NERS Students Geneve Magnan, Julia Marshall, Roxanne Walker, and Isabella Wood win ANS Scholarships
American Nuclear Society scholarship recipients are chosen for their academic, service, and leadership excellence.
NERS undergraduate students Geneve Magnan, Julia Marshall, and Isabella Wood, and graduate student Roxanne Walker, won scholarships from the American Nuclear Society (ANS).
“ANS student members are the future of the society and we believe in rewarding those members for their academic, service, and leadership excellence,” noted the organization. “ANS scholarships are awarded to applicants that have personified the high standards set by the Society.”
Julia Marshall
John and Muriel Landis Scholarship
Undergraduate Student
Expected Graduation Year: 2024
Julia Marshall is from Belleville, Michigan, and transferred to U-M in the fall of 2021. At NERS, she works for Prof. Scott Baalrud, on a project that involves using molecular dynamics simulations to model magnetized plasmas. She is also minoring in German.
This summer, Julia is headed to Los Alamos National Lab, where she has an internship with the Computational Physics Student Summer Workshop.
Julia was the secretary of the American Nuclear Society Student Chapter at U-M for AY 2022 and is the incoming president for AY 2023, and last year she was involved in the Women in Nuclear Student Chapter at U-M. She was also a teaching assistant for NERS211 this past winter. Julia is in the White Water Kayak Club at U-M, and is currently learning how to kayak. Outside of school, she likes to travel, hike, and rock climb.
Julia has a passion for STEM, and for introducing the fields of STEM to students of all backgrounds. She is an active contributor to the K-12 outreach done at NERS.
After getting her BSE from NERS, Julia plans to attend graduate school.
“I’d like to thank Michelle Sonderman, Roxanne Walker, and Mackenzie Warwick for all of their support and guidance over these past years!” said Julia.
Geneve Magnan
ANS Undergraduate Scholarship
Undergraduate Student
Geneve is originally from Calgary, Canada, but moved to the Cayman Islands while she was in 10th grade. In Cayman, she found a passion for environmental activism, which evolved into a determination to get into nuclear engineering.
Geneve is currently working at Westinghouse as an intern in Nuclear Operations. She was able to get an internship this summer in part because she accelerated her studies and will graduate after three years. “I am learning so much at Westinghouse about how the nuclear world works and what kind of work a nuclear engineer does,” said Geneve.
“I have really enjoyed getting involved with activism through North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NAYGN) this past year,” said Geneve. This year she won the NAYGN Individual Achievement Award, which is a peer-nominated award that recognizes members who strongly exemplify the pillars and mission of NAYGN. She is currently in the process of starting an NAYGN chapter at Michigan. (U-M students who are interested in building this club can reach out to Geneve.) Geneve is also an involved member and big supporter of the American Nuclear Society Student Chapter at U-M.
Geneve plans to get a Masters in Nuclear and Business after graduating from NERS with her BSE. “I really hope that these degrees give me the tools and connections to help bring lots of affordable nuclear energy to the world!” she said.
Outside of nuclear, Geneve loves spending time at the gym and having deep conversations with friends and family.
“Shout out to everyone in the NERS department for being awesome!” said Geneve. “Special thanks to Professor Allen and Michelle Sonderman for supporting students with so much generosity and kindness. Glow Blue!”
Isabella Wood
ANS Washington DC Local Section Jeffrey A. Gorman Undergraduate Scholarship
Undergraduate Student
Expected Graduation Year: 2024
Isabella Wood is originally from Washington DC. She is currently an Intern at Constellation with the BWR Core Design and Methods Group.
Isabella was treasurer of the American Nuclear Society Student Chapter at U-M Eboard this past year and is currently assisting in putting together a bid for the 2025 ANS Student Conference.
After graduating, Isabella plans to attend graduate school and continue pursuing a career toward expanding and improving nuclear power.
Outside of NERS, Isabella enjoys portrait drawing, listening to metal music, and going to the beach.
“Being part of NERS has been an extremely rewarding experience, I feel very lucky to have found a subject I’m passionate about,” said Isabella. “I want to thank Brian Kiedrowski and Michelle Sonderman for recommending me for the scholarship. Also shout out to Geneve and Julia for always reminding me how awesome I am when I forget!”
Roxanne Walker
Fuel Cycle and Waste Management Division John D. Randall Scholarship
Graduate Student
BSE, 2019 with Honors: Major in Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences, Minor in Naval Engineering
Roxanne grew up in Ann Arbor, so U-M was the natural path for her collegiate journey. How she would choose a major though, was not so obvious.
“I had no idea I would become a nuclear engineer when I started my undergraduate education,” said Roxanne. “Taking the introductory nuclear engineering course got me hooked, and I could see how valuable, and broad, a nuclear engineering degree could be.”
As an undergrad, Roxanne began researching in Prof. John Foster’s Plasma Science and Technology Laboratory (PSTL), working on plasma-based environmental work. She loved it so much that she decided to stay for graduate school. Her research focuses on atmospheric pressure, and low-temperature plasmas for environmental remediation applications, including water purification and polymer functionalization for upcycling.
“A big research focus of mine is studying ways to improve the delivery of plasma-produced reactive species to the water to improve the efficiency of plasma water purification systems,” Roxanne said, “as they could become important for the destruction of difficult-to-remove contaminants, such as PFAS, but are currently limited in ability to scale up to real-world systems.”
At NERS, Roxanne has been involved with several student groups including the American Nuclear Society (ANS), the Graduate Student Council (GSC), and is currently involved in the U-M chapter of Women in Nuclear (WIN) as a board member. She also enjoys teaching and has been an instructor in an assortment of NERS department classes over the years, most recently NERS 575, Plasma Diagnostics Laboratory.
Roxanne hopes to use her plasma knowledge to solve water contamination issues and she co-founded Fourth State to do just that. Her, Prof. Foster, and Joe Groele, another PSTL alum, created Fourth State to bring their plasma water treatment devices to market.
“Shoutout to all my labmates at PSTL for making even the longest day in the lab a great day!” said Roxanne.
Learn more about PFAS research being done by Roxanne and others at U-M here.