You can now watch a live online stream of Monday colloquiums here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ucbne-colloquia

The group photo from the NSSC Kick-Off meeting on June 10, 2011. There were representatives from 7 collaborating universities, 5 national laboratories and DOE NNSA.

I was extremely happy when our team won in a very strong competition! We put a lot of efforts in preparing the best proposal, and competed agains basically all other Nuclear Engineering Departments in the country, as well as the best Nuclear Physics and Nuclear Chemistry Departments. The SUCCESS PIPELINE  (Seven Universities Coordinating Coursework and Experience from Student to Scientist in a Partnership for Identifying and Preparing Educated Laboratory-Integrated Nuclear Experts) Nuclear Science and Security Consortium (NSSC) includes Michigan State University; the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and Washington University, Saint Louis, as well as four University of California campuses (Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, and San Diego) and UC’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. The UC Berkeley is the lead university in this Consortium. I am the Principal Investigator for the grant, and Prof. James Siegrist (Physics) is the Executive Director of the NSSC.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has awarded $25 million to the University of California, Berkeley, to lead a multi-institution consortium that will support the nation’s nuclear nonproliferation mission through the training and education of experts in the nuclear security field.

On June 9 the NNSA announced the five-year grant to establish the National Science and Security Consortium (NSSC) at its annual Laboratory Directed Research and Development Symposium at the University of California Washington Center in Washington, D.C.

“Investing in the scientific and technical underpinnings of our program is critical to implementing the President’s nuclear security agenda and to preventing nuclear terrorism or nuclear proliferation,” said Anne Harrington, deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation at the NNSA, a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). “As we push the boundaries of science and discovery, partnerships like the National Science and Security Consortium are a vital part of our effort to invest in the future of our programs by building a strong pipeline of new technical talent to our laboratories.”

UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering will mark the establishment of this center tomorrow, June 10, with a kick-off meeting on campus. Officials from the NNSA Office of Proliferation Detection will be on hand.

The consortium, to be led by principal investigator Jasmina Vujic, UC Berkeley professor of nuclear engineering, brings together more than 100 researchers from Michigan State University; UC Davis; UC Irvine; the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) based in San Diego; the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and Washington University in St. Louis.