Shaun Clarke honored with Michigan Engineering’s Reese Outstanding Research Scientist Award
The NERS Research Scientist was recognized for demonstrating excellence in research and associated scholarly activities.
By Courtney Wagoner
Shaun Clarke, NERS Associate Research Scientist and Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification (MTV) Associate Director, is a recipient of the Kenneth M. Reese Outstanding Research Scientist Award from Michigan Engineering. This award honors research scientists whose work has received broad and sustained recognition, and recipients are distinguished by demonstrated excellence in research and associated scholarly activities over an extended period of their careers.
“In instruction, Dr. Clarke is a superstar, as evidenced by the fact that he was the sole instructor for many courses in our department with outstanding teaching evaluations,” said NERS Professor Sara Pozzi. “His teaching record would stand the test of a tenure review. This activity and contribution to our department goes well beyond what is expected of a research faculty member.”
Since 2012 Dr. Clarke has been teaching and co-teaching graduate-level courses such as NERS 544 Monte Carlo Methods, NERS 554 Radiation Shielding Design, and NERS 535 Detection Techniques of Nuclear Nonproliferation, and he has contributed to the course structure of NERS 532 Nuclear Safeguards.
Since joining U-M in 2008, Clarke has mentored many graduate and undergraduate students in nuclear engineering, including the first African American female PhD in the NERS department, Dr. Ciara Sivels.
“Dr. Clarke, or Shaun as we often referred to him, played a vital mentorship role for me during my time at Michigan,” said Sivels. “Not only did he answer my many Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport {MCNP) questions and help me troubleshoot issues, but he made learning MCNP fun and inspired the way I teach MCNP to my staff today.”
Clarke has nearly 20 years of experience performing radiation detection measurements and Monte Carlo modeling. He has organized numerous experimental campaigns involving measurements of special nuclear material with organic scintillation detectors and state-of-the-art digital electronics.
“I am delighted Shaun has received this award,” said NERS Associate Professor Brian Kiedrowski. “He has been an excellent researcher and an invaluable member of our department. I have always been impressed by the breadth and depth of his knowledge of nuclear security science. His teaching and mentoring abilities are among the highest in our program. Clarke and Kiedrowski have collaborated on the highly rated annual MCNP workshop presented here at U-M.
Clarke has been a key contributor to major research consortia in the college, the Consortium for Verification Technology (CVT) and the MTV.
“Science is becoming more collaborative and less based on an individual’s accomplishments alone,” said Pozzi. “I can attest that without the outstanding contributions of Clarke, our proposals to the Department of Energy would not have been as competitive.”
NERS extends its congratulations to Clarke for this award. His contributions to our department, the students, and research is what makes us a leader in research!