{"id":2088,"date":"2026-08-04T15:14:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T19:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/?p=2088"},"modified":"2026-08-04T15:14:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T19:14:40","slug":"25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/","title":{"rendered":"$25M Grant Reinvigorates Nuclear Science, Security Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

UT Part of Consortium Awarded DOE Grant<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The University of Tennessee is part of a consortium led by the University of California, Berkeley that was awarded a five-year, $25 million grant by the US Department of Energy\u2019s National Nuclear Security Administration<\/a> in December 2025.<\/p>\n

This is the fourth time the federal government has awarded such a grant to the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium (NSSC) for research and development in nuclear science, engineering, and security. The NSSC includes six national laboratories and nine universities, including UT.<\/p>\n

Work on the new grant began in July 2026. MSE Professor Mariya Zhuravleva<\/a> is the principal investigator (PI) of UT\u2019s efforts under the consortium; joint MSE-Department of Nuclear Engineering (NE) Research Professor Chuck Melcher <\/a>and NE Assistant Professor Sandra Bogetic<\/a> are co-PIs.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticipation in the NSSC consortium connects us with leading experts in diverse fields of nuclear non-proliferation,\u201d Zhuravleva said. \u201cIt helps expand the impact of (our) scintillation (radiation detection) materials research.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, one of UT\u2019s focus areas under the grant is developing and characterizing new scintillators. This work relies on the facilities and experts in UT\u2019s Scintillation Materials Research Center (SMRC), which Melcher directs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe SMRC has built an international reputation (for) development of scintillation materials due to a combination of its scientific impact, rare experimental capabilities for crystal growth and characterization, and hands-on student training,\u201d said Zhuravleva. \u201cIt is not just a strong university lab, but a globally recognized center for scintillator research.\u201d<\/p>\n

Innovative Scintillators<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Using the extensive laboratory infrastructure of the SMRC, the UT research team will pursue fundamental materials discovery and identify the best ways to scale up the production of high-performance scintillators that are expected to eventually replace the current state of the art.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery few universities in the United States still maintain this level of crystal growth infrastructure and hands-on training,\u201d Zhuravleva said. \u201c(Our) expertise in growth methods such as Czochralski, Bridgman, and micro-pulling-down, along with advanced scintillator characterization, (set UT apart).\u201d<\/p>\n

UT\u2019s scintillation team will also collaborate with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to identify new processing methods that can be used to optimize scintillators.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor more than five years, MSE and NE will continue to collaborate (with the NSSC) to advance materials for radiation detection and nuclear energy systems,\u201d Melcher said. \u201cInnovation in detector materials is at the core of developing novel detector capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Educational Benefits<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In addition to fundamental research and new scintillator development, the NSSC grant supports the SMRC\u2019s continuing efforts to expand knowledge of scintillator materials and methods beyond Rocky Top.<\/p>\n

UT, ORNL, and the Air Force Institute of Technology jointly held the first Scintillator Summer School in the summer of 2025; thanks to the DOE\u2019s ongoing support, the program will be held again this August.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Scintillator Summer School (brings) graduate students from other US universities to UT and ORNL for hands-on training in synthesis and scintillation characterization, exposure to cutting-edge applications, and networking with experts,\u201d Zhuravleva said.<\/p>\n

Contact<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Izzie Gall (egall4@utk.edu<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UT Part of Consortium Awarded DOE Grant The University of Tennessee is part of a consortium led by the University […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":2089,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[229,27,20],"class_list":["post-2088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-chuck-melcher","tag-department-of-energy","tag-mariya-zhuravleva"],"yoast_head":"\n$25M Grant Reinvigorates Nuclear Science, Security Research - Materials Science and Engineering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UT is part of a consortium led by UC Berkeley that was awarded a five-year, $25 million grant by the US DOE National Nuclear Security Administration.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"$25M Grant Reinvigorates Nuclear Science, Security Research - Materials Science and Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UT is part of a consortium led by UC Berkeley that was awarded a five-year, $25 million grant by the US DOE National Nuclear Security Administration.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Materials Science and Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-04T19:14:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/MSE_NE_Consortium.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ashlyn Kittrell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ashlyn Kittrell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ashlyn Kittrell\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3b0fd11d83b771eba159678fc6920b12\"},\"headline\":\"$25M Grant Reinvigorates Nuclear Science, Security Research\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-04T19:14:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":509,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/MSE_NE_Consortium.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Chuck Melcher\",\"Department of Energy\",\"Mariya Zhuravleva\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\\\/\",\"name\":\"$25M Grant Reinvigorates Nuclear Science, Security Research - Materials Science and Engineering\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/MSE_NE_Consortium.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-04T19:14:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3b0fd11d83b771eba159678fc6920b12\"},\"description\":\"UT is part of a consortium led by UC Berkeley that was awarded a five-year, $25 million grant by the US DOE National Nuclear Security Administration.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/MSE_NE_Consortium.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/MSE_NE_Consortium.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"Mariya Zhuravleva and Chuck Melcher\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"$25M Grant Reinvigorates Nuclear Science, Security Research\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/\",\"name\":\"Materials Science and Engineering\",\"description\":\"University of Tennessee, Knoxville\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3b0fd11d83b771eba159678fc6920b12\",\"name\":\"Ashlyn Kittrell\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mse\\\/author\\\/akittre3\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"$25M Grant Reinvigorates Nuclear Science, Security Research - Materials Science and Engineering","description":"UT is part of a consortium led by UC Berkeley that was awarded a five-year, $25 million grant by the US DOE National Nuclear Security Administration.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"$25M Grant Reinvigorates Nuclear Science, Security Research - Materials Science and Engineering","og_description":"UT is part of a consortium led by UC Berkeley that was awarded a five-year, $25 million grant by the US DOE National Nuclear Security Administration.","og_url":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/","og_site_name":"Materials Science and Engineering","article_published_time":"2026-08-04T19:14:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":1000,"url":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/MSE_NE_Consortium.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ashlyn Kittrell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ashlyn Kittrell","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/"},"author":{"name":"Ashlyn Kittrell","@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/#\/schema\/person\/3b0fd11d83b771eba159678fc6920b12"},"headline":"$25M Grant Reinvigorates Nuclear Science, Security Research","datePublished":"2026-08-04T19:14:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/"},"wordCount":509,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/MSE_NE_Consortium.jpg","keywords":["Chuck Melcher","Department of Energy","Mariya Zhuravleva"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/","url":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/","name":"$25M Grant Reinvigorates Nuclear Science, Security Research - Materials Science and Engineering","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/MSE_NE_Consortium.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-04T19:14:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/#\/schema\/person\/3b0fd11d83b771eba159678fc6920b12"},"description":"UT is part of a consortium led by UC Berkeley that was awarded a five-year, $25 million grant by the US DOE National Nuclear Security Administration.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/MSE_NE_Consortium.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/MSE_NE_Consortium.jpg","width":1500,"height":1000,"caption":"Mariya Zhuravleva and Chuck Melcher"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/25m-grant-reinvigorates-nuclear-science-security-research\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"$25M Grant Reinvigorates Nuclear Science, Security Research"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/","name":"Materials Science and Engineering","description":"University of Tennessee, Knoxville","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/#\/schema\/person\/3b0fd11d83b771eba159678fc6920b12","name":"Ashlyn Kittrell","url":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/author\/akittre3\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2090,"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2088\/revisions\/2090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}