The Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification (MTV) held a successful annual workshop on March 26-27, 2024, in Ann Arbor, MI. Activities included presentations consisting of 26 oral talks, 38 posters, and two panel discussions. The workshop was hosted in-person at the Michigan League (911 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI) on the University of Michigan’s campus and on a Zoom webinar. This event had 121 attendees in-person from 18 universities, 12 national laboratories, and the government and 15 individuals joined the Webinar link throughout the 2-day event.
Two panels were held during the two-day event: Transition to National Laboratory Careers and Women in Nuclear. During these panels, 10 panelists from academia and the national laboratories shared their experiences within the MTV consortium and fielded questions from the audience, both virtual and in-person.
- Transition to National Laboratory Careers Panelists: Dr. Steven Demers, Savannah River National Laboratory; Dr. Michael Hamel, Sandia National Laboratory; Dr. Marc Ruch, Los Alamos National Laboratory; Dr. Oskar Searfus, University of Michigan/Sandia National Laboratory; Dr. Sarah Thomas, Nevada National Security Site
- Moderated by: Dr. Shaun Clarke, University of Michigan
- Women in Nuclear Panelists: Prof. Sara Pozzi, University of Michigan; Dr. Ciara Sivels, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; Dr. Kelly Truax, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Dr. Amy Waters, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Dr. Jessica White-Horton, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Moderated by: LTC Jill Rahon, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The MTV Workshop included two poster receptions and included a 1-minute poster overview prior to the receptions. 38 posters were presented by students from twelve universities within the Consortium.
We held a student-national laboratory meet and greet session during lunch both days of the workshop, where in-person students and national lab affiliates were able to network and discuss research and collaboration opportunities. 12 national labs were present.
Eight students won student awards during the workshop and each student award comes with a certificate and $500 prize gift card. All student award finalists were assessed and scored by the selection committee, made up of advisory board members and national lab affiliates, during the workshop based on the selection criteria: quality of work, originality, novelty, and presentation.
Best Oral Talks – Graduate:
- Andrew Wilhelm, University of Michigan, “Event Topological Reconstruction using an Opaque Water-based Liquid Scintillator”
- Patrick Park, Princeton University,” Understanding Early Reactor Programs: Nuclear Archaeology of the Heisenberg Reactor”
Best Oral Talk – Undergraduate:
- Kimberly Meagher, University of Michigan, “Comparing Timing Resolution Improvements using the Tapered-Sinc Interpolation Algorithm for Various Readout Methods”
Best Poster Presentations – Graduate:
- Jill Rahon, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Neutron Resonance Capture Analysis in a Field Portable System”
- Londrea Garrett, University of Michigan, “The effect of Laser Pulse Width on the Behavior of UF6 Plasma in LISA-UE”
Best Poster Presentations – Undergraduate:
- Katie Ballard, University of Michigan, “Validation of Neutron Simulation Framework for Scintillator-based Imaging Systems”
- Meredith Doan, University of Michigan, “Preventing Radiation Drone Crashes: Avoiding Collisions and Following Terrain”
Best Student Publication:
- Flynn Darby, University of Michigan, “Neutron-gamma noise measurements in a zero-power reactor using organic scintillators”
Full meeting details, including an interactive agenda and links to presenter materials, can be found online at: https://mtv.engin.umich.edu/events/__2024mtvworkshop/
