The Nuclear Science and Security Consortium (NSSC) enlists seven of the Nation’s premier educational institutions and four DOE national laboratories to grow and strengthen the human capital available for the Nation’s nuclear science and security mission. The NSSC was established in 2011 through the $25 million five-year grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE NNSA) to support the Nation’s nuclear nonproliferation mission through the training and education of experts in the nuclear science and security field. An additional $1.5 million was awarded to NSSC in 2012, to expend nuclear science and security training and education to Minority Serving Institutions. Over the last 4 years, NSSC has focused on broad recruitment of students at all levels, selecting those with solid science and engineering foundation, who then went through a rigorous hands-on training at undergraduate and graduate levels in the fields of nuclear physics, nuclear and radiation chemistry, nuclear engineering, nuclear instrumentation and nuclear security policy. Overall, more than 300 students, faculty and specialists have been directly involved with NSSC, working on more than 50 research projects. The NSSC-funded students and faculty have a strong collaboration with 4 national laboratories (LBNL, LNL, LANL and SNL), and work closely with over 60 lab researchers that also provide mentorship to the NSSC students and post-docs. In addition, under the NSSC umbrella, the new programs, options, curricula, courses, and training programs have been developed. A series of workshops, panels and summer schools have been organized on the topics critical to nuclear security.
Prof. Vujic is a full professor and former Chair at the Department of Nuclear Engineering, UC Berkeley. She is an expert in the areas of nuclear reactor physics, radiation detection and measurements, non-proliferation, and engineering aspects of medical imaging and cancer therapy. Professor Vujic is the author of three books, the editor of 6 monographs, and the holder of one U.S. patent. She authored close to 300 research publications. Under her mentorship, 26 students received the Ph.D. degrees and 25 received the M.S. degrees. In 2011, the team led by Professor Vujic, won a major five-year $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (NNSA) to establish the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium Center at Berkeley that focuses on educating the next generation of scientists and researchers in the nuclear science and security field.
