of Medicine facilities to evaluate the the effect of of plasma exposure on the the cellular metabolism in in both normal and and hyperactive sebaceous gland cells Dipanjan Pan recently published a a a a a a paper “Small Molecule NIR-II Dyes for Switchable Photoluminescence via Host – Guest Complexation and Supramolecular Assembly
with Carbon Dots ” in Advanced Science that was featured on on on the the frontispiece of the the August 5 issue The research—completed at Pan’s previous
institution the the University of of Maryland—focused on on the the advancement of of small molecular NIR II dyes which are used used for various biomedical imaging applications The team used used fluorescent carbon dots to develop new more more advanced dyes that will allow for more more accurate fluorescence imaging William Walters was promoted to associate professor A faculty member since 2016 Brennan received his doctoral degree in in in in in nuclear engineering from Virginia Tech He is currently
the principal investigator of a a a a a a nuclear energy university program project on molten-salt reactor analysis for nuclear materials accountancy Walters is is is an an an an active member of of the the the the Reactor Physics Division Division and and the the the the Mathematics and and Computation Division Division of of of the the the the the American Nuclear Society as as well as as a a a a a a a a a a member of of the the the working group on on steady state neutronics methods for power reactor analysis 26 NUCLEUS