Chad L. Pope
Ph.D., P.E. - Professor and Chair, Program Director of NE
Office: Colonial Hall, Room 101
Dr. Pope received his Ph.D. from Idaho State University in 2011 in Nuclear Science and Engineering. He holds a PE license in the nuclear discipline. He also brings over 24 years of industry experience to the position. His research interests include nuclear safety, nuclear criticality safety and nuclear fuel cycles.
Sodium Properties Experience and Safety
Stochastic Objective Decision Aide (SODA)
Pyroprocessing safeguards models and modeling data
Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar
Ph.D. - Professor and Associate Dean
Office: CAES, Room 284 (Idaho Falls) and Lillibridge, Room 235C
Dr. Dunzik-Gougar received her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University in 2003. Her research interests include the nuclear fuel cycle, systems modeling, spent fuel processing, and waste form development.
Daniel LaBrier
Ph.D. - Associate Professor
Office: TAB Building, Room 262
Dr. LaBrier earned his Ph.D. in Nuclear Science and Engineering from Idaho State University in 2013. After serving as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of New Mexico and as a research professor at Oregon State University, Dr. LaBrier returned to ISU as an assistant professor in March 2019. His research interests include development and qualification of fuels and materials for advanced reactor concepts, investigating thermal hydraulic effects on material performance, and used fuel recycling techniques.
Amir Ali
Ph.D. - Associate Professor
Office: CAES, Room 280
Dr. Ali joined the Nuclear Engineering Department at Idaho State University in fall 2019. He received his Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico (UNM) in 2013. Dr. Ali served as a research professor in the thermal-hydraulic and reactor safety lab at UNM prior to joining ISU. His research focuses on experimental and computational analysis of the thermal-hydraulic challenges of advanced reactors, molten salt, liquid metals-cooled reactors. Other research interests are heat pipe technology, energy storage systems, and boiling heat transfer on micro-structured surfaces.
Richard Schultz
Ph.D., P.E. - Research Professor
Office: Lillibridge, Room 235F
Dr. Schultz received his Ph.D. from Idaho State University in 2010 in Nuclear Engineering and Science and his M.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1971 in Mechanical Engineering. He received the George Westinghouse Gold Medal in 2012 for eminent achievements in power engineering. His research interests include thermal hydraulics of LWRs and advanced reactor systems; numerical modeling of reactor systems; and verification & validation of numerical models.
George Imel
Emeritus Professor
Dr. Imel received his Ph. D. from Pennsylvania State University in Nuclear Engineering in 1977. His research interests include sodium fast reactor development, uncertainty propagation in reactor experiments, and development of new techniques in support of advanced nuclear systems.
Jay Kunze
Emeritus Professor
Office: LEL 235C
Dr. Kunze received his Ph. D. in Nuclear Physics from Carnegie Mellon University-Pittsburg in 1959. His research interests include underground siting of nuclear power plant parks, the health effects of low level radiation, laser isotope enrichment of medical and industrial isotopes, and reactor designs with high burn up capability and long time between refueling.
Thomas Gesell
Emeritus Professor
Office: PSC 105
Dr. Gesell received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in health physics from the University of Tennessee in 1968 and 1971, respectively. His interests include dosimetry and environmental radiation, including radon.