American Nuclear Society Student Section University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez

INNU Project

The University of Puerto Rico offered a selection of nuclear engineering courses and carried out important nuclear research during the 1950s-1970s, but does not currently have a Nuclear Engineering department. While other campuses offer some nuclear medicine courses, no UPR campus offers other nuclear science, nuclear engineering, or nuclear technology courses. The development of a Nuclear Engineering Curricular Sequence in the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez in one of the primary projects of the ANS UPRM and its known as the INNU for its acronym in Spanish, Ingeniería Nuclear. The proposed courses for the INNU curricular sequence cover seven areas: introduction to nuclear science and engineering, radiological safety and radioactive waste management, nuclear power plant engineering, nuclear power plant simulator, materials and heat transfer applications in nuclear reactor systems, reliability and safety analysis, and introduction to the analysis and design of nuclear plant structures. To support its proposal for a nuclear engineering minor, the student section is working to obtain a reactor simulator from NuScale Power. While the effort to implement a nuclear engineering minor and curriculum is gaining traction among UPRM faculty and students, graduates from the university are already having an impact in the nuclear industry.

K-12 Nuclear School Visitation Program

The K-12 Nuclear Outreach Committee currently leads our K-12 School Visitation Program. The program consists in offering children in elementary, middle, and high school an interactive workshop where they can acquire a basic knowledge and understanding of Nuclear Sciences. This project is partially funded by the Nuclear Engineering Education for the Disadvantaged (NEED) Grant. As of April 2022, 238 K-12 students, in 6 different groups, across two different schools have been impacted. Two schools were impacted. The purpose for this program is to educate children about the exciting field of Nuclear Sciences and Engineering, and to eliminate the negative stigma we have found to exist at a very early age. Our program is prepared to manage children in any of three categories: Kinder to Fifth grade, Sixth to Ninth grade, and Tenth to Twelfth grade. 

For each group, volunteers from the committee prepare an age appropriate workshop consisting of a presentation in the school’s language of preference, audiovisual resources, interactive activities, and a hands-on experiment to engage with them. Each activity is adjusted to the amount of students in each group and any allergies of any volunteer or child. Each presentation and experiment is followed by either a Trivia or a comprehension worksheet to review learned concepts from the lesson.

Teachers are encouraged to participate in each activity. Volunteers from the group’s Professional Development and Nuclear Outreach Committee present interactive workshops in which K-12 students can perform hands-on experiments and obtain basic knowledge about nuclear sciences. Through this program, which is partially funded by Nuclear Engineering Education for the Disadvantaged funds provided by the Diversity and Inclusion in ANS Committee, 238 K-12 students in Puerto Rico have been reached as of April 2022.