Graduate Programs: NUCLEAR ENGINEERING

NOTE: This document was generated from the 1995-1997 UIUC Programs of Study. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, but be advised that requirements may have changed since this book was published. Errors may have also been introduced in the conversion to a WWW document. Thus for items of importance, it might be wise to seek confirmation from either the paper version or a live human being.

Head of the Department: Barclay G. Jones

Correspondence and Information: Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 214 Nuclear Engineering Laboratory , 103 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801-2984; (217) 333-3598

GRADUATE FACULTY

Professors: R. A. Axford, B. G. Jones, K. Kim, G. H. Miley, D. N. Ruzic, C. E. Singer, J. F. Stubbins, R. J. Turnbull

Associate Professors: S. Landsberger, M. Ragheb

Assistant Professors: B. J. Heuser, X-L. Zhou

GRADUATE PROGRAMS

The Department of Nuclear Engineering offers work leading to master of science and doctor of philosophy degrees.

ADMISSION

Application for admission to the M.S. and Ph.D. programs is open to all graduates in engineering, mathematics, and the physical sciences with an average grade of B or better for the last 60 hours of undergraduate work and any graduate work completed. Prerequisites for admission include a course in ordinary differential equations plus one other mathematics course beyond calculus; an intermediate course in atomic physics; a course in electrical circuit theory; a course in thermodynamics; and a course either in fluid mechanics or in continuum mechanics. A student may be admitted before completion of these prerequisites, but he or she must allow additional time for making up these deficiencies; courses taken to make up such deficiencies will not count toward the number of units required for the degree. Transcripts are required; letters of recommendation and information such as undergraduate class rank are recommended. International students must demonstrate proficiency in English, as measured by the TOEFL and SPEAK (Speaking Proficiency English Assessment Kit) tests, with minimum scores of 550 and 230, respectively. They may be required to take courses in English as a second language, as determined by English placement tests taken on campus.

MASTER OF SCIENCE

The M.S. degree takes at least two semesters and a summer session to complete and normally takes three semesters and a summer session; 8 units of graduate work are required, including an M.S. thesis. The curriculum requires courses covering the fundamentals of nuclear engineering, plus two or more courses in an area of concentration chosen by the student in consultation with an adviser. Typical areas include fission systems, fusion systems, reactor physics, plasma physics, radiation transport, nuclear materials, reactor thermal hydraulics, reactor safety, neutron activation analysis, radioactive waste management, health physics, radiation protection, and superconducting magnet design and development.

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Course requirements for the Ph.D. degree include at least 8 units of course credit beyond that required for the M.S. degree. In addition, 8 or more units of doctoral thesis credit are required and typically take one or more years to complete. Students desiring to work toward the Ph.D. degree must pass the qualifying examination to be admitted to doctoral study. The doctoral candidate must complete course work, pass a preliminary doctoral examination, write a doctoral thesis, and successfully defend the thesis at a final examination. A doctoral student typically takes several courses in nuclear engineering plus additional courses that support a specialized research area and/or provide background in mathematics and science and that satisfy a minor in a related discipline. There is no foreign language requirement. Under exceptional circumstances and by approved petition, doctoral research may be undertaken off campus.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Faculty research interests cover a wide range including, but not limited to, those listed above under the master of science section.

FACILITIES

Several major facilities are available for nuclear engineering research. The versatile Illinois Advanced TRIGA reactor operates at 1.5 megawatts steady state and pulses to 6,000 megawatts peak power. A low-power reactor facility, adjacent to the TRIGA, provides unique coupled-core experimental capabilities. A dense plasma focus fusion-related device for high-temperature plasma studies and an ultrahigh-vacuum laboratory for plasma-material interaction studies are available. The College of Engineering's Materials Research Laboratory and Materials Engineering-Mechanical Behavior program provide a variety of facilities for studies of nuclear materials. Other laboratories are also available for environmental studies and nuclear spectroscopy; health physics and radiation studies; nuclear waste management; thermal hydraulics and reactor safety; reactor physics and reactor kinetics; controlled nuclear fusion; direct energy conversion; lasers and plasma physics; and superconducting magnet design and application. The College of Engineering is a leader in supercomputer research, and the campus houses one of the National Centers for Supercomputing Applications. The Department of Nuclear Engineering also has a direct link to the National Magnetic Fusion Computer Center in Livermore, California. In addition, microcomputers are available for student use and are integrated into laboratory courses and for data acquisition.

FINANCIAL AID

Fellowships and traineeships are generally available to support the best applicants. Aid in the form of research assistantships and teaching assistantships is available for most other graduate students. Other work of a professional nature can sometimes be found in the University or surrounding community. If the number of students is more than the department can assist financially, support is awarded according to academic merit.

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