Building momentum for a stronger ANS

This year’s Winter Conference will be the first to move the awards ceremony from the start of the opening plenary to later in the session, allowing the plenary to set a bold tone for the conference while also giving space to properly honor our members’ achievements.

I hope these simple changes, along with working early to invite top speakers, will secure a high-impact Winter Conference under the theme “Build!”—a call to action for innovation, collaboration, and progress.

Another goal of mine is to grow the influence and audience of Nuclear News. For this, I need the membership’s support. We need your participation to help set the tone of the magazine and push engagement with the wider community so NN can tell your stories.

To best fulfill my vision for ANS over the next year, I want to strategically strengthen ANS’s voice both domestically and internationally. It is important to maintain support in Washington with the current administration, but the Society has a lot of potential abroad to expand our footprint and foster deeper global collaboration.

To help accomplish these goals, I will attend three conferences on behalf of ANS over the next quarter. I plan to attend events only where I can make a difference for the Society and our members. First, I will participate in the Nuclear Opportunities Workshop in my town of Knoxville, Tenn., where I will serve on a panel called “Unleashing Tennessee’s Nuclear Future.”

Next, I will go to the Nuclear Energy Conference and Expo (NECX 2025) in Atlanta, Ga., which is being jointly hosted by ANS and the Nuclear Energy Institute.

Finally, ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy and I will next go to the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, where we will take turns filling the ANS seat during the conference and attend events to spread awareness and garner benefits for the Society.