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Historically Black Colleges And Universities Educational And Research Outreach Program In Nuclear Science And Engineering

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Conference

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Austin, Texas

Publication Date

June 14, 2009

Start Date

June 14, 2009

End Date

June 17, 2009

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Research and Education in Radiation and Radiologic

Tagged Division

Nuclear and Radiological

Page Count

11

Page Numbers

14.670.1 - 14.670.11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--4929

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/4929

Download Count

465

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Paper Authors

biography

Sheldon Landsberger University of Texas, Austin

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Dr. Landsberger is Coordinator of the Nuclear and Radiation Engineering Program and has
primarily involved in the determination of heavy metals in environmental samples using nuclear
analytical methods. In particular he has developed improved nuclear techniques to better
determine the elements of critical importance in identifying regional sources of airborne particles, and characterizing solid waste leaching dynamics. His current research interests include low-level counting of natural radioactivity, corrosion studies, Compton suppression gamma-ray spectrometry and risk assessment in radioactivity handling. He is also involved in development of distance learning education.

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biography

Ofodike Ezekoye University of Texas, Austin

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Dr. Ofodike Ezekoye is an expert in combustion and heat transfer in high temperature and reacting systems such as combustion engines, furnaces, and fire enclosures. He is currently the Graduate Advisor for the Mechanical Engineering Department and is an advisor for the National Society of Black Engineers University of Texas Austin Chapter.

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David Hearnsberger University of Texas, Austin

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Dr. David Hearnsberger is consultant for his own business Kaizen Innovations. He is a lecturer in radioactive waste management, health physics and health physics instrumentation in the Nuclear and Radiation Engineering Program at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Rose Stiffin Florida Memorial University

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Dr. Rose Stiffin is an Associate Professor in the School of Health and Natural Sciences and is repsonsible to teach nuclear and radiochemistry in the undergraduate radiochemistry technical option.

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Michael Elliott Florida Memorial University

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Dr. Michael Elliott is an Assistant Professor in the School of Health and Natural Sciences and is repsonsible to teach radioactive waste management in the undergraduate radiochemistry technical option.

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Dimitri Tamalis Florida Memorial University

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Dr. Dimitri Tamalis is an Assistant Professor in the School of Health and Natural Sciences and is repsonsible to teach health physcis in the undergraduate radiochemistry technical option.

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Carlos Handy Texas Southern University

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Dr. Carlos Handy is Chair of the Department of Physics at Texas Southern University. He established the only undegraduate health physics program in the Houston area. Dr. Handy continues his research in developing new ways of exploiting positivity constraints to computationally solve various quantum physics problems through the generation of rapidly converging lower and upper bounds to the physical parameters.

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Elena Stefanova Texas Southern University

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Dr. Elena Stefanova is a Visiting Professor at the Texas Southern University and has been involved in the newly developed health physics undergradaute program.

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Muchere Russ Huston-Tilliston

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Dr. Muchere Russ is Associate Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences and is leading to establish a nuclear technical option in Huston-Tilliston.

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Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Historically Black Colleges and Universities Educational and Research Outreach Program in Nuclear Science and Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin Abstract

With the passing of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the United States is experiencing for the first time in over two decades, what some refer to as the “Nuclear Renaissance.” Twenty-year operating license extension applications have been filed to extend the already approved 40-year operating period out to 60 years and some are already being approved. In addition, many utilities are filing a combined Construction and Operating License (COL) application to allow building new power plants within the existing restricted areas, while others are opting to build new power plants in different areas. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recognizes this surge in application submissions and is committed to reviewing these applications in a timely manner to support the country’s growing energy demands. Notwithstanding these facts, it is understood that the nuclear industry requires appropriately trained and educated personnel to support the growing needs of the nuclear industry and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Equally important is the need to educate the next generation of students in nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear forensics and various aspects of homeland security for the national laboratories and the Department of Defense. From mechanical engineers educated and experienced in materials, thermal/fluid dynamics, and component failure analysis, to physicists using advanced computing techniques to design the next generation of nuclear reactor fuel elements, the need for new engineers, scientists, and health physicist has never been greater. To help existing and burgeoning academic programs succeed, we propose to work with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI) to increase enrollment at the graduate level to provide a higher better educated engineers and health physicists.

Goals

In our program we will work closely with three HBCUs to make clearer the career opportunities in nuclear science and technology. We have chosen three distinct types of programs to work with of which two programs are in the state of Texas and one is in Florida. The two Texas programs are Texas Southern University and Huston-Tillotson University. The Florida school is Florida Memorial University. One of the PIs, Professor Landsberger, has done a considerable amount of work with Florida Memorial University and the relationship with FMU represents a template, of sorts, for the types of interactions that we will pursue with our other partner institutions. Texas Southern University, which is located in Houston, was chosen of its recently developed program in nuclear and radiological science. Finally, Huston-Tillotson University, which is located approximately 3 miles from the University of Texas at Austin, was chosen as a partner institution because of proximity to our program and opportunities for a very close working relationship between UT and HT faculty and students.

Landsberger, S., & Ezekoye, O., & Hearnsberger, D., & Stiffin, R., & Elliott, M., & Tamalis, D., & Handy, C., & Stefanova, E., & Russ, M. (2009, June), Historically Black Colleges And Universities Educational And Research Outreach Program In Nuclear Science And Engineering Paper presented at 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--4929

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2009 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015