Colloquia

January 14, 4pm

Karen Catlin
Creating Diverse and Inclusive Workspaces 
Jointly Sponsored with Michigan Medicine
Virtual

January 28, 4pm

Annie Kritcher, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Recent NIF Experiment

March 9, noon

Matt Giddens, Climate Analytics
The Science-Policy Interface of Climate Change and the Role of Nuclear Power as a Solution
Zoom Only
Watch Recording

March 11, 4:30pm

Evan Gonzalez, Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences
Panel Discussion: Student Participants in COP26
Cooley Building White Auditorium
Watch Recording

April 1, 4:30pm

Alexis Trahan, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Innovations in Technology and Policy for International Nuclear Safeguards and Verification
Cooley Building White Auditorium
Watch Recording

April 8, 4:30pm — Richard Osborn Lecture

Per Peterson, UC Berkeley
Universities and the Story of a Nuclear Start-up Company: Kairos Power
Stamps Auditorium

April 15, 4pm

Kuhika Gupta, University of Oklahoma
In Search of a Constituency: Who Supports Nuclear Energy and Why?
Watch Recording

September 10

Ken Powell, Aerospace Engineering, U-M
Increasing Diversity and Inclusion in Academic Departments

September 17

Todd Allen and Kristine Svinicki, Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences, U-M
Department Welcome

September 24

Steven Aumeier, Idaho National Laboratory (1:30pm in the GM Room)
Advanced Clean Energy and Production – Accelerating Energy Transitions Through Adaptive Clean Energy and Industrial Capacity

Shikha Prasad, Nuclear Engineering, Texas A&M University
Next-Generation Portable Antineutrino Detectors Using Semiconductors

october 1

Harsh Desai, Zeno Power Systems
Enabling Space Missions with Radioisotope Power Systems

october 22

Assel Aitkaliyeva, University of Florida
Constituent Redistribution in U-Pu-Zr Fuels and its Dependence on Zr Content

october 29

Leslie Dewan, RadiantNano
Nuclear Entrepreneurship: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

november 5

Tom Wellock, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Safe Enough? The Origins and Influence of Probabilistic Risk Assessment

November 12

Christine King, Idaho National Laboratory, Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear
Changing the Establishment from Within: How Small Teams and Initiatives Can Be Incredibly Impactful

November 19

Shannon Bragg-Sitton, Idaho National Laboratory
The Role of Nuclear Energy in Achieving Net Zero

December 3

Kelsa Palomares, Analytical Mechanics Associates
Reactor Materials Challenges to Enable Space Nuclear Propulsion
Watch Recording

Jan 22: Jake DeWitte, Oklo Inc.
Oklo Microreactor Development

Jan 29: Rui Qiu, Tsinghua University
Multi-scale Radiation Dosimetry with Computational Human Phantoms

Feb 5: Dr. Katlyn M. Turner, MIT Media Lab
Towards Intersectional Equity in Complex Sociotechnical Systems

Feb 12: Raluca Scarlat, UC Berkeley
The Relevance of Chemical Studies in Molten Fluoride Salts to Development of Advanced Nuclear Reactors

Feb 19: Tomi Akindele, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Reactor Antineutrinos for Nuclear Safeguards

Feb 26: Scott Baalrud, U-M Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences
Is This Even a Plasma? Physics of Strongly Coupled Plasmas

Mar 5: Ronnie Shepard, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Exploring Energy Transport at Stellar Inner Conditions Utilizing Ultrashort Pulse Lasers

Mar 12: Peter Yarsky, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
A Nuclear Engineer’s Approach to Modeling the Novel Coronavirus Pandemic

Mar 19: Dawn Montgomery, Clemson University
An Integrative Approach to Environmental Radiation Protection: Plant Influence on Radionuclide Transport, Plant Uptake, and Non-Human Biota Dosimetry

Mar 26: Heather Chichester, Idaho National Laboratory
Challenges and Solutions for Examining Irradiated Fuels and Materials in a Harsh Environment

Apr 2: Lara Pierpoint, Actuate
Electric Utility Innovation

Apr 9: Denia Djokić, Fastest Path to Zero Initiative
Reflections on Risk and Trust: Commemorating Fukushima and Chernobyl During Covid-19

Apr 16: John Jackson, Idaho National Laboratory
DOE Microreactor Program: Technology to Enable Microreactor Development, Deployment and Commercialization

Fall 2020

Sept 4: Erin Cech, U-M Department of Sociology
Professional Cultures and Inequality in STEM

Sept 11: Todd Allen, Chair, U-M Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences
Departmental Welcome

Sept 18: Tyler Gerczak, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Leveraging Modern Characterization for Mechanistic Understanding of Nuclear Fuel Performance

Sept 25: Patricia Paviet, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Challenges of Closing the Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Oct 2:  Jared DeWese, Senior Communications Advisor, Third Way
Communicating, Changing Public Policy, and Social Justice aspects of Nuclear Energy

Oct 9: David LeBlanc, Terrestrial Energy
An Overview of the Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR)

Oct 16: Kirsty Gogan, Lucid Catalyst
Deep Decarbonization: 30 Years to 2050

Oct 23: No Colloquium, Career Fair

Oct 30: Imre Pazsi, Chalmers University, Sweden
The Power of Neutron Fluctuation Analysis – an Overview and Some Recent Developments

Nov 6: Adrien Couet, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Structural Materials Degradation in Molten Salt Reactor Environments

Nov 13: Zainub Dungarwalla, Arizona Public Service
Why We Innovate

Nov 20: No Colloquium, Extended Thanksgiving Recess

Nov 27: No Colloquium, Thanksgiving Recess

Dec 4: Kathy Araujo, Boise State University
Disruptive Change in Nuclear Energy

Watch »

This annual lecture series has been made possible by a generous endowment by MIT Professor Emeritus Sidney Yip, a former student of Professor Osborn. These annual lectures are a tribute to Professor Osborn’s unwavering dedication to education of students in fundamental science. It is the goal of these lectures to inspire future generations of students in nuclear theory and simulation.

First Annual (2011)
Ju Li, MIT

Second Annual (2012)
James Duderstadt, NERS: Lessons Learned from a Half Century of Battles in the Nuclear Power Wars

Third Annual (2013)
Jack Carpenter, ANL

Fourth Annual (2015)
Paul Turinsky, NC State: CASL’s Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications (VERA): What Is Possible?

Fifth Annual (April 1, 2016)
Brian Wirth, Department of Nuclear Engineering at University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Oak Ridge National Laboratory: Development of Multiscale Materials Modeling Techniques and Coarse-Graining Strategies for Predicting Materials Degradation in Harsh Nuclear Fission and Fusion Environments

Sixth Annual (March 31, 2017)
Ziya Akcasu (with Ron Fleming), NERS: Personal Reminiscences of Dick Osborn

Seventh Annual (April 6, 2018)
Thomas Sutton, Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory and Adjunct Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institutue: Application of Techniques from Population Genetics and Computational Ecology to the Analysis of Monte Carlo Iterated-Fission-Source Calculations

Eighth Annual (2019)
Tom Mehlhorn, Naval Research Laboratory: The Quest for Fusion: Will Modern Computing and Data Help Cut the Gordian Knot?

Ninth Annual (April 8, 2022)
Per Peterson, UC Berkeley: Universities and the Story of a Nuclear Start-up Company: Kairos Power

Tenth Annual (April 7, 2023)
Kathryn Huff, Assistant Secretary of the Office of Nuclear Energy: More Important Than Bombs