On December 15th, Claudio Gariazzo will be receiving his Ph.D. degree in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University. His doctoral research focused on the development of a game theoretical model of the mutual benefits of bilateral nuclear security regimes with Dr. Marvin Adams and Dr. Paul Nelson as his advisers.
After receiving his Master of Science degree in Nuclear/Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin (2003), Gariazzo became a nuclear material international safeguards specialist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, working with non-destructive assay technologies as well as managing various international engagement projects. Before that, he was a Nonproliferation Graduate Fellow with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office for the Elimination of Weapons-Grade Plutonium Producing Reactors.
In 2007, Gariazzo joined NSSPI as a research engineer, where he worked in nuclear safeguards instrumentation development, applied nuclear security measures, game theory applied to nonproliferation, and has also focused on the education and training of the next generation of nuclear security experts domestically and internationally through engagements with DOE’s NNSA, the State Department’s Partnership for Nuclear Security, the Department of Education Office for Post-Secondary Education, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre of Ispra, Italy. He was instrumental in organizing the Nuclear Facilities Experience, which took groups of graduate students from US universities and early-career laboratory professionals to either Japan or the UK to experience nuclear facilities and associated applied safeguards measures first-hand.
Gariazzo is currently working as a nuclear engineer for safeguards and security at the Center for Strategic Security in the Global Security Sciences Division of Argonne National Laboratory.