Corey McDaniel (BS NE ’93) was sworn in as a member of the board of American Nuclear Society (ANS), a not-for-profit, international, scientific and education organization. The mission of ANS is “advance, foster, and spur the development and application of nuclear science, engineering, and technology to benefit society.” McDaniel is also the chief commercial officer of science & technology for Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. Congratulations Corey!

From left to right: Corey McDaniel, Olga Simbalista, Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar (Vice President/President-Elect), Art Wharton (Treasurer), Marilyn Kray (President), Margaret Harding, Patricia Paviet, Peter Lyons and Miriam Kreher. Not pictured: Charles Forsberg.

Vivek Agarwal (PhD NE ’11) was awarded The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Established in 1996, the PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government to outstanding scientists and engineers who are beginning their independent research careers and who show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology.

Agarwal says, “The decision to select Purdue for my PhD turned out to be one of the transformational aspects of my professional career and personal life. I enjoyed my time at Purdue and have many fond memories to cherish for rest of my life. I was surrounded by excellent friends and colleagues.”

Currently, Agarwal is a senior research scientist at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) working on a variety of projects including online monitoring of active and passive components in nuclear power plants, intelligent plant configuration management using wireless sensors, risk-informed condition-based predictive maintenance, wireless sensors, communications, and cyber-security, and integration of prognostic techniques and probabilistic safety assessment for online risk monitoring. A prototype of wireless acoustic telemetry system developed as part of one of my research projects is installed at the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) and the first-ever acoustic baseline signature of the ATR is being generated, laying the foundation for real-time acoustic-based in-pile monitoring.