2025-2026 NEDHO Officers

 

Seungjin Kim

Chair

Dr. Seungjin Kim is Professor and Head of the School of Nuclear Engineering at Purdue University. He is also the director of Purdue University Reactor One (PUR-1) and the Advanced Reactor Thermal-hydraulics Laboratory. Dr. Kim is an ANS Fellow and has been a member of ANS since 1997. He has served as chair of the ANS, Thermal Hydraulics Division (THD) in 2016-2017. In 2023, he received Technical Achievement Award from ANS, THD. He served on the Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee in the U.S. DOE/NE in 2018 and 2019. He is the chair of the OECD NEA’s Global Forum on Nuclear Education, Science, Technology, and Policy. Dr. Kim is serving as one of the principles-in-charge for Purdue-Duke Energy joint study to explore feasibility of using advanced nuclear technology for Purdue campus community’s long-term energy needs. He is also leading a consortium for ‘Study on SMR Technology and Its Impact for Indiana’ as a lead Principal Investigator, which is sponsored by the Indiana Office of Energy Development.

Brian Woods

Chair-Elect

Dr. Brian Woods is the school head of and professor in the School of Nuclear Science and Engineering at Oregon State University. He holds the Henry W. and Janice J. Schuette Chair in Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics at Oregon State. Dr. Woods has worked at the U.S. Department of Energy as an engineer within the Office of Environmental Restoration as well as serving for four years in the U.S. Navy. Prior to coming to Oregon State, he worked as a Nuclear Safety Analyst at Dominion Energy’s Innsbrook Technical Center outside of Richmond, Virginia. Dr. Woods has been at Oregon State University since 2003. His areas of research interest include experimental and computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer, advanced reactor design, and nuclear reactor and fuel safety. Dr. Woods is the founder of the Advanced Nuclear Systems Engineering laboratory at Oregon State and has been actively involved in thermal hydraulic and reactor safety research projects sponsored by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the US Department of Energy, the Idaho National Laboratory, the International Atomic Energy Agency, Westinghouse, NuScale, Kairos Power, TerraPower, and General Atomics. He is a member of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, past chair of the American Nuclear Society’s Thermal Hydraulics Division, and past president of the Alpha Nu Sigma nuclear engineering honor society.

Sukesh Aghara

Past Chair

Sukesh Aghara is Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He holds a Bachelor of Science (1996) in Environmental Engineering, as well as a Master’s Degree (1999) in Environmental Engineering from Vanderbilt University. He holds a second Master’s Degree (2001) in Mechanical Engineering with a supporting area of Nuclear and Radiation Engineering from University of Texas at Austin in addition to holding his Ph.D. Degree (2003) also from the University of Texas at Austin.

Travis Knight

Treasurer

Travis W. Knight (PhD University of Florida, 2000) joined the University of South Carolina (USC) in 2004 to establish the Nuclear Engineering Program and is currently Chair of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering. His research interests include areas of nuclear fuels, used fuel storage, reactor design, nuclear safeguards, space nuclear power. He has led a large, multi-university and industry consortia to advance the understanding of spent nuclear storage and management. He is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and is a past chair of both the Materials Science and Technology and the Education, Training, and Workforce Development Divisions of ANS. He has served as the Chair of the ANS Student Design Competition, 2011 to present and Advisor of the USC ANS Student Chapter, 2004 to present. He contributes to state and national efforts in nuclear energy as a member of the South Carolina Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council and the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) National Academy for Nuclear Training-National Nuclear Accrediting Board.

Past Chairs

  • 2024-2025 Sukesh Aghara, University of Massachusetts Lowell

  • 2023-2024 Rizwan Uddin, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  • 2022-2023 Paul Wilson, University of Wisconsin-Madison

  • 2021-2022 Todd Allen, University of Michigan

  • 2020-2021 Kostadin Ivanov, NC State University

  • 2019-2020 Steven Biegalski, Georgia Institute of Technology

  • 2018-2019 Athur Motta, Penn State

  • 2017-2018 Kathryn Higley, Oregon State University

  • 2016-2017 Ronald Gilgenbach, University of Michigan

  • 2015-2016 Yassin Hassan, Texas A& M

  • 2014-2015 Wes Hines, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

  • 2013-2014 Anil K Prinja, University of New Mexico

  • 2012-2013 Tunc Aldemir, Ohio State University

  • 2011-2012- Yousry Azmy, North Carolina State University

  • 2010-2011 Audeen Fentiman, Purdue University

  • 2009-2010 Jasmina Vujic, University of California at Berkeley

  • 2008-2009 John Christenson, University of Cincinnati

  • 2007-2008 Farzad Rahnema, Georgia Institute of Technology

  • 2006-2007 Ali Haghighat, University of Florida

  • 2005-2006 Lefteri Tsoukalas, Purdue University

  • 2004-2005 Gilbert Brown, University of Massachusetts Lowell

  • 2003-2004 Mike Corradini, Wisconsin

 

 

  • 2002-2003 Jim Stubbins, Illinois

  • 2001-2002 Andy Klein, Oregon State

  • 2000-2001 Jeff Freidberg, MIT

  • 1999-2000 Bill Kastenberg, UC Berkeley

  • 1998-1999 Gary Was, University of Michigan

  • 1997-1998 Gilbert Emmert, Wisconsin

  • 1996-1997 Victor Ransom, Purdue

  • 1995-1996 John Poston, Texas A&M

  • 1994-1995 Bill Martin, University of Michigan

  • 1993-1994 Jay Kunze, Missouri

  • 1992-1993 Jim Tulenko, Florida

  • 1991-1992 Edward Klevans, Penn State

  • 1990-1991 Tom Kerlin, Tennessee

  • 1989-1990 Barclay Jones, Illinois

  • 1988-1989 Lee Peddicord, Texas A&M

  • 1987-1988 Bernie Spinrad, Iowa State

  • 1986-1987 Don Miller, Ohio State

  • 1985-1986 Tom Williamson, Virginia

  • 1984-1985 Glenn Knoll, University of Michigan

  • 1983-1984 Paul Turinsky, NC State

  • 1982-1983 Dick Lahey, RPI