Dr. Tianyi Chen

Dr. Chen is an assistant professor at the School of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Oregon State University. He has a wide range of research interests in nuclear materials and radiation effects, including the radiation tolerance of advanced alloys, ion irradiation as a surrogate for neutron irradiation, materials deformation mechanisms, fuel-cladding chemical interactions, ect. His studies cross the boundaries between radiation science, materials science, and mechanics of materials. Before joining Oregon State University, Dr. Chen worked at several national laboratories including INL, ANL, and ORNL. Before joining Oregon State University, Dr. Tianyi Chen was a postdoctoral research associate in the Nuclear Materials Science and Technology Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He received his Ph.D in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University in 2015 and B.S. in physics from Peking University, China, in 2010.

 

Ian Ferguson

Ian Ferguson is a first year graduate student at Oregon State University. Ian is investigating computational analysis of metallic nuclear fuel with particular interest in small scale material science related phenomena. He is also providing support to the surface acoustic wave project in the laser laboratory.

 

Gavin VandenBroeder

Gavin VandenBroeder is a graduate student pursuing a M.S. in nuclear engineering and a member of the MEENA group. Gavin's research interests are in the development and application of data analytics and machine learning in the realm of materials. With these methods he hopes to decrease the amount of experimentation needed to either determine material properties or identify ideal materials for certain applications. Currently he is looking into reactor pressure vessel irradiation and material surface modification using laser shock peening.

 

Tracey Spoerer

Tracey Spoerer is a graduate student in Dr. Chen's research group and graduate teaching assistant persuing his M.S. in nuclear engineering. Tracey's current research involves the development of a laser system for both materials surface modifications using laser shock peening (LSP) and materials characterization using interferometry as well as radiation/heavy ion damage modeling using molecular dynamics. He is also currently being trained in the use of SEMs and FIBs.

Tracey is especially passionate about providing quality instruction, tutoring and academic support to undergraduate students and hopes to make a career in academia. He has been a College Learning and Reading Association (CLRA) certifed tutor since 2015. Tracey is also a senior reactor operator at the Oregon State TRIGA reactor (OSTR) and is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom XVIII. Tracey has a diverse civilian work history and has worked in industries such as fisheries biology, water quality monitoring and the commercial airline industry. You can contact Tracey at: spoerert@oregonstate.edu

 

Spencer Doran

Spencer is an Undergraduate student here at OSU pursuing a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering. He has worked on High Entropy Alloys, Material Data Overlay, and Data Refinement. His interests are in microstructural damages, structural changes, and mechanical properties in materials related to radiation and nuclear processes. With a current focus on alloy irradiation, microscopic imaging techniques, material gradation and property design. You can contact Spencer at doransp@oregonstate.edu.

 

 

Muyue Li

Muyue Li is an undergraduate student at Oregon State University studying nuclear engineering and a member of Dr. Chen's research group. Muyue's primary interest is in fusion reactors and the development of novel materials for fusion power systems. Muyue is devoted to the peacful use of fusion energy for the benifit of humanity.

 

Zhenyu Fei

Zhenyu Fei is an undergraduate student in nuclear engineering at Oregon State University and a member of Dr. Chen's research group. Zhenyu is researching methods for altering the macroscopic properties of materials through the alteration of their microstructures. In the future, Zhenyu hopes to research the miniaturization and popularization of reactors to reduce the public's prejudice against nuclear reactors and nuclear energy as well as promote fundamental knowledge of nuclear energy. This is because Zhenyu believes nuclear power will have more of a presence in people's daily lives in the future and be more broadly used in space applications. Zhenyu also looks forward to the development of more practical nuclear technology applications in healthcare and clinical applications. The development of nuclear technology in any aspect needs the joint efforts of all of us, so if you want to contact Zhenyu, you can send him an email at: feiz@oregonstate.edu. 

 

Alexander Fikri Maulana

Alex/Fik is an Undergraduate student majoring in Nuclear Engineering at OSU. His interests are in Nuclear Thermohydraulics, Modular Reactor Design, HTGR and the application of Modeling and Simulation works in the nuclear engineering discipline. He is applying his knowledge of Finite Analysis Element to recreate the laser peening experiment using ANSYS for result validation and verification purposes. 

Former Students:

 

Mack Cullison

Mack Cullison received his M.S degree from the MEENA group in 2021. His current position is Radiation Material Engineer at the Stark Street Materials Corporation. 

Thesis: Nano-recrystallized UO2 microcantilever bending after ion irradiation. 

 

Michael Branco-Katcher

Michael was a undergraduate student researcher in MEENA group. He is now a graduate student at Oregon State University with a deep interest in nuclear technology. He is mainly interested in the use of computational tools to perform analysis of all kinds. Michael's primary interests are in reactor physics, neutronics, and material science. He also has experience in a wide range of nuclear codes including OpenMC, MCNP, SERPENT, RELAP5, the Moose framework and SCALE 6.2.3. Michael's work in Dr. Chen's research group centers around the use of Monte-Carlo methods to predict certain effects of neutrons on reactor structural materials over a reactor's lifetime. Michael hopes that the methods he develops in the course of his research can later be used for material selection in advanced reactor systems.

Quinton Williams

Munirah Alkubaisi 

Rayhana Al Faran 

Jeshua Olson-Gross 

Charles Hay

William Hull

Nathan Wiltbank