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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
Latest Magazine Issues
Sep 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
October 2025
Latest News
Empowering the next generation: ANS’s newest book focuses on careers in nuclear energy
A new career guide for the nuclear energy industry is now available: The Nuclear Empowered Workforce by Earnestine Johnson. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience across 16 nuclear facilities, Johnson offers a practical, insightful look into some of the many career paths available in commercial nuclear power. To mark the release, Johnson sat down with Nuclear News for a wide-ranging conversation about her career, her motivation for writing the book, and her advice for the next generation of nuclear professionals.
When Johnson began her career at engineering services company Stone & Webster, she entered a field still reeling from the effects of the Three Mile Island incident in 1979, nearly 15 years earlier. Her hiring cohort was the first group of new engineering graduates the company had brought on since TMI, a reflection of the industry-wide pause in nuclear construction. Her first long-term assignment—at the Millstone site in Waterford, Conn., helping resolve design issues stemming from TMI—marked the beginning of a long and varied career that spanned positions across the country.
Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS-2022) Plenary SPeaker
Manager
Space Nuclear Propulsion project for NASA, located at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC
Dayna Ise is the Manager of the Space Nuclear Propulsion project for NASA, located at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). In this capacity, she manages both the Nuclear Thermal Propulsion and Nuclear Electric Propulsion technology development. Prior to this, she was the Chief of the Systems Development, Integration and Test Division in MSFC Engineering’s Space Systems Department, managing development and production of environmental control and life support systems, Space Station payloads, and instrumentation and design of small science projects. Dayna was the Program Executive of the Technology Demonstration Missions (TDM) program in NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate which represents an effort to mature laboratory-proven projects into flight ready status. TDM projects she managed in the portfolio include enabling technology for Moon-to-Mars exploration, such as in-space manufacturing and assembly, optical communication, electric propulsion, cryo fluid management, Mars In-Situ Resource Utilization, and high altitude decelerators. Before coming to Space Tech, Dayna was the deputy Launch Vehicle manager for the Commercial Crew program where she managed the human certification of two different vehicles for transport to the space station. She was also the deputy chief engineer for the Ares Upper Stage element. She began her career at NASA as a data analyst and modeler for the Space Shuttle Main Engine project. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Last modified April 14, 2022, 12:00pm EDT
