People - The Spark of the Divine

My collaborators and my students that make all research possible. This is a non-updated list.

Prof. Jessika Rojas

Dr. Rojas started working with me studying hydrogen as an alternative source of energy (a project funded by the U of Missouri Research Board). During her masters, she worked on the synthesis and deposition of palladium nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes using gamma irradiation for hydrogen storage purposes, and also in the synthesis of nickel nanoparticles. The results have been presented in several conferences, TMS, MS&T, MO Nanofrontiers. Additionally, we wrote a chapter for the book Radiation Synthesis of Materials and Compounds, Taylor & Francis Group. This area opened to her several options of research using radiation chemistry for the synthesis of some other type of nanoparticles with medical applications (Au, Re, Y). For her Ph.D., she focused on the synthesis of radioactive nanoparticles for cancer imaging and treatment using the same approach. Gamma radiation has the advantage of simple physicochemical conditions that lead to homogeneous reduction and nucleation of the metallic nanoparticles. She did an internship in ORNL to develop and characterize new radioactive nanoparticles for cancer treatment, and is currently a faculty at the Nuclear Engineering Department of the Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Chrystian Posada

I can see changes are coming on the horizon. For the last several years I have been climbing this mountain called "PhD". My way up to the top has been an enriching experience, with many journeys along the way, but the summit is soon approaching. My PhD work on the design of a novel Field Emitter Array (FEA) to be used as electron source in a Flat Panel X-ray source is about to be completed. I am currently finishing the fabrication of a second generation FEA in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory. Once this work is complete we will be the first research team in the world to have designed and fabricated a double gated planarized ultrananocrystalline diamond film (UNCD) based field emitter array. Exciting! In summary, it has been a year to tie up loose ends. So, if everything goes to plan, this should be my last update to you. By the way, now that I am close to the summit I hope I do not slip and fall once I get there, and if I do, I hope my parachute works. Chrystian is now a Postdoc at Argonne Nat Lab. He was in Antartica installing the ICE Cube Neutrino Detector.

Dr. Ahmed Haidyrah

Ahmed is a sponsored student from King Abdul-Aziz University for Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. He is pursuing a PhD at the Nuclear Engineering Program. His current research is to evaluate the suitably of a bending fatigue technique. This technique is used to determine the capability of the nuclear material to resist cracks and other mechanical failures due to repeated use and strains. Because of limited space in nuclear test reactors (such as ATR) to irradiate full size fatigue specimens in sufficient quantities. The mini-specimens of special shapes are called "Krouse specimens". We plan to use Stainless steel 304L, 316L, HT-9 and oxide dispersion strengthen (ODS) steels address irradiation issues in nuclear materials. A new bending fatigue machine was created for mini-specimens to study the fatigue by repeatedly bending the specimens slightly until they fail. We have tested stainless steel 304L to test the technique and have also used ABAQUS to determine the maximum stress for a given deflection.

Prof. Catherine Johnson

Dr. Johnson is a professor Mining and Explosives at S&T. We are in the same department in different programs. Dr. Johnson and I are collaborating on the development of a "nuclear bar code" which is basically microscopic addition of rare earths to sensitive materials (explosives, special material) such that even after catastrophic events or interdictions the material can be attributed.

Prof. Henry Colorado

Dr. Colorado is a professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials at the University of Antioquia (Colombia). Our cooperation extend many years on ceramic materials for structural and shielding applications that can resist fire and shock conditions possibly to be encountered in transportation of nuclear material accidents. We have also published a book chapter on the application of chemically bonded phosphate ceramics for nuclear waste applications, and have co-advised several students.

Dr. Ahlam Abdulghani

As a research Iraqi fellow visitor in USA I enjoyed working in the Nuclear Engineering Department at Missouri University S&T for the period of June 6th to October 20th with Dr. Castano, Jessika and Vivek on the production of nickel, vanadium, and platinum nanoparticles supported by carbon nanotubes. We irradiated solutions containing nanotubes, palladium, vanadium, and nickel salts with a 60Co gamma source in the University of Illinois. We plan to use these nanoparticles in hydrogen storage and nanofluid applications. I presented this work in the poster session of MS&T 2011 conference in Columbus, Ohio on October 2011. I had the chance also to present a lecture about different chemical and physical methods for the reduction of metal ions to produce nanoparticles. We are writing a paper on the production of nickel nanoparticles deposited on multi-walled carbon nanotubes by gamma radiation, which is a new area of research. Working on this project gave me a chance to join radiation safety training courses and to learn different characterization techniques, such as STEM, TEM, and XPS. This experience has encouraged me to create a postgraduate research program in my department to use gamma rays to enhance other chemical reactions in applied science.

Maria Camila Garcia

Maria Camila obtained her MS degree by making radioactive nanoparticles with suitable characteristics to be used in cancer diagnosis and treatment. The synthesis process was conducted by irradiating with gamma and neutron at the same time. This technique has the advantage of producing well-characterized radioactive nanoparticles in a single step reducing the complexity and cost of producing specialty drugs for cancer treatment. This study included metallic and bimetallic nanoparticles. Maria Camila has since moved to pursue her PhD degree.

James Seman

James is pursuing his PhD in explosives engineering and is conducting research with Dr. Johnson and I. He is actively testing the concept of the nuclear bar code and is exploring the interfering of contaminants as well as detection limits as part of the implementation of the concept.

Lewis Rauschelbach

Lewis is a GAANN Fellow. GAANN is the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need is a program that assist graduate students with excellent academic records and projects useful for the US. We are demonstrating the concept of reducing CO2 using nuclear radiation. This is the equivalent of converting nuclear energy directly to chemical energy.

Jenna Slocum

Jenna helped as an undergraduate with our research on radioactive nanoparticles and presented our work at the Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol. She is currently Undergraduate Research Ambassador representing S&T in Jefferson City. She is interested in continuing the work with radioactive nanoparticles in-vivo systems (mice), and becoming an Academic Senator. I am looking forward to her continuing work in our group.

Raul Florez

Raul obtained his MS degree under Dr Alajo and my supervision by measuring the nuclear properties of specially prepared cementitious samples incorporated with special high Z materials (for gamma absorption) as well as high neutron cross section materials (for neutron capture). Raul is continuing pursuing his PhD degree with Dr Joseph Graham.

Hazim H. Abdulkadhum

Hazim is a PhD student from the Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering at Baghdad University, in Baghdad-Iraq. He has extensive experience with mechanical systems. He has finished repairing, reprograming, and testing Dr. Castano's friction stir welding machine. Thanks to his excellent work, we plan to test the friction stir welding properties of ferritic-martensitic as well as ODS steels of interest to the nuclear industry. Initial samples have already been welded in Brazil with our collaborators there. At present, we are trying to find funding to continue this initiative.

Dan Watson

Dan has been working for Dr. Castaño for two years in Corrosion of Nuclear Materials (creating a learning module for NE341: Nuclear Materials funded by the NRC). We designed a new set of lab practices that will help future nuclear engineers understand the importance of corrosion. Corrosion is of major importance to nuclear engineers, as we need our materials to maintain their properties within safety margins. Dan is planning to graduate in December 2014 and hopefully he will join our group as our newest graduate student.

Chandler Mills

Chandler just graduated nuclear engineering program at S & T. He was involved in corrosion research and creation of practices for the corrosion module for NE-341. While he continue to pursue other initiatives, we expect he will join us as a graduate student at Missouri S&T in the near future.

Steven Wessels

Steven is doing some preliminary research on the properties of zirconium diboride (ultra high temperature ceramic) under irradiation. Missouri S&T is a leader in the research of ZrB2 and very little information is known on this promising ceramic that could compete with SiC as a future material for advanced nuclear reactors both fission and fusion. Steven plans to remain at Missouri S&T for graduate school.

Monica Gehrig

Monica was a sophomore in the nuclear engineering program at S&T, when she has started doing research about plasma under the advisory of Dr. Castano and Dr. Rovey. Over the course of the year, she worked developing practices that can be used for a plasma lab that will be available to S&T students in the future. Monica is now a graduate student and a GAANN fellow working under Prof. Mueller.

Eric Carlson

Eric has been working for Dr. Liu and I, analyzing the synergetic health effects of radon and electronic cigarette vapor. As the advent of electronic cigarettes is fairly recent, much research is yet to be conducted on its health effects. A well established phenomenon involving classical cigarette smoke is that radon gas can become electrostatically bonded to the smoke particulates, leading to a significant increase of lung cancer. We seek to determine whether or not this phenomenon also occurs with droplets from electronic cigarettes. Eric plans to continue his education at Missouri S&T for graduate school.

Mohammed Alsubhi

I'm a graduate student. I work at King Abulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACS) as a nuclear researcher. They sent me to Argentina (San Carlos de Bariloche) to study at the Balseiro Institute for Nuclear Research and also for training at the INVAP Company (Nuclear Company in Argentina) for 16 months. Dr. Castano has been my advisor since I started the master degree program. I like it here since he is very encouraging and helpful. My topic is investigating the Power Uprating of the of the Missouri S&T Research Reactor from 200 KW to 1 MW.

Ian McGhee

I went on Co-op my second semester of my junior year in NE, so I was unable to work on the NRC corrosion project as much as my fellow colleagues, however, Daniel Watson and I worked on testing and writing up an iron nail corrosion lab for NE materials students. We used a 1M Copper (II) Chloride solution in the testing of corrosion in the iron nails. Basically we quantitatively measured the mass difference that occurred through corrosion and wrote up a procedure and questions reflecting that experiment.

Steven Anderson

I am a senior in nuclear engineering at MS&T. I have been working with Dr. Castano since May of 2013. We have been working on an expirement that involves neutron capture by Bismuth-209 for the production of Polonium-210. The polonium-210 will then be chemically seperated using solvent extraction processes. Once the polonium-210 has been seperated, alpha spectrometry will be done to verify the produced polonium. Our goal is to stay well within the NRC exempt activity of Polonium-210. My job is to write a set of procedures that we can use in the future to actually carry out the expirement. This involves calculating activites of different isotopes in the relevant decay chain. Hopefully the research we have done will continue to be built upon in the future by the younger classes of nuclears engineers.

Rob Zedric

I'm a junior from Decatur, IL. Apart from classes, I keep myself busy on the Rolla Rural Fire Department, where I'm a firefighter and an EMT. In my free time, I enjoy shooting guns, snowboarding, and building electronics. Though I came to Rolla for mining, I switched to nuclear engineering when I realized I didn't like rocks. I wanted something more energetic and challenging, and I hoped to find it in this rare field. Soon after I met Dr. Castano in his Intro to Nuclear class, he told me he was founding a nuclear laboratory on campus and wanted student workers to help. I thought it would be a great opportunity to get involved in research, so I signed up. Right away, he gave me experiments to work on and a laboratory to work in. I am currently evaluating a technique to measure radium concentrations in ground water, but will soon move on to designing a nuclear bar code to tag explosives (nuclear forensics).

Blake Bohn

I'm from jackson Missouri, I transfered in form a small college to S&T for nuclear engineering. Normaly I spend most of my time in rolla doing homework or research. It can get very busy but I like learning about nuclear technology so it's very enjoyable. In my free time I like to shoot firearms, go caving, float down rivers, hiking, and collecting common radioactive materials/isotopes. My first nuclear class at Missouri S&T was NE105. That's where I meet Dr. Castano. He was looking for research assistants for a radiochemistry initiative. I did not have much experience and knew I needed to learn more so I volunteered. I found out later that I would be helping set up a radiochemistry and nuclear forensics lab. I found out that we would need an alpha spectrometer. Dr. Usman's lab had an alpha spectrometer and I spent most of my time calibrating and setting up the equipment.

Adam Stensland

I am a senior in the Nuclear Engineering department from Edwardsville, IL. Dr Castano is my advisor and I have been helping out with the Oxide Dispersion Strengthened (ODS) Steel project. I began working last summer (2011). During the summer I was working at Argonne National Laboratory as a student intern. I am ready to begin my work on campus again this fall. We now have more equipment and materials, so the project is progressing well.

Brian Seawright

I am a Nuclear Engineering senior from Chesterton, Indiana. I have been a part of the Nuclear Engineering since my freshman year. Dr. Castano has been my academic advisor for the past two years. And I have recently started assisting Dr. Castano with his Oxide Dispersion Strengthened (ODS) Steel project. In creation of shaping the fatigue test specimens, I have been repairing a temporary down friction stir welding (FSW) machine. The machines will give us more accurate fatigue test of the different materials.

Brad Richardson

Brad is very close to completing his MS degree. His benchmarking of the MCNP simulation model of MSTR has been very interesting and has produced two papers currently in the submission process to the peer-review literature. This work will be continued and we expect can eventually be used to increase the power rating of MSTR.

Jason Pleitt

I'm a new graduate student from Warrenville, IL. I recently graduated from the nuclear program here at MS&T this past spring before entering the graduate program. I had met Dr. Castano as his first undergraduate advisee back in 2008. I am currently working on measuring linear attenuation coefficients at different energies for a special ceramic/cement for shielding purposes. I've developed the basic design for the measurement and am working on making sure that the values can be accurately determined at several energies. I look forward to working more on this project in the coming year including neutron attenuation measurements.

Vivek Rao

I received my Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Vishveswaraya Technological University, Bangalore, India in 2010 and I joined Dr. Castano in early 2011 to work on hydrogen storage in carbon nanotubes decorated with metallic nanoparticles, in which my colleague Jessika has made commendable progress. We are also collaborating with Dr. Tsai (Mechanical Engineering) who is a pioneer in laser manufacturing processes. Our goal is to synthesize metallic nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes by laser ablation of metal salts. An evaluation of deposition schemes between gamma irradiation and laser ablation is a vital focus of our research. An auxiliary project is to evaluate the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles to produce nano-fluids. Nano-fluids are of interest because they have massive heat and mass transfer properties due to their enormous specific area/volume characteristics, which have applications in nuclear and chemical engineering industries.

Alberto Gomez

I'm a junior from Lenexa, Kansas, and I'm studying Nuclear Engineering at MST. I met Dr. Castano in NE 105, where he was looking for undergraduates to assist in research. I was interested in learning more and gaining experience, so I inquired about the position. I found out that I would be learning about the electrochemical side of Nuclear Engineering, studying such things as the corrosion of parts in a nuclear power plant. I have recently ordered samples of metals typically used in power plants and will soon be testing the effects of corrosion on these metals. In my free time I enjoy playing guitar, seeing live music, playing video games, and watching TV shows and movies.

Adam Stensland

I am a Junior in the Nuclear Engineering department from Edwardsville, Il. Dr. Castano is my advisor, which allowed me to inquire about research positions. I have been helping out with the Oxide Dispersion Strengthed (ODS) Steel project. ODS are alloys that have nanoparticles incorporated in their structure, giving them particularly resilience to radiation damage. While we wait for a decision from the funding bodies, I have been keeping busy by doing bibliography research and learning how to use the finite element simulation program Abaqus to study deformation and fatigue of specially shaped specimens (Krouse).

Andrew Mills

I'm a Junior at S&T. I'm eager to learn about all parts of the Nuclear Engineering field, which led me to Dr. Castano. When he offered in NE-105 a chance to do some undergrad research in the electrochemical field of Nuclear Engineering I couldn't say no, as this would be a great opportunity to expand my knowledge. If I'm not in the lab or doing homework I enjoy running, working out, ultimate Frisbee, playing video games with friends, napping, and anything else to refresh my mind from the trials and tribulations of a Missouri S&T undergrad.

Matt Korte

I am a first year graduate student from Saint Joseph, MO who became interested in nuclear energy for its economic and strategic potential. This Summer, I investigated the possibility of combining tritium and ultracapacitors to make high energy density batteries. I'm currently working with Blake Bohn and Rob Zedric to develop radiochemistry experiments.