K-State previously offered the degree beginning in 1952, but it ended in 1996 when the nuclear engineering and mechanical engineering departments merged. The bachelor's degree program was discontinued due to a nationwide decline in perceived demand for nuclear engineers. Since then, nuclear engineering has been offered as what the university calls a “subplan” of the mechanical engineering curriculum.
Complete offering: Once the fall semester begins, K-State will again offer nuclear engineering degrees at all levels: bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate. In addition, K-State has available the TRIGA Mark II Nuclear Reactor Facility, one of 25 university research reactors in the United States and the only such facility in Kansas.
"We've seen substantial increases in the number of students interested in pursuing our nuclear engineering option within the mechanical engineering bachelor's degree program," said Amir Bahadori, nuclear engineering program director and associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering. “K-State already has nuclear-option graduates working for highly visible entities, such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and Evergy, as well as many of the country's top national laboratories. Adding this undergraduate degree will further strengthen K-State as a regional leader in this field.”
Bahadori will lead the program with teaching and research support from Ronnie C. Brockhoff, teaching assistant professor; Anna Iskhakova, research assistant professor; Arsen Iskhakov, assistant professor; Douglas McGregor, university distinguished professor; Walter McNeil, associate professor; and Jeremy A. Roberts, associate professor.
Accreditation: The College of Engineering will seek accreditation from the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET for the nuclear engineering program after its first graduates have completed their degrees, which is the standard ABET process for accreditation of new programs.
“Adding this degree is a great way to leverage our existing resources to attract more students to the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering,” said Matt O’Keefe, dean of engineering and LeRoy C. and Aileen H. Paslay chair in engineering at K-State. “This will allow more of our students to study this field, which we anticipate will continue to see growth at a steady pace as jobs are created in the commercial power, government, defense, and health sectors of the economy.”
