The American Nuclear Society has announced the 2026 annual conference theme: Net Out and Power Up! The event will highlight leaders advancing nuclear fission and fusion breakthroughs.
The 2026 ANS Annual Conference will feature plenaries, executive sessions, and workshops designed to generate new ideas on the value of advanced commercial nuclear systems.
On April 26, the International Atomic Energy Agency marked the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl accident. Ongoing efforts include legacy management, containment, waste treatment, and site assessment.
In 2017, Shirley Jackson, recipient of the Engineer of the Year award at the BEYA STEM Conference in 2000, reflected on her leadership as chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
Jackson, previously a tenured professor, noted in an interview with MIT News that incidents such as Three Mile Island and Chornobyl influenced the nuclear industry and public perception of nuclear power.
During her tenure, she reaffirmed the NRC’s health and safety mission, improved regulatory effectiveness, developed new licensing and renewal processes, and established the International Nuclear Regulators Association in 1997.
This forum brings together leaders from nine countries with advanced nuclear programs to share information and strengthen global nuclear safety and security. Member countries include Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Nuclear engineering qualifications open opportunities in energy, advanced technology, research, defense, and healthcare, demonstrating the versatility and breadth of career paths for graduates.
Nuclear-powered submarines use onboard reactors to generate steam for propulsion and electricity, enabling extended submersion. Their uranium-fueled reactors offer nearly unlimited range.
In 1983, Pete Tzomes, a 1991 BEYA winner, became the first African American to command a nuclear-powered submarine. Six others followed, collectively known as the "Centennial Seven," marking a significant milestone in the submarine service's first century.
Other notable BEYA awardees with nuclear engineering backgrounds include Ken Washington, a retired senior vice president and chief technology and innovation officer at Medtronic, and a multi-award winner at BEYA.
Washington earned his bachelor's, Washington earned bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University. He has held positions at Sandia National Laboratories, Lockheed Martin, and in the automotive, software, robotics, and healthcare technology sectors. His career demonstrates the versatility of nuclear engineering, which provides opportunities in power generation, national laboratories, regulatory bodies, medical technology, robotics, and emerging fields such as fusion energy and advanced reactors.
Mareena Robinson Snowden became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from MIT. She began her studies at Florida A&M University as a business major, later graduating with a bachelor's degree in physics in 2011.
In 2017, she completed her Ph.D. at MIT. Snowden has served as a National Nuclear Security Administration Graduate Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy and as a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Ciara Sivels, now a nuclear engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, was the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan. In 2019, she was recognized as an IF/THEN Ambassador by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Henry Thomas Sampson Jr. (April 22, 1934 – June 4, 2015) invented the gamma-electric cell in 1971, a device that generates auxiliary power from nuclear reactor shielding.
Sampson attended Morehouse College before transferring to Purdue University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1956.
He received an MS in engineering from UCLA in 1961, an MS in nuclear engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1965, and a Ph.D. in 1967, becoming the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering in the United States.