OCTOBER 2, 2024 — UTSA was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) to lead a multimillion-dollar project that will stimulate nuclear energy research at UTSA, leverage novel experimental data to bolster computational efforts at the university, and provide professional training to prepare undergraduate and graduate students for careers in nuclear energy science. UTSA researchers will collaborate with a leading nuclear energy laboratory as well as across academic institutions.

The award is part of the DOE’s Nuclear Energy University Program’s Integrated Research Projects (IRPs). These projects aim to provide research and development solutions that are relevant to the DOE. Each IRP is a three-year, multimillion-dollar project executed by university-led consortiums that typically include multiple universities, industry, national laboratories, and international research entities. IRPs are highly competitive, with only three FY 2024 Integrated Research (IRP) Projects being awarded by the DOE NE this year. As the lead institution, UTSA is designated to receive over half of the award, which is around $1.5 million of the $3 million award.

“This research will contribute to the knowledge base and understanding of novel nuclear fuels proposed to power advanced systems that will bring us all one step closer to achieving our clean energy and climate goals, while also advancing space exploration beyond our planet,” said Elizabeth Sooby, principal investigator on the project and associate professor in the UTSA Department of Physics and Astronomy.