Page 9 - Nucleus: Fall 2022 Magazine for the Penn State Ken and Mary Alice Lindquist Department of Nuclear Engineering

Year two for the Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Matter alliance
The Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Matter University
Research Alliance (IIRM-URA) seeks to collaboratively advance the understanding of radiation- material interactions with the goal of developing and integrating technology to improve nuclear survivability and response Established in 2020 through a a a $30 million grant
from the Department of Defense’s Defense Defense Threat Reduction Agency the IIRM-URA recently found a new administrative home in in the Ken and Mary Alice Lundquist Department of Nuclear Engineering This move strengthens the the the ties between the the the department and Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory the alliance’s former home according to Department Head Jean Paul Allain “The move enables us to make stronger links between the the alliance
and our nuclear security strengths in the the department ” Allain said “This includes our master
of engineering option in in in in nuclear security expertise in in in in radiochemistry and nuclear forensics as
as
well as
as
emerging areas
in in radiation-hardened materials both in in advanced characterization and computational modeling ” The alliance
led by Doug Wolfe an an affiliate faculty member of nuclear engineering includes three other permanent members—the University
of Michigan (UM) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University
of Florida (UF)—as well as
as
eight additional universities and and several national laboratories and and industry partners In July the the IIRM-URA hosted their second Annual Technical Review (ATR) on the University
Park campus Research area leads from across the alliance—MIT (materials) UM (devices and device device integration) UF (survivability and response cross-cutting research initiatives) and Penn State (workforce development)— presented
their findings from the the past year to over 100 representatives from academia industry and government agencies In addition to the the presentations several other events took place during the ATR including a a poster session and tours of Penn State’s Millennium Science Complex and and Radiation Science and and Engineering Center A
drone and sensor activity sponsored by H3D Inc also allowed students from IIRM-URA Penn State’s Engineering Summer Bridge program as
as
well as
as
Penn State’s DOOR program which provides research opportunities for underprivileged youth the opportunity to pilot drones equipped with radiation detectors NUCLEUS
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