Academics
Graduate Program
Description
The continuing development of nuclear power and related industries has created a great and growing demand for trained nuclear engineers. The nuclear engineer is concerned with the release, control and use of energy from nuclear sources. Nuclear engineering is based on the principles of nuclear physics that govern radioactivity, fission and fusion; the production of heat and radiation in those processes; and the interaction of radiation with matter. The function of the nuclear engineer is to apply these principles to a wide range of challenging technological problems.
Degrees we offer
The Department of Nuclear Engineering offers the Master of Engineering, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. The department also offers courses and faculty supervision for students pursuing the Doctor of Engineering degree. Admission to nuclear engineering required a bachelor’s degree in engineering, chemistry, mathematics or physics. Some nuclear physics background is highly desirable. Mathematics through differential equations is required.
Minor field of study
Degree programs that include a minor field of study are encouraged. This minor field would normally include graduate study in the area of the student’s baccalaureate degree. If the baccalaureate degree is nuclear engineering, the student with the advice of his or her committee will select a suitable minor area of study. The department does not have a foreign language requirement for the Ph.D degree; however, successful completion of a departmental qualifying exam after finishing the master’s degree is required for continuation of studies for the Ph.D.
Research opportunities
Research opportunities are varied with emphasis on nuclear fuels, solid/ion interactions, particle transport, reactor safety, design of advanced nuclear reactors, thermal hydraulics, computational fluid mechanics, fusion engineering, reactor kinetics and control, plutonium disposition, space nuclear power systems, neural networks and expert systems, most areas of health physics, industrial hygiene, ergonomics and safety engineering.
Facilities
The department offers a wide variety of facilities for instructional and research purposes. These include a well-equipped radiation measurements laboratory; a sub-critical reactor laboratory; access to an SGI Power Challenge 10000 XL, an SGI Origin 2000 and a Cray J90 supercomputer; access to university-wide UNIX and VAX networks; a departmental computer facility including interconnected UNIX, NT and Macintosh workstations with an extensive software library; a radiochemistry laboratory; thermal hydraulics laboratories; an AGN-201M low-power nuclear reactor; three low-energy ion accelerators; a large TRIGA research reactor, located at the Texas Engineering Experiment Station’s Nuclear Science Center; and a new plasma science/pulsed power laboratory. An 88-inch cyclotron is also available for research in nuclear physics and engineering at the Cyclotron Institute.
Professional Educational Program in Health Physics
Students interested in doctoral level studies in health physics can pursue these through the Ph.D. program in nuclear engineering. In addition, a professional education program in health physics, leading to the Master of Science degree in health physics, is available in the department. This area of specialized study in the Department of Nuclear Engineering is based strongly on the fundamental aspects of radiation effects on matter, internal and external dosimetry and environmental aspects of nuclear power. The curriculum is such that students are educated at a professional level in the field of radiation safety or health physics.
A student is required to spend the initial academic year taking formal course work in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and in other cooperating departments of the university. The summer is spent in special courses providing practical on-the-job training in health physics at the Cyclotron Institute, the Nuclear Science Center Reactor and the Radiological Safety Office. At least one additional semester is normally required to finish course work and complete a research project for the Master of Science degree in health physics.