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AESL student Tyler Gates recently trained high school students to use the Nuclear Engineering Department’s Reactor Simulator. These students were on campus for the SPARK! TAMU NUEN Summer Symposium, part of SPARK! PK-12 Engineering Education Outreach, which provides educational programming for students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Students ran the simulator and performed several simple exercises such as approach to criticality, power transient analyses, and the TMI accident scenario. This was a great opportunity to educate the next generation of nuclear engineers through fun reactor simulations.

Members of AESL recently attended the American Nuclear Society’s 2026 Annual Conference from May 31st to June 3rd in Denver, Colorado. AESL students gave 7 presentations during the conference.

The American Nuclear Society’s 2026 Student Conference was held in College Station from April 16th-18th. Members of AESL volunteered in running sessions and tours, led workshops, and presented 13 presentations during the conference, and undergraduate student Joseph Wolf won Third Place for Best Lightning Talk overall.

Several AESL students were selected to represent Texas A&M’s Nuclear Engineering Department at CERAWeek 2026, which is the world’s premier energy conference. These students were selected to be a part of the NextGen Cohort, a group of 200+ students from across the world to be immersed and contribute to discussions and seminars on many different problems and solutions relating to global energy.

Several AESL students traveled to Washington DC in early November to present their research at the ANS Winter Meeting. PhD students Dan Watson and Hui Yu Hsieh presented progress on their research in the field of deep learning applications in reactor systems, and undergraduate Sydney Ballard attended her first conference to present her research on reactor siting criteria. Dr Thabit Abuqudaira, who graduated from the AESL group this August, also attended and presented his research on his System Dynamics Analysis Tool.

       

AESL student Tyler Gates represented Texas A&M University at the Nuclear Energy Agency’s NEST (Nuclear Education, Skills, and Technology) Award Ceremony in Paris. The event recognized NEA-sponsored research from all over the world, and included an exhibition from hundreds of vendors showing off their latest work.

AESL recently helped host a team of special visitors and provided a tour of Texas A&M’s Nuclear Engineering Department. Visitors included Jay Umholz from GSE Solutions, and Danny Bacot, Gary Bonewald, and David Amador from Wharton County Junior College.

AESL recently participated in the Texas A&M University Small Modular Reactor Workshop, which featured guest and presenters from across the university and the nation to discuss the latest research related to the development of small modular reactors. AESL provided 8 poster presentations, and Dr. Pavel Tsvetkov moderated a panel discussion in “Research Needs in SMR Thermal–Hydraulics”, and presented an overview of “AI-Enabled Nuclear System Design Engineering Capabilities”.

The American Nuclear Society hosted its annual conference in Chicago last week, and members of AESL presented recent research. Dr. Pavel Tsvetkov was one of the conference’s Keynote Speakers, and discussed “Reactor Physics Frontiers in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Breakthroughs”. Two PhD students also presented research; Hui-Yu Hsieh gave a presentation on “Intelligent Prediction and Uncertainty Quantification of Reactivity-Induced Power Excursions in Molten Salt Reactors”, and Michael Parnell gave a presentation titled “Use of System Dynamics Analysis Tool in Stability Analysis Applications for Flowing-Fuel Reactors”.

Last week, members of AESL presented their research work at Texas A&M’s Nuclear Engineering Spring BBQ and Poster Session to students, faculty, and the department’s advisory board. AESL presented 9 posters, and many were focused on applications of artificial intelligence and deep learning to solve various nuclear engineering problems.