WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Department of Energy today announced it will award up to $405,000 in fellowships to nine graduate students at U.S. universities as part of the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI). These fellowships, valued at up to $45,000 per student over two academic years are awarded to students pursuing research in technical areas related to the nuclear fuel cycle, including separation of nuclear waste components, fabrication of recycled components into reactor fuel, and the preparation of new waste forms with increased long-term stability. This research supports the AFCI’s goals of developing fuel cycle technologies that will meet the need for economic and sustained nuclear energy production and help to close the nuclear fuel cycle in the United States.

“These fellowships will help meet the growing demand for nuclear-educated scientists and engineers by providing our best and brightest students with the education necessary to become valuable contributors to nuclear power’s burgeoning renaissance,” said Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dennis R. Spurgeon. “We commend these graduate students for their study of the nuclear fuel cycle at our nation’s universities. The academic community has been and will continue to be vital to developing the advanced nuclear technologies that will sustain and expand nuclear power in the United States.”

The AFCI fellowships, originated by President Bush’s American Competitiveness Initiative also support the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), which seeks to expand the use of clean, affordable nuclear energy to meet the growing worldwide demand for energy in ways that manage nuclear waste safely, advance non-proliferation objectives, and improve the environment.

Selected AFCI fellows are full-time students pursuing master’s degrees in nuclear engineering, applied physics, or other fields of science and engineering relevant to the AFCI program. This summer, the new AFCI fellows will visit DOE Headquarters in Washington to become better acquainted with the AFCI program, and many will have summer jobs at DOE national laboratories before entering graduate school in the fall.

The 2008 AFCI fellows are:

• Brian Ade, Purdue University, nuclear engineering


• Jeffery Hetherly, University of North Texas, physics and materials science


• Glenn Lockwood, Rutgers University, materials science


• Elizabeth Long, North Carolina State University, nuclear engineering


• Mark Massie, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, nuclear engineering


• Terrance McGuire, University of Cincinnati, nuclear engineering


• Jeffrey Powers, University of California, Berkeley, nuclear engineering


• Jeremy Roberts, University of Wisconsin, Madison, nuclear engineering and engineering physics


• Aaron Wysocki, University of Florida, nuclear engineering