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Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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The human factor in licensing and operating the next generation of nuclear plants
As human factors specialists working at the intersection of human performance and nuclear operations, we are witnessing one of the nuclear sector’s most significant transitions in decades. The emergence of small modular reactors, microreactors, and other advanced designs is reshaping the industry’s landscape. Digital instrumentation and controls, passive safety systems, and increased automation are creating opportunities for greater safety margins and more flexible operation. These same features also fundamentally redefine what it means to “operate” a nuclear plant. Interactions among human roles, automation, and passive systems shape how people maintain awareness, exercise judgment, and intervene when necessary. These developments affect both operational realities and the regulatory foundations on which nuclear safety is built.
2025 ANS Annual Conference
Lisa is the President of the American Nuclear Society and has been an active member, with leadership roles, since 2005.
With over 20 years of engineering education experience spanning pre-college to graduate studies, Marshall is the inaugural Director of Outreach, Retention and Engagement (starting in 2001), and the inaugural Assistant Extension Professor (starting in 2023) at North Carolina State University Department of Nuclear Engineering.
Marshall is co-principal investigator or education outreach director on several U.S. Department of Energy-funded consortia. Lisa teaches in the First-Year Engineering Program, co-directs the Study Abroad Program in Engineering and Social Sciences, and serves on the Working Council for the Women in Science and Engineering Program. She is the past chair of both the Association of Women Faculty and the Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee for the American Association of Geographers.
Lisa is a member of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Council of Advisers, NEA High-Level Group on Improving the Gender Balance in the Nuclear Sector, chairs the NEA Global Forum Working Group on Building a Pipeline of STEM Professionals, sits on the Task Force on Achieving Inclusivity and the Working Group on ‘Rethinking the Relationship between Nuclear Energy and the Society’.
Degrees held include a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, master’s degree specializing in (nuclear) energy geography, graduate certificates in geography information systems, and engineering education. She is near completion of her doctoral degree in higher education specializing in equity-centered engineering. Lisa lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband Dr. John Bedward. She loves Pilates, everything science fiction, and traveling.
Last modified February 25, 2025, 2:25pm CST