Matthew Loyd (BS/MSE ’15, MS/NE ‘17, PhD/MSE ‘19) was recently selected for an Early Career Research Program award by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
Loyd, an R&D scientist in the Neutron Technologies Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was selected by the Basic Energy Sciences program for his proposal, “Development of a Novel High-Count-Rate, High-Resolution Neutron Camera with Advanced Gamma Discrimination Capabilities.”
The detector will be based on current camera technologies that convert low-energy neutrons into thousands of visible photons and an array of silicon photomultipliers that will identify the neutrons’ positions. Improvements in detector hardware, firmware and software will allow for simultaneous
neutron detection at separate locations on the detector at count rates greater than one million neutrons per second. The detector’s ability to reject gamma radiation, which is unavoidably produced during neutron scattering experiments, will enable observing extremely weak but scientifically important data signals in many experiments.
“I am honored to have been awarded this prestigious grant by the Department of Energy,” Loyd said. “The five years of funding will allow me to pursue advanced detector technologies, and to develop a state-of-the-art neutron detector that will enable the next generation of experiments at DOE’s scientific user facilities, the Spallation Neutron Source and The High-Flux Isotope Reactor.
DOE has selected 91 early career scientists nationwide, employed across 12 DOE national laboratories and 50 universities, to receive a combined $138 million across five years to cover salary and research expenses. Since its inception in 2010, the program has granted 961 awards, with 631 awards to university researchers and 330 awards to national laboratory researchers.
A researcher must be an untenured, tenure-track assistant or associate professor at a US academic institution or a full-time employee at a DOE national laboratory or Office of Science user facility to be eligible. Each project award is subject to final grant and contract negotiations between DOE and the awardee.
“I feel that my time at UT prepared me well for the challenges of working at a DOE basic science laboratory,” Loyd said. “I especially appreciate the ability for me to get a nuclear engineering master’s degree enroute to my materials science and engineering PhD. Working with neutron detectors requires a knowledge of many engineering disciplines and having a diverse background has set me up for success.”
Contact
Rhiannon Potkey (865-974-0683, [email protected])