NSSPI Professional Staff

Dr. Charlton serves as the Director of NSSPI and as such directs the overall NSSPI activities. Dr. Charlton is an expert in the area of nuclear nonproliferation research and education. Prior to his appointment at TAMU, he was an Assistant Professor in the Nuclear and Radiation Engineering Program at the University of Texas at Austin from 2000-2003. From 1998-2000, Dr. Charlton was a Technical Staff Member in the Nonproliferation and International Security Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). He remains heavily involved with many of the National Laboratories including: consultation on nuclear material safeguards and national security projects, providing graduate and undergraduate students for summer programs and new hires, collaborating with laboratory staff on various funded research projects, and helping to provide continuing education opportunities for laboratory employees. He teaches courses which study the technical aspects of nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and nuclear security as well as fundamentals of nuclear engineering. Dr. Charlton earned a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from Texas A&M University. Among his many awards, Dr. Charlton was named the George Armistead Jr. '23 Faculty Fellow at TAMU in 2005, was awarded the Dwight Look College of Engineering Faculty Fellow in 2007, was recognized as the Advisor of the Year by the TAMU Division of Student Affairs in 2009, and earned the Special Service Award from the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management in 2010. Dr. Charlton is recognized as one of the leaders in the technical area of nuclear nonproliferation education and research. He has over 150 technical publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings.

Dr. Boyle serves as the Deputy Director for NSSPI and provides directions for all NSSPI research activities at TAMU. Dr. Boyle has vast expertise in nuclear weapons test monitoring and brings experience in operating a successful research center to the NSSPI team. Dr. Boyle has served as the Deputy Director of the TEES Center for Space Power and later the Director of the TEES Spacecraft Technology Center from August 1993 to August 2006. He was also appointed as a Visiting Associate Professor in the Nuclear Engineering Department from August 1993 to May 1997 teaching graduate courses in nuclear safety and probabilistic risk assessment as well as conducting research on the disposition of excess nuclear weapons material. Prior to joining Texas A&M University, Dr. Boyle was a Lt. Colonel in the US Air Force serving as the National Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Manager for the Joint Staff and as the DOD action officer on the Nuclear Weapons Council. He has also commanded teams monitoring the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and was responsible for evaluating multi-source data from the U.S. Atomic Energy Detection System. Dr. Boyle earned a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Nelson serves NSSPI as the Associate Director for International Programs and directs NSSPI international research and education programs. He has unparalleled contacts in Russia and India and has worked on developing collaborations with India in support of the U.S.-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement of 2005. Dr. Nelson holds joint appointments as a professor in the Departments of Computer Science, Nuclear Engineering, and Mathematics. He has served on the faculty at Texas A&M University since 1987. From 1972-1987, he was a Professor of Mathematics at Texas Tech University. Prior to this he served as a research fellow at the University of New Mexico and a visiting lecturer at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He was Director of the Institute for Numerical Transport Theory at Texas Tech University from 1977-1987, Coordinator of Mathematical Research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 1962-1972, and Supervisor of the Applications Programming Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 1966-1967. He is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society and a TEES Fellow. He served on the National Academy of Sciences Exchange Program for Poland in 1983 and the National Science Foundation U.S.-India Exchange of Scientists Program in 1981. Dr. Nelson's research interests are in the areas of nuclear materials management, transport theory and computational methods. Dr. Nelson earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of New Mexico in 1969.

Dr. Sam Kirkpatrick is the Bush School Liaison Officer for NSSPI and coordinates NSSPI interactions with the Bush School of Government and Public Service. Dr. Kirkpatrick is the Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Management and Executive Professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. He has served as a department head, a dean, two university presidencies, and as a member of numerous national boards, associations, activities and other civic and public service organizations. He is a Senior Fellow at Strategic Initiatives, Inc., where he provides consultative services in strategic planning, continuous quality improvement, change management and technology innovations for nonprofit organizations. In addition, he serves as an advisor/Senior Executive to boards in the areas of fundraising and strategic planning and as an independent management consultant. His expertise draws on an academic background in public and nonprofit management, organizational dynamics, quality assurance, strategic planning, public policy and information technology applications, plus successful leadership experience as a university president on two occasions, academic dean and department chair, public affairs/public policy center director and statewide honors program director. In addition, he has been principal or co-principal investigator on research and program development grants from the Ford Foundation, U.S. Civil Service Commission, NSF, Kerr Foundation, AT&T Foundation, NIH, AID, and the National Strategy Information Center, among others. Dr. Kirkpatrick received a Ph.D. and M.A. in political science from The Pennsylvania State University and a bachelor's degree and honorary doctorate in public service from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. Special areas of interest include public policy, strategic planning, nonprofit cultural and arts management, continuous improvement and assessment, information and communications technology, fundraising, human resource and professional development strategies, and organizational change management.

Paulo Barretto is a former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director for Technical Cooperation programs for Europe, Latin America and West Asia who currently serves as a consultant on international nuclear projects. He holds the B.Sc. in Geology/Geophysics from the University of São Paulo in 1961 and M.A. (1972) and Ph.D. (1974) degrees in Nuclear Geophysics from Rice University, Houston, Texas, plus a degree from the Brazilian War College (1984). He also received training at the CEA in France (1965-66) and at the U.S. D.O.E. (1968). He served as a Geophysicist with the Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission (1963-1974), as Associate Professor of Geophysics at the University of São Paulo (1974 to 1975). He joined the IAEA in 1975 as First Officer in the Division of Nuclear Power and Fuel Cycle. From 1981 until 1986, he returned to CNEN in Brazil and was Consultant to the Brazilian National Security Council. He rejoined the IAEA in 1988 at the Department of Technical Cooperation as Head of the Latin America Section and later, as Director, Division of Technical Co-operation for Europe, Latin America and West Asia. From 2002 to 2005, he was Chief of the Multidisciplinary Inspections in Iraq for the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).

Dr. Sunil S. Chirayath is a TEES Research Scientist at NSSPI and simultaneously holds the position of visiting assistant professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University. Prior to joining NSSPI, he served the Indian Atomic Energy Regulatory Board in various capacities for 17 years and has vast experience in Indian nuclear fuel cycle. Dr. Sunil's expertise is in applying Monte Carlo methods to analyze reactor core physics, radiation shielding and medical physics problems. He has made research contributions towards the design of Proto-type Fast Breeder Reactor, currently under construction in India. He was involved in the core physics review of Russian VVERs being built in India. He is currently working at NSSPI on a DOE funded project on fast breeder reactors and its fuel cycle facilities as well as DNDO funded project on HEU interdiction. He has completed one year stipendiary training course on health physics aspects of nuclear fuel cycle conducted by the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, India in 1991. He also underwent a two weeks training course in 1997 on safety standards in radiation protection conducted by the IAEA in Japan. Dr. Sunil earned his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Calicut and the University of Madras, India, respectively. He has about 50 technical publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings.

Claudio Gariazzo is an associate research engineer with the Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute at Texas A&M University. He has a Master of Science degree in Nuclear/Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin (2003). Mr. Gariazzo has worked as a safeguards specialist in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's International Safeguards group, has managed projects under the Department of Energy Safeguards Cooperation Agreement with the Argentine Nuclear Regulatory Authority, and supported safeguards collaboration projects with the Chinese Institute of Atomic Energy, the Brazilian National Atomic Energy Commission, and the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Nuclear Material Control and Accounting. Past projects Mr. Gariazzo has participated in and lectured on include the 2005 Joint U.S.-China Integrated Nuclear Materials Management Technology Demonstration in Beijing, the 2006 Iraq Inventory Reestablishment Training Workshop, the 2007 Unannounced Inspection Procedures Workshop for ABACC and IAEA Inspectors for Brazilian Enrichment Facilities, the 2007 International Workshop for Best Practices for Material Hold-Up Monitoring, as well as various other training workshops on nondestructive assay techniques and other safeguards technologies for both domestic and international experts. Currently, Mr. Gariazzo is pursuing his Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from TAMU with a specialization in nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear material safeguards.

Dr. Craig Marianno's areas of interest include nuclear counter terrorism, nuclear instrumentation development, exercise development, radiological consequence management and environmental health physics. From 2000 - 2009 Dr. Marianno worked for the Remote Sensing Laboratory (RSL) and served in many of the National Nuclear Security Administration's emergency response teams. He has been a member and team lead for the Nuclear/Radiological Advisory Team (NRAT), Capital Region Search Team (CRST), Aerial Measurements System (AMS), Consequence Management Response Team (CMRT), Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC) Search Response Team (SRT) and a Captain on the Radiological Assistance Program (RAP). He was responsible for generating the dose assessment and geographic data sets for every Nuclear Power plant exercise in which the DOE participates from 2004 to 2007. From 2007 to 2009 he managed the engineering group responsible for developing custom instrumentation for the detection of radiation in unique environments. He has a Bachelor's in Physics from the University of California at Davis, a Master's in Radiological Health Sciences from Colorado State and a PhD in Radiation Health Physics from Oregon State. He is a Certified Health Physicist, a member of the Health Physics Society and a member of the Society's Homeland Security Committee.

Kelley Ragusa is currently the website designer for NSSPI. She has a Master of Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1999) and a Bachelor of Arts from Texas A&M University (1997). She was previously an information analyst at the University of Texas, working on the University EID team, and has also worked as a technical translator, an ESL trainer for engineers in France, a university instructor, and a high school English teacher.

Gayle Higdon-Rodgers is the Administrative Assistant for the Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute and has 30 years of Academia and Corporate Administrative experience.

Lana Wilson is currently the Program Manager for NSSPI. She joined the NSSPI team in 2008 and has over 15 years of experience administering research activities at TAMU. Ms. Wilson's prior experience includes serving as Program Coordinator for the Space Research Centers at Texas A&M, and she has been working in the Texas A&M University System for 20 years.