Tennessee Tech is set to expand its nuclear engineering capabilities after receiving a $250,000 grant as part of a statewide investment in nuclear education.
Dean of the College of Engineering Dr. Joseph Slater said the funds will be used to purchase instrumentation for the radiation detection lab.
“Teaching our students how to identify, observe, and estimate how much radiation is in an area is a necessary part of solving the problem and performing remediation,” Slater said. “So this lab is going to provide them with the skill sets to understand what they’re facing when they get in the field.”
Slater said access to modern equipment is critical in preparing students for careers in a rapidly growing industry. Among the institutions receiving funding, Tennessee Tech was awarded the largest share, which Slater said reflects the strength of the university’s program.
“This is a strong endorsement of what we are doing, who we are, and what we’ve always done, which is generate the best engineers, the most prepared, most ready to go out the door to be successful in the workforce and serve the needs of our regional economy,” Slater said.
Slater noted that Tennessee Tech launched its nuclear engineering program in 2020 in anticipation of growing demand and has already seen rapid enrollment growth.
“We’ve seen this in the enrollment of our students,” Slater said. “We’ve almost already met our four-year goal in enrollment in our second year, and we have even more students enrolling next year. Our program is growing by leaps and bounds every year.”
State leaders hope the investment will help address workforce shortages in the nuclear sector, an issue Slater said is one of the biggest challenges facing the industry.
“It’s important that we do everything we possibly can,” Slater said. “What’s going to be the biggest thing slowing down the nuclear industry right now is the workforce. We know that it’s been a very long time since the nation recognized the opportunity that nuclear [Industry] provides us. And now that everybody is on board, a lot of those programs faded away over the years, and we’re not producing the engineers that we need in the numbers we need as a nation to fill all of those positions. And without those positions, the jobs can’t get done.”
The funding comes through the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, which recently awarded nearly $900,000 in nuclear equipment grants to four institutions across the state.