Abstract

Mr. Hamilton will discuss his background in the materials science and entrepreneurship programs at Purdue and how this lead to founding his company and competing in business plan competitions. He will talk about the research he completed for his master’s degree at Purdue and the foundations of the technology that he is pursuing. Mr. Hamilton will also discuss his time at the Argonne Chain Reaction Innovations program as well as other opportunities that support innovation in nuclear research and development.

Bio

Ian Hamilton is CEO of Atlas Energy Systems, LLC and is developing his energy conversion technology at Argonne National Lab through the Chain Reaction Innovations program funded by the Department of Energy’s EERE AMO office. Mr. Hamilton did is undergraduate in materials science engineering while also completing the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Certificate at Purdue. He and his cofounders started Atlas Energy Systems, LLC in 2013 to pursue nuclear energy technologies. Upon winning business plan competitions, Atlas funded their own research at Purdue University where Mr. Hamilton began his graduate degree in nuclear engineering in 2015 with Professor Robert Bean. Mr. Hamilton’s graduate degree was focused on design and modeling of a novel nuclear direct energy conversion technology. This work at Purdue allowed the development of the technology to the point where it was ready to be presented and accepted to the Argonne National Lab Chain Reaction Innovations program in late 2016 and Mr. Hamilton finished his degree in early 2017. Mr. Hamilton and his company are currently continuing their research at Argonne.