Graduate Researchers

Aaron Bame

Graduate Student Fellow

Max Cohen-Hoffing

Graduate Research Assistant

Andres Fierro Lopez

Graduate Student Fellow

Andrés Fierro is a Computational Nuclear Engineering Ph.D. student at The University of Texas at Austin and a DOE University Nuclear Leadership Program Fellow. He is committed to the dual challenge of increasing clean energy while reducing emissions. His research focuses on reduced-order modeling, digital-twin development for molten-salt natural-circulation systems, machine learning/artificial intelligence, and nuclear-engineering thermal hydraulics. He has also conducted nuclear engineering research at Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory.

Linkedin

 

Sree Gudala

Graduate Research Assistant

Sree grew up in the Houston area and attended The University of Texas at Austin where he completed his undergraduate degree in physics with a focus on nuclear engineering. He started the CSEM program in the Oden Institute in Fall 2023. His current research interests lie in the simulation and modeling of advanced nuclear reactors.

Mina Kimble

Graduate Research Assistant

Wesley Lao

Graduate Research Assistant

Tatiana Leggiero

Graduate Research Assistant

Alex Macris

Graduate Research Assistant

Alex Macris graduated from UT Austin in 2021 with a B.S. in Radiation Physics. During undergraduate, he did research in neutron detection and simulation for two years. He joined the computational nuclear energy group in Fall 2023 to pursue an M.S. in nuclear engineering. He is interested in research on noble gas fission products and off-gas simulation.

 

Caleb Miller

Graduate Research Assistant

Caleb is a first year Ph.D. student in the mechanical engineering department at the University of Texas at Austin studying computational modeling and design of nuclear reactors. He is currently a part of a team developing multiphysics simulation software led by Ben Collins.

He received a B.S. in Physics from the University of Texas at Austin in December 2022.

Braden Pecora

Graduate Research Assistant
Braden Scott Pecora is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He is working under the guidance of Professors Kevin Clarno and Michael E. Webber with a focus on computational nuclear energy.
With a B.S. in Computational Engineering, awarded with Highest and Special Honors, Braden’s expertise spans numerical methods, programming, engineering mechanics, fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and nuclear engineering. His current research involves the development of software for multiphysics simulation of molten salt nuclear reactors. Previously, Braden has studied and utilized power sector capacity expansion models and led the development of a proprietary Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP) for optimal investment in hydrogen infrastructure. Outside of academia, Braden is a performing classical saxophonist and possesses intermediate proficiency in Japanese.

Harrison Reisinger

Graduate Research Assistant

Harrison Reisinger is an associate engineering scientist at the University of Texas at Austin working on the Molten Salt Research Reactor project. He is passionate about energy production from molten salt reactors, and hopes to see the technology brought to commercial markets. His main skill in the field is the simulation of molten salt systems using a combined effort of Python scripts and neutronic codes. Harrison grew up in Annapolis Maryland and received his Bachelors of Science in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His current goal is to attend the University of Texas at Austin for graduate school and achieve his PhD while developing a neutronic sensitivity code base for the licensing of advance reactors.

Ethan Rozak

Graduate Research Assistant

Ethan is an Engineering Scientist Associate working on the Digital Molten Salt Reactor Initiative at the University of Texas at Austin.

He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington. His current research is in the creation of a digital twin for Texas A&M’s Bubble Flow Loop Project. Ethan is also a member of the United States Marine Corps Reserve serving as a Corporal out of Fort Worth’s Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base.

Trevor Van Husen

Graduate Research Assistant

Trevor is a Sophomore, Mechanical Engineering major. He is a member of the team working with MIT to model and irradiated salt loop.

Priyansh Vora

Graduate Research Assistant