A $450,000 faculty development grant from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will fund the research program of Lane Carasik, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering.

The NRC’s Faculty Development Grant program helps universities attract and retain highly qualified junior faculty members with robust research programs in nuclear engineering. Carasik is one of 11 faculty members in the nation whose work will be supported under this grant in the current cycle.

“We are grateful to NRC for their continued support of our nuclear engineering program and faculty. Dr. Carasik is a rising star, and this funding will help him take his research to the next level,” said Gary Tepper, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering and principal investigator on the grant.

Carasik is an expert in computational and experimental thermal hydraulics for clean energy systems. His Fluids in Advanced Systems and Technology (FAST) research group will use this grant to apply additive manufacturing and novel measurement techniques to develop novel heat transfer enhancements for advanced reactor components. He will also develop experimental facilities and computational models to understand the behavior of molten salt systems, components for molten salt reactors and thermal energy storage.

Over the next three years, the award will support the training of two graduate students. An active proponent of undergraduate research opportunities, Carasik stressed that undergraduates will also be involved in his research group’s NRC supported work.

By advancing Carasik’s work to expedite deployment of solar, nuclear and geothermal energy systems, the grant also aligns with VCU’s commitment to research that advances sustainable energy and environments.