Advisory Board Member

Section: Academia

Texas A&M University

Professor of Nuclear Engineering

Biography

Kenneth L. Peddicord is a Professor of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University. He received the B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1965, and the M.S. in 1967 and Ph.D. in 1972 in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

From 1972 to 1975, he was employed as a Research Nuclear Engineer at the Eidgenössisches Institut für Reaktorforschung (the Swiss Federal Institute for Reactor Research), now the Paul Scherrer Institut, in Würenlingen, Switzerland.

From 1975 to 1981, Dr. Peddicord was Assistant Professor and Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering at Oregon State University. From 1981 to 1982, he served as a Visiting Scientist at the EURATOM Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy.

In 1983, he joined the faculty of Texas A&M University as Professor of Nuclear Engineering. At Texas A&M, he has served as Head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering, Associate Dean and Interim Dean of the College of Engineering, Assistant Director and Director of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, Associate Vice Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of The Texas A&M University System for Research and Federal Relations. From 2007 to 2019, he served as the Director of the Nuclear Power Institute. NPI was established by the Board of Regents of The Texas A&M University System as a joint institute between the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and Texas A&M University. NPI was a partnership involving community colleges, universities, industry, high schools and junior high schools, teachers and students, elected and civic leaders, and state, federal and international agencies. The focus was to inform, attract and prepare students for all facets of the technical workforce for the nuclear industry. More recently, NPI was especially active in human resource development for international nuclear community and nuclear “newcomer” countries. Collaboration on NPI programs took place with more than 50 countries.

Since 2010, Dr. Peddicord has been a member of the Science and Technology Committee for Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC. In 2012, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. From 2014 to 2020, he served on the U.S. Department of Commerce Civil Nuclear Technology Advisory Committee (CINTAC).

Dr. Peddicord has published over 200 articles, papers and reports. His technical interests include nuclear engineering education and training, human resources and nuclear workforce development, and small modular reactors. He is a Professional Engineer licensed in the State of Texas.