The index is organized from most to least recent. Each entry includes the date at the end.
Seeking People to Interview
I recently joined the Nuclear Advocacy Resource Organization, or NARO. As part of our first campaign, we are looking for people to interview about how energy impacts their lives and why they are pro-nuclear. Anyone from any job can be interviewed, from teachers to farmers to nurses to even engineers. If you are willing to be interviewed or know someone who is, please leave a comment on my page letting me know and I will reach out to you shortly. -02/05/25
American Nuclear Society Accelerators
As someone who is entirely too much into nuclear, I have talked pretty much all of my friends to death about the subject. So, when I saw that the American Nuclear Society had an online Accelerators program (their high school nuclear club), I was over the moon. The first meeting was incredible. It ended almost two hours ago and I still have adrenaline coursing through my veins. I learned a lot about the American Nuclear Society's outreach programs (and am currently attempting to work with my FIRST robotics team to have a short nuclear summer camp for elementary/middle school students, as well as a local Accelerators branch) and the incredible things they do.
Fun fact! The current nuclear workforce needs to triple within the next twenty to thirty years (if I remember correctly), so getting young people interested is paramount. If anyone reading this is a nuclear professional, student, or even high schooler, I highly encourage you to do some outreach. For high schoolers, establishing an Accelerators club will provide you with the opportunity to connect with like-minded people (and give your friends and family a break from all the nuclear talk). If you are beyond high school, planning outreach events will go a long way in getting kids interested in nuclear science and engineering. I was regrettably not interested in nuclear when I was a kid, but I was very into astrophysics and programming. My parents took me to as many outreach events at they could, and it went a long way towards keeping me interested in STEM. Heck, I only realized I wanted to do nuclear engieering from an outreach event hosted by the A&M Society of Women Engineers branch (go Aggies!). It truly does make an impact.
On a slightly different note, I hope to attend the 2025 ANS Student Conference in New Mexico! Getting to tour Los Alamos would genuinely be a dream come true (I type, literally wearing a Los Alamos t-shirt), along with meeting other students in the same field I plan to pursue! Every day that passes makes me all the more excited for college, as I am getting to see all the cool things I will be able to do for an internship or job in the future. -01/30/25
2026 Student Conference Planning
I have been incredibly lucky with timing so far. Not only will Texas A&M, the college that I will be attending in the fall, be hosting the 2026 Student Conference for the American Nuclear Society, I was also able to get on the communications committee to help plan said conference! We had our first meeting today, and it was so incredibly cool to be able to be able to see just how much work went into planning something of this scale. There are several different committees and subcommittees within them, and each person has a task to do. It is also cool seeing far in advance these things were planned. Some of the tasks on the list are due next week, next month, and even next year, which is insane to me.
One task that I have been trying to work on is helping come up with a slogan for the conference that pays homage to both nuclear power and Texas. It has definitely been a challenge. It turns out that pretty much all of the slogans that Texas is known for are vaguely threatening, especially once "nuclear" is mentioned. I managed to come up with "The Nuclear Future Shines Big and Bright" which definitely sounds like I'm referring to nuclear bombs. Not great.
I am so thankful for the opportunity to work on the conference. Being able to help with something as impactful as this is very fulfilling. I'm excited to see how everything comes together as time progresses, and to see the fruits of everyone's labor pay off in 2026. -01/20/25
Nuclear Research Group: Part 3
A lot happened between the last update and this update. I finished the summer research project! I'm quite proud of my presentation (which was over hybrid fission-fusion reactors as used for nuclear thermal propulsion), especially considering I finished it alone. Both of the other group members dropped out before we began systhesizing the research into a presentation, which happened to be right as I left the country for a vacation. It was difficult to finish the presentation when I didn't have Wi-Fi the majority of the time, but I'm proud I was able to get it done. I'm continuing the program and writing a research paper on the topic, though I'll probably narrow it down to hybrid fission-fusion reactors. -09/19/24
Nuclear Research Group: Part 2
We just had our first meeting!! We decided to narrow our focus a bit to a specific type of small modular reactor or microreactor, and a part to hold it within a rocket. The project includes literature research and a presentation at the end, with an optional research paper. My group decided to do the research paper as well, which I am over the moon about. Everyone in my group is wonderful, and my advisor is SO kind and helpful. I'm going to narrow down the project even more (leaning towards molten salt reactors or capillary heat pipe microreactors) in the coming days and begin my literature review! I'm so excited!! -06/21/24
Nuclear Research Group
I just joined a research group, run by the Society of Women Engineers. As of now, we plan to focus on nuclear power as it relates to space exploration, which is very exciting. I'll update this as my research goes on. -06/19/24