In January, NSSPI Director Dr. William Charlton, along with Dr. Howard Hall and Dr. Joe Stainback of the University of Knoxville, travelled to Yogyakarta in Indonesia to support a curriculum development workshop at Gadjah Mada University (UGM). This was the second in a series of three workshops sponsored by the US State Department’s Partnership for Nuclear Security (PNS) to support the development of a nuclear security component as part of the UGM undergraduate nuclear engineering degree. UGM’s Department of Engineering Physics is the only university in Indonesia offering a nuclear engineering degree.
Dr. Charlton provided presentations on Texas A&M University’s nuclear security course material, with particular emphasis on radiation detection and nuclear forensics courses. He also gave a presentation on the experience of NSSPI students at Texas A&M, which included hands-on tabletop exercises and simulations. The faculty from UGM will use this material and other discussions to prepare syllabi for several UGM courses. UGM is making good progress on adopting appropriate nuclear security topics into their curriculum.
UGM faculty also continued discussions with the faculty from the US about deepening ties between the US and Indonesian faculty as well as the student chapters of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management at each university.