Rate My Professor R. Scott Kemp

R. Scott Kemp is the MIT Class of '43 Associate Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering in the Engineering faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of the Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy. He earned an undergraduate degree in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Ph.D. in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University. Kemp's research blends physics, politics, and history to build more resilient societies, concentrating on weapons of mass destruction and energy challenges. His ongoing work examines vulnerabilities in U.S. critical infrastructure—including electricity, gas, and water systems—and the strategic effects of hypersonics and advanced conventional weapons. Additional interests encompass detection of clandestine nuclear activities, radiation fingerprinting for nuclear archeology, and K-transform tomography.

In his career, Kemp served as Science Advisor in the U.S. State Department's Office of the Special Advisor for Nonproliferation and Arms Control in 2010, helping develop the technical framework for the Iran Nuclear Deal. He has been on the American Physical Society's Panel on Public Affairs, authoring their climate change position statement. At MIT, he advises the Energy Studies Program, sits on the International Policy Lab advisory board, and the President’s Committee for Distinguished Fellowships. He teaches courses such as Social Problems of Nuclear Energy (22.04), Applications of Nuclear Science and Engineering (22.102), and Nuclear Power and Society (22.103). Kemp's accolades include Fellowship in the American Physical Society (2017), Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching (2017), Sloan Research Fellowship in Physics (2016), NEC Corporation Award (2015), Norman C. Rasmussen Career Development Chair (2015-2017), Class of 1943 Professorship (2018-2021), and Fulbright Fellowship (2003). Notable publications feature "The Weapons Potential of High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium" (Science, 2024), "Potential for small and micro reactors to electrify developing regions" (Nature Energy, 2023), "Physical Cryptographic Verification of Nuclear Warheads" (PNAS, 2016), and "The Nonproliferation Emperor Has No Clothes: The Gas Centrifuge, Supply-Side Controls, and the Future of Nuclear Proliferation" (International Security, 2014).