Nuclear Engineering Certificate

Return to: Swanson School of Engineering

U.S. domestic nuclear capacity has the potential to scale from ~100 GW in 2023 to ~300 GW by 2050 based on power system decarbonization modeling, which suggests that the U.S. will need ~200 GW of additional nuclear generation capacity, while creating up to 275,000 high-paying jobs. The undergraduate certificate in Nuclear Engineering is a five-course sequence, consisting of three nuclear engineering courses and two discipline-specific courses related to nuclear engineering from the various engineering departments. Any undergraduate engineering students in the Swanson School of Engineering can earn the certificate in conjunction with an undergraduate engineering degree. Qualified students in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences can pursue the certificate with approval from the Nuclear Engineering program director.

After earning the certificate, students should be able to do the following: apply the concepts of nuclear and reactor physics, reactor kinetics, radiation protection, fuel depletion, and heat transfer to engineering problems; apply engineering skills, knowledge, and expertise to nuclear energy problems; for light water reactors and advanced reactors, support engineering projects for the design of the reactor core and the reactor coolant system; assess important social and technical issues related to nuclear science and technology; and describe and explain the nuclear fuel cycle from mining to disposal including reprocessing and waste management.

Interested students should visit http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/nuclear/ or contact either the Director or Associate/Academic Director of the Nuclear Engineering program; currently, these posts are occupied by Dr. Heng Ban (heng.ban@pitt.edu) and Dr. Tom Congedo (tvc9@pitt.edu), respectively.