The University of New Mexico (UNM) has announced that Professor Osman Anderoglu from the Department of Nuclear Engineering will lead a Department of Energy project focused on fusion energy research and internship opportunities for students. The project, titled "Liquid Metal-Materials Interactions in Extreme Environments," is funded by the Department of Energy Office of Science's Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) initiative.
According to UNM, the project began this month and is expected to last three years. The research will specifically examine the impact of external magnetic fields on eutectic lead-lithium flow, exploring areas such as magnetohydrodynamics and the compatibility of structural materials. The project involves co-principal investigators from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, including Guillermo I. Maldonado and Nicholas R. Brown, as well as collaborators from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, including Sergey Smolentsev, Marie Romedenne, and Bruce Pint.
As part of the project, a new experimental setup will be constructed to study magnetic field effects on flowing metallic coolants, creating a one-of-a-kind facility in the U.S. Professor Osman Anderoglu stated, "One of the outcomes of the project will be a unique and sustainable experiential-based research and educational program for the next generation of researchers and engineers in key areas of liquid metal coolant technology for fusion energy."
The UNM project will involve the participation of two undergraduate and two graduate students from UNM, as well as one graduate student from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. These students will have internship opportunities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The UNM project is part of a larger initiative worth $70 million across 65 institutions aimed at promoting diversity in STEM leadership.
Professor Osman Anderoglu expressed excitement about the project, stating, "This challenge not only makes the project exciting but also helps with educating and training the next generation of engineers and scientists." The project aims to advance research in fusion energy and provide valuable opportunities for students in the field.