NSSPI students Jessica Feener and Braden Goddard have been awarded graduate fellowships from the Nuclear Nonproliferation International Safeguards (NNIS) graduate fellowship program. This is the first year of the program, which is sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). It aims at encouraging students to pursue graduate studies in nonproliferation and international safeguards in order to meet the “need for appropriately and highly trained personnel for the research and development in areas related to ongoing DOE/NNSA sponsored programs in Nuclear Nonproliferation International Safeguards.”
Each fellowship consists of a monthly stipend and full payment of tuition and fees for a term up to 4 years for a doctoral student. In return, all fellows must complete a three-month-long summer practicum at a designated DOE/NNSA facility in order to gain hands-on experience with typical NNIS research and development and are asked to entertain employment offers from the DOE or their contractors.
Goddard holds both B.S. and M.S. degrees in Nuclear Engineering from TAMU and is currently pursuing his Ph.D.. He is working with Dr. Charlton on a research project to quantitatively verify the mass of a multi-actinide mixture using non-destructive methods. Feener earned a B.S. degree in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an M.S. degree in Nuclear Engineering from TAMU. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate working on Treaty Verification Techniques with Dr. Charlton and Dr. John Swegle at Savannah River National Laboratory.