Pictured from left to right are Jeff Blackwell, Hixson; Kelli Poe, Whitwell; Brandon Hendrick, Spring City; and Dillon Hall, Hixson in front of the nuclear power plant control room simulator housed in the Engineering Technology Division at ChattState, one of only a few like training simulators in the U.S.
Jeff Blackwell, Dillon Hall, Kelli Poe and Brandon Hendrick, officers in the Chattanooga State American Nuclear Society (ANS) student chapter, had the opportunity to attend the annual ANS Student Conference recently held at Texas A&M, thanks to funding provided by the Student Government Association Club and Organization Fund. This conference welcomed more than 500 students and professionals from around the country for a three-day whirlwind event highlighting the conference theme, “Powering Tomorrow Together.”
The conference provided learning opportunities about the “growing globalization of the nuclear and health physics industries, while becoming familiar with the international nuclear community through internationally recognized keynote speakers, workshops, technical sessions, special paper tracks, and interaction with international students.” The opening session, presented via satellite, featured Yukiya Amano, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Assistant professor Terry Newman, faculty advisor said, “our students commented that most of the other (conference) attendees didn’t seem to grasp how nuclear power plants, as a whole, really operate.
Most of the other attendees were involved in theoretical aspects of nuclear power and not the practical applied aspects.” These other attendees came from such notable schools such as University of Tennessee, Penn State, MIT, Stanford, Georgia Tech, and N.C. State.
Regional tours were scheduled to nuclear power plants at South Texas Project and Comanche Peak, while local tours included several options to visit the Nuclear Science Center, Fuel Cycle and Materials Laboratory, Thermal Hydraulics Research Laboratory, and Accelerator Laboratories. In addition, a career fair featured more than 30 companies and universities that met with students to discuss future career opportunities.
The career fair appeared to be where Chattanooga State students shined. Mr. Newman said, “Each time representatives noticed I was from Chattanooga State, every one commented on how impressed they were with our students. In fact, most remembered their names. I could not have been more proud of our students and what an outstanding way they represented themselves, our community, Chattanooga State and our Nuclear Power program.”
Of the four students who graduated in May and attended this conference, three already have jobs. Jeff Blackwell is in a nuclear power plant operator training class for Duke Energy in South Carolina, Kelli Poe will be working in the analytics Lab at WACKER, and Brandon Hendrick will be training as a process chemical operator at WACKER.
For more information on Chattanooga State Engineering Technology programs in Nuclear Power Engineering Technology, Radiation Protection, Non-Destructive Testing Technology, or Quality Assurance/Quality Control, call 423.697.4434 or visit https://www.chattanoogastate.edu/engineering-technology.