Our graduate program trains and educates students to become independent scientists and engineering to lead nuclear engineering innovation and science in decades to come. Our graduates join the national laboratory and federal workforce as well as a broad range of industry. Scientists and engineers at all major national laboratories including Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory just to name a few are PhD or MS graduates from our department. Further, our graduates join companies such as EPRI, Intel, Space-X, Exponent, or start their own company.
Graduate degree in Nuclear Engineering
From the invention of the cyclotron in the early 1930's to the discovery of plutonium during World War II, UC Berkeley is widely recognized as birthplace of some of the most important insights that helped create the discipline of Nuclear Engineering.
At UC Berkeley, our faculty and students continue to lead in extending the boundaries of this discipline, from creating new approaches for the production of energy from fission and fusion, to identifying new methods for managing radioactive wastes, to developing new applications of nuclear processes in medical imaging and therapy. Students at UC Berkeley work in a stimulating intellectual environment both on campus and at the nearby Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. Our students also enjoy the mild Mediterranean climate of the San Francisco Bay Area, with its diverse opportunities for cultural and outdoor activities.
Nuclear Engineering has re-emerged as an exciting and vigorous field for graduate study. Energy and energy policy are now nationally visible topics, and research in fission and fusion energy is growing with new efforts toward the development of Generation IV fission reactor systems and work in magnetic and inertial confinement fusion under the DOE Fusion Roadmap. UC Berkeley leads in these fields, as well as in radioactive waste management and applications of nuclear science and technology such as the design of methodologies and systems to counter the possible transport of clandestine nuclear materials, and applications in the biomedical and radiological sciences. We advise digging into the UCBNE web site, since the most interesting information on the current activities in the department can be found in the home pages of the faculty and research groups
Admissions
Admission to the graduate program in nuclear engineering is available to qualified individuals who have obtained a basic degree from a recognized institution in one of the fields of engineering or the physical sciences. For all programs, required preparation in undergraduate coursework includes mathematics through partial differential equations and advanced analysis, nuclear reactions, and thermodynamics.
Admission is granted on the basis of undergraduate records, statements, work experience and professional activities, letters of recommendation, and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score, if applicable.
Applicants may apply to one degree program or one concurrent degree program per admission term. If an applicant has ever registered at Berkeley as a graduate student (whether or not they have completed a graduate degree), and they intend to enter a graduate program or major that is different from the one in which they were enrolled previously, they must submit a new application through the Graduate Division system, and pay the application fee. Applicants that have left the program and wish to come back should contact the Graduate Degrees Office about re-enrollment.
Requirements
Minimum requirements for graduate admission:
- A basic degree from a recognized institution;
- A minimum grade point average of 3.0 or “B” in undergraduate work completed after the first two years for a basic degree from a recognized U.S.school, and 3.0, B, or the equivalent based on all work completed toward the basic degree for all schools outside of the U.S.
- Enough undergraduate training to do graduate work in the given field.
Deadlines
Check back for fall 2025 application cycle Information.
Please note we do not accept applications for the spring term!
Contact Us
admissions[at]nuc.berkeley.edu
