Rate My Professor Igor Jovanovic

Igor Jovanovic serves as Adjunct Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, with additional appointments as Professor of Applied Physics and courtesy Professor of Physics. He leads the Applied Nuclear Science Group, directs the Neutron Science Laboratory and Applied Nuclear Science Instrumentation Laboratory, and chairs the Graduate Program in Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences. Previously, Jovanovic was a staff physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 2002 to 2007 in the National Ignition Facility and Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, and held professor positions at Purdue University and Penn State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2001 and B.S./M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Zagreb in 1997. His research, supported by DOE, NSF, DHS, DOD, NRC, and industry, centers on radiation detection and measurement, intense laser science and technology, and laser-matter interactions. Core expertise encompasses nuclear security, nuclear energy, and fundamental science.

Jovanovic's group develops laser-based standoff spectroscopy for nuclear material detection and characterization, laser-based accelerators and radiation sources, novel heterogeneous composite detectors including those based on opaque scintillators and two-dimensional materials, and performs basic nuclear data measurements. He contributes to major initiatives including the NNSA Consortium for Nuclear Forensics, NNSA Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification as Associate Director for National Laboratories, DTRA Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Matter University Research Alliance, AIT-WATCHMAN collaboration for water Cherenkov detectors, and the High-Field Science Group advancing the NSF-supported ZEUS 3-petawatt laser facility. Awards include the DARPA Young Faculty Award, DHS Nuclear Forensics Junior Faculty Award, Fellow of the American Nuclear Society in 2021, and Fellow of the Optical Society in 2019. He edits Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Part A and Optics Letters. Key publications feature 'Colloquium: Neutrino detectors as tools for nuclear security' in Reviews of Modern Physics (2020), 'An overview of LLNL high-energy short-pulse technology for advanced radiography of laser fusion experiments' in Nuclear Fusion (2004), and 'Optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier as an alternative to Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifiers' in Applied Optics (2002).