Rate My Professor Nick Brown

Nicholas Brown is a Professor and Pietro F. Pasqua Fellow in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering summa cum laude from the University of New Mexico in 2005, a Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering from Purdue University in 2007, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Thermal Hydraulics from Purdue University in 2011. Brown joined the University of Tennessee faculty in 2019 as an associate professor following two years at Pennsylvania State University and prior positions at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory. His expertise lies in nuclear fuel safety, thermal fluid sciences, and advanced nuclear reactor design, demonstrated through effective collaborations and leadership in project and people management.

Brown's research interests include nuclear reactor safety and simulation of reactor and system transients, advanced nuclear fuel and cladding materials with a focus on nuclear fuel safety, assessment and simulation of sustainable nuclear fuel cycles, and advanced nuclear reactor design. He is the author or co-author of more than 200 refereed publications, including over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and two book chapters. Key publications are 'A review of in-pile fuel safety tests of TRISO fuel forms and future testing opportunities in non-HTGR applications' (2020), 'Neutronic performance of uranium nitride composite fuels in a PWR' (2014), 'Screening of advanced cladding materials and UN–U3Si5 fuel' (2015), 'Reactor and fuel cycle performance of light water reactor fuel with 235U enrichments above 5%' (2020), and 'Full core LOCA safety analysis for a PWR containing high burnup fuel' (2021). As principal or co-principal investigator, he has received more than 25 awards totaling over $20 million in funding. Major honors include the American Nuclear Society David Okrent Award for Nuclear Safety (2023), Landis Technical Achievement Award (2021), Tickle College of Engineering Professional Promise in Research Award (2022), and Stanford University's top 2% most cited researchers list for 2021 and 2022. Brown has served as Co-Technical Program Chair of the ANS Annual Meeting (2023), Chair of the ANS Nuclear Installations Safety Division (2021-2022), and is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Nuclear Engineering. He has been interviewed by WIRED magazine, MIT News, and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.