No: 23-060 September 18, 2023 

CONTACT: Ivonne Couret, 301-415-8200 

NRC Anticipates Awarding $11.7 Million

in Research and Development Grants for 2024

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission anticipates awarding 24 research and development 

grant proposals next year totaling more than $11.7 million. Final awards will be issued by the 

end of January 2024 and posted the following month on the NRC website.

This is the fourth year the NRC has offered a research component under the University 

Nuclear Leadership Program, which provides grants to academic institutions to support research 

and development for nuclear science, engineering, technology and related disciplines. The intent of the 

grants is to develop a workforce capable of supporting the design, construction, operation, and 

regulation of nuclear facilities, and the safe handling of nuclear materials. 

“We are very impressed with the quality of these proposals and look forward to 

continuing to support the development of the nuclear talent of tomorrow,” said Ray Furstenau, 

director of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. 

The grant proposals included three Minority Serving Institutions and nine partnering 

institutions.

The following proposals have been recommended for awards: 

Institutional Name State Technical Area Amount Project Liaison

University of Michigan MI Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning $ 500,000 Majdi I. Radaideh

North Carolina State University NC Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning $ 500,000 Abhinav Gupta

Ohio State University OH Electrical and I&C $ 500,000 Lei Raymond Cao

University of Texas at Austin TX Electrical and I&C $ 500,000 Mitch Pryor

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute NY Fuels Analysis $ 500,000 Shanbin Shi

University of California, Berkeley CA Fuels Analysis $ 500,000 Massimiliano Fratoni

North Carolina State University NC Materials Performance $ 500,000 Ge Yang

Purdue University IN Materials Performance $ 500,000 Janelle P. Wharry

University of Pittsburgh PA Materials Performance $ 499,995 Jung-Kun Lee
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Texas A&M University - College Station TX Materials Performance $ 497,321 Karim Ahmed

University of Pittsburgh PA Materials Performance $ 500,000 Paul Ohodnicki

University of Nevada, Reno NV Materials Performance $ 500,000 Pradeep Menezes

University of Wisconsin-Madison WI Neutronics Analysis $ 500,000 Juliana Pacheco Duarte

Kansas State University KS Neutronics Analysis $ 499,906 Walter McNeil

Texas A&M Kingsville TX Neutronics Analysis $ 250,000 Xue Yang

University of New Mexico NM Neutronics Analysis $ 500,000 Christopher Perfetti

Louisiana State University LA Radiation Protection Analysis $ 500,000 Yong-Ha Kim

Colorado State University CO Radiation Protection Analysis $ 500,000 Del Leary

University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez PR Risk Analysis $ 499,963 Luis A. Montejo

Purdue University IN Risk Analysis $ 482,592 Jason T. Harris

University of Maryland MD Risk Analysis $ 500,000 Michelle (Shelby) Bensi

University of California Los Angeles CA Risk Analysis $ 500,000 Ali Mosleh

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign IL Risk Analysis $ 499,997 Zahra Mohaghegh

University of Alabama at Birmingham AL Risk Analysis (HP) $ 493,560 Emily Caffrey

$ 11,723,334

The remainder of the FY2023 UNLP funds will be allotted for scholarships, fellowships, 

trade schools/community colleges and distinguished faculty advancement, and awarded by the 

end of April 2024.