The honor of fellow is given to those with distinguished contributions in the field of nuclear science and engineering, who then serve as advisors to the society.

Fentiman, who also serves as assistant director for strategic planning and regional campuses in the Office of the President, joined the Purdue faculty in 2006. Before that, she was chair of the Nuclear Engineering Program and director of the Nuclear Reactor Laboratory at Ohio State University, where she had earlier served as director of the interdisciplinary Environmental Science Graduate Program. In the past five years, she has served on the National Nuclear Accrediting Board, which accredits training programs at nuclear power plants, the Board of Directors of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Board of Directors of the American Nuclear Society, and the Strategic Advisory Committee for National and Homeland Security at Idaho National Laboratory. She is vice president for University Strategy and Policy for GEM, a consortium of universities and employers that provides fellowships to support underrepresented minority graduate students in science and engineering.