Ben McFarland was inspired by the good teachers he had as a student at Iowa State University and now he’s looking to pay it forward in his capacity as a college instructor. McFarland grew up in Nevada, Iowa and developed an interest in STEM at an early age because of his father, Pat, who worked …Continue reading “Serving his country by teaching armed service members”
It can be challenging to understand technologies that most of us don’t interact with routinely. They can be complex, arcane and hard to access in our time-constricted lives. Yet, as the recent Texas energy debacle demonstrates, it’s important. One Iowa State University alum has made a career of making an important energy technology – nuclear …Continue reading “Engineering and the art of communication”
While some high school students attend summer camp to enjoy the great outdoors, one Iowa State University alum attended a different kind of summer camp to learn about nuclear engineering and it ended up having a profound impact on her professional development. Lora Drenth grew up on a farm in northwest Iowa. As a junior …Continue reading “Summer program opened door to nuclear industry for alum”
Nuclear power plants are an important source of energy production in the United States and elsewhere, and their operational safety is important for the prevention of nuclear disasters. In a typical nuclear power plant, there are around 1,000 km of power, instrumentation and control cables whose integrity is necessary for safe operation of the reactor. …Continue reading “MSE research group studies aging mechanisms of nuclear power plant cable insulation”
Prathamesh Bilgunde, a graduate student majoring in Engineering Mechanics, received the Robert Uhrig Graduate Scholarship Award from the American Nuclear Society for his work on high temperature transducers in nuclear reactors. The scholarship, which awards students pursuing graduate research with a focus in the field of nuclear instrumentation and controls, is named after Robert Uhrig, …Continue reading “Bilgunde Wins Award From The American Nuclear Society”
As one of the first women to graduate Iowa State with an undergraduate degree in nuclear engineering, Margaret Harding finds herself at the heart of the nuclear industry over 30 years later. Routinely receiving acclamation for her outstanding work, she continues to push forward in hopes of igniting a brighter future for the field. Finding …Continue reading “A true advocate for nuclear energy”
Leonard Bond, director for the Center of Nondestructive Evaluation (CNDE) and professor of Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State, was recently published in IEEE Spectrum, a magazine edited by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Bond provided his expertise on the life span of nuclear reactors in an article entitled Fitness Tests for Old Nuclear …Continue reading “Bond publishes article on fitness tests for nuclear reactors”
“I’m going to CERN,” John Hauptman told the undergraduates in his classical physics course, referring to the European Organization for Nuclear Research and the home of the Large Hadron Collider. He explained he needed students to help with some projects he’d finish there over the summer. “If anyone wants to come along, send an email.” Waidanz, then a …Continue reading “It was a high-energy summer for Iowa State undergraduates at European physics lab”
Carolyn Heising, professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, discusses the benefits of recycling used fuel from power reactors, and why it’s a good idea for our country to consider in a guest column in the Cedar Rapids Gazette. One of the arguments against recycling the waste is a risk of plutonium being more accessible. …Continue reading “Recycling nuclear waste makes sense for energy future”
It has been four months since a massive earthquake and tsunami rocked Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in what is being called the second largest nuclear accident in history. The complex nature of nuclear energy and concerns of radiation exposure have left people across the world fearful of the power source, some even …Continue reading “Nuclear energy industry continues on”
On May 26, 1958, in western Pennsylvania, the first nuclear power plant began generating electricity in the United States, ushering in a new era in energy production that would fuel economic growth and eventually transform the industrial world. Yet more than a half-century later, even as nuclear power moves to the fore in helping to …Continue reading “Professor addresses big questions for nuclear power”
Public debate and bureaucracy are bogging down the development of nuclear energy and putting the United States at a disadvantage compared with other countries, an Iowa State University professor and nuclear energy expert says. IMSE Professor Carolyn Heising was practically raised at the knee of the development of the nuclear U.S. Navy. Her father was …Continue reading “Heising remains a supporter of nuclear energy”
Margaret Harding (NucE’81) will be featured on the Discovery Channel’s show “Nuclear Nightmare: Japan in Crisis.” The show will run April 28, at 10:00 p.m.; April 29, at 1:00 a.m.; and May 11, at 11:00 a.m. The program will provide a comprehensive timeline of the unthinkable natural disaster that triggered a nuclear crisis at Fukushima Daiichi, …Continue reading “Harding to appear on the Discovery Channel”
On March 30, 2011, Margaret Harding, a member of Iowa State’s Engineering College Industrial Advisory Council, presented her lecture “Fukushima: Timeline, Facts, and Implications for Nuclear Power.” Click here to watch the lecture. Harding has more than 30 years of experience in the nuclear industry, spending many of those years as the vice president of engineering …Continue reading “Harding’s lecture on the Fukushima nuclear power plant is online”
Margaret Harding, a member of Iowa State’s Engineering College Industrial Advisory Council (ECIAC), will present her lecture “Fukushima: Timeline, Facts, and Implications for Nuclear Power,” on Wednesday, March 30, in the Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium in Howe Hall at 6:00 p.m. Margaret has more than 30 years of experience in the nuclear industry, spending many …Continue reading “Fukushima: Timeline, Facts, and Implications for Nuclear Power”