At the end of April, Dr. David Boyle retired from his position as deputy director for the TEES Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI). As the deputy director for NSSPI, Dr. Boyle provided direction for all of NSSPI’s research activities. He has also contributed his vast expertise in nuclear weapons test monitoring and his experience in operating a successful research center to the NSSPI team since its inception in 2006. Dr. Boyle was instrumental in the development of the Gulf Nuclear Energy Infrastructure Institute, a regional institute at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, UAE, whose objective is to immerse future nuclear program decision makers in safety, safeguards, security, and nonproliferation concepts and to familiarize them with how these concepts apply in a regional and international context. He worked with staff from Sandia National Laboratories to develop the curriculum for the GNEII program with support from the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. He also played a lead role in the drafting of the IDIQ between Texas A&M and SAIC for a contract with the office of the U.S. Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense/Nuclear Matters.
Dr. Boyle began his 23-year career at Texas A&M University as the deputy director for the TEES Center for Space Power in 1993, and he later became the director of the TEES Spacecraft Technology Center. He also held an appointment as a visiting associate professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering from 1993 to 1997, teaching courses in nuclear safety and probabilistic risk assessment as well as conducting research on the disposition of excess nuclear weapons material. More recently, he taught courses on nuclear nonproliferation for policy students at the Bush School of Government and Public Service and was heavily involved in the National Security Affairs Program, a graduate-level education program at the Bush School targeted at national security professionals, mostly from U.S. national laboratories.
Prior to joining Texas A&M, Dr. Boyle was a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Air Force, serving as the National Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Manager for the Joint Staff and as the Department of Defense 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.
With Dr. Boyle’s departure, Dr. Craig Marianno, an assistant professor of nuclear engineering and longtime NSSPI researcher, will be stepping in as the new NSSPI deputy director.