Sara Pozzi

Additional Titles

• University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor
• Director, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, College of Engineering
• Director, Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification
• Director, Consortium for Verification Technology

Professor Sara Pozzi is a University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor and professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences and physics (by courtesy) at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on radiation detection, including nuclear fission and radiation imaging for the detection, identification, and characterization of nuclear materials.

In her fission research, she and her students study the neutron and gamma-ray emissions from induced and spontaneous fission, including their energy and angular correlations. In her imaging work, she leads the development of a neutron and gamma ray radiation imager to locate and characterize plutonium, including the use of mixed reality. She led many important experimental efforts for measuring uranium and plutonium at U.S. national laboratories and internationally.

Professor Pozzi is the founding Director of the Consortium for Verification Technology (CVT) 2014-2019 and the Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification (MTV) 2019-2025, both of which involve multiple universities and national laboratories working together to develop technologies needed for nuclear treaty verification.

In 2018, Professor Pozzi was named the inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) for the UM College of Engineering. In this capacity, she leads initiatives to ensure that the students, faculty, and staff are increasingly diverse, everyone is treated equitably, and everyone is included.

Her publication record includes over 175 journal papers and over 350 international conference proceedings. She has given over 120 invited lectures, both nationally and internationally, and has graduated over 30 Ph. D. students who have built successful careers at the national laboratories, academia, industry, and government.

Professor Pozzi has received many awards, including the 2006 Oak Ridge National Laboratory Early Career Award, 2006 Department of Energy, Office of Science, Outstanding Mentor Award, 2012 INMM Edway R. Johnson Meritorious Service Award, 2017 IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, 2018 Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award, and 2021 American Nuclear Society Gail De Planque Award. She is an International Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society, the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management, and the IEEE.