Pengyuan Xiu, a fifth-year PhD student in the U-M Department of Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences, has been awarded a Rapid Turnaround Experiment (RTE) project from the U.S. Department of Energy – Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF).
Pengyuan expects that the data obtained from the RTE project will directly contribute to his thesis work, which is investigating sink strength effects on the radiation tolerance of additively manufactured HT9 alloys.
“I feel absolutely honored to get awarded (for the first time!) as the Principle PI for this NSUF-RTE project to be carried out at Idaho National Laboratory (INL),” said Pengyuan.
According to the DOE, the selection process is driven by several factors including technical approach, DOE-NE’s mission relevance, and scientific-technical merit. Through the RTE solicitation, a researcher can apply for no-cost access to NSUF’s capabilities located across the United States.
Pengyuan was born in Beijing, China. While still in high school, classes like physics and chemistry got him very interested in exploring how the matters work in nature. “Just to learn a little bit more of these fundamental sciences makes me feel fascinated,” he said. In his spare time, he enjoys playing and watching chess and soccer.
At NERS, Pengyuan is part of the Nuclear Oriented Materials & Examination (NOME) Laboratory, led by Prof. Kevin Field. Pengyuan was the GSI/IA/Grader for multiple NERS courses in the research area of Materials & Radiation Effects. He is also a member of the ANS chapter within NERS.
Pengyuan is looking for positions at universities and national laboratories, where he hopes to continue his research on nuclear materials.
“I especially want to appreciate my advisor Prof. Kevin Field, and Dr. Mukesh Bachhav at INL (both are co-PIs) for their support that helped my RTE proposal get selected,” said Pengyuan. “I hope to be able to deliver great scientific results after the completion of this RTE project.”
