CANYON, TX – Elise Pusateri, a Ph.D. student in Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been awarded a Second Place prize in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Innovations in Fuel Cycle Research Awards competition. Pusateri’s award is in the Open Competition in the category of Nuclear Science and Engineering. Her award-winning research paper, “A New Analytical Model to Evaluate Dancoff Factors in Stochastic Media,” was presented at the American Nuclear Society Winter Meeting in November 2012.

The academic community plays a vital role in helping to develop the advanced nuclear technologies that will help sustain and further expand nuclear power in the United States. The Innovations in Fuel Cycle Research Awards program supports academia and the goal of the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy to develop sustainable nuclear fuel cycle options by encouraging innovative research in fuel cycle related disciplines.

The Innovations in Fuel Cycle Research Awards program is designed to: 1) award graduate and undergraduate students for innovative fuel-cycle-relevant research publications, 2) demonstrate the Office of Fuel Cycle Technologies’ commitment to higher education in fuel-cycle-relevant disciplines, and 3) support communications among students and DOE representatives.

The program awarded 19 prizes in 2013 for student publications and presentations relevant to the nuclear fuel cycle. In addition to cash awards, winning students will have a variety of other opportunities including presenting their winning publication during the American Nuclear Society Winter meeting, participating in an Innovators’ Forum, and participating in the DOE Office of Fuel Cycle Technologies Annual Meeting.

For more information on the Innovations in Fuel Cycle Research Awards program, visit http://www.fuelcycleinnovations.org.