The index is organized from most to least recent. Each entry includes the date at the end.
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