Two events sponsored by the Young Members Group (YMG) bookend the American Nuclear Society's Winter Meeting, and are traditional highlights for many ANS members. Now that details for participating have been announced, you may find that attending these opportunities are well worth extending your trip-but you'll have to be prepared!
The needs of the young generation were discussed at length at this year's ANS Annual Meeting. Conversations took place at the Young Members Group meeting, student events, and most notably, the "Young Blood-Integration and Retention of the Next Generation" panel sponsored by the ANS Operations and Power Division (OPD), organized by Gale Hauck. This panel included nearly a dozen young members in academia, the U.S. national laboratories, and the private sector who shared a number of their unique experiences and needs as new faces in the nuclear field.
Do you remember your first time ever attending an American Nuclear Society meeting? Are you about to attend your first one ever? Experienced that feeling of euphoria and excitement, and then when you opened up the meeting program for the first time, a sudden overwhelming feeling of, "Hey, what do I do now?"
Mark your calendar to attend the Young Professionals Congress sessions this November in Washington, DC!
Groups such as the ANS Young Members Group and the North American Young Generation in Nuclear, which empower a new generation of nuclear students and professionals, were recently joined by a small new sister organization, the WMS Next Generation Leadership Committee. The new organization was born during an informal meeting in February between organization leaders and young participants at the Waste Management Conference (presented by Waste Management Symposia [WMS] in Phoenix, Arizona).
Recently I had the honor of joining the "Rising Stars in Nuclear Science and Engineering Symposium" at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was a unique symposium, inviting a dozen Ph.D. candidates and early postdoctoral fellows to showcase their research, and to engage in rich discussions of early career strategies and challenges with exceptional researchers in the field.
The American Nuclear Society's Young Members Group (YMG) has announced the recipients of the 2012 ANS Young Members Advancement Award and the ANS Young Members Excellence Award.
Gale Hauck, engineering project manager at Westinghouse Electric Company, is the new chair of the American Nuclear Society's Young Members Group (YMG). YMG Secretary Elia Merzari caught up with her and asked her to introduce herself, as well as her plans for the YMG.
Attention ANS Young Members:
Ready for the next leap in your career? Who doesn't like extra letters after their name? Well then, why not get a Professional Engineer license?
One of the missions of the American Nuclear Society's Young Members Group is to promote participation of young members in the activities of the society. Boosting the involvement of young members in the technical programs of the society's professional divisions is an important goal in this effort.
Do you know someone who has worked tirelessly toward integrating young members into the American Nuclear Society? Do you know someone in the ANS Young Members Group who has demonstrated continued overall excellence in many areas? Now is your chance to nominate that person for national recognition of their efforts.
Every member of the nuclear industry has a responsibility to focus on his or her own career development as a component of continuous improvement. While this is good advice, young professionals often struggle with how to identify these development opportunities. The question of how to overcome this challenge spirited discussion at the 2011 Young Professionals Conference.
During the American Nuclear Society's 2011 Winter Meeting in November, about 90 ANS members visited lawmakers to promote nuclear energy and technology as part of the ANS/Young Professionals Congress visit to Capitol Hill. As a student at Purdue University, which is located in Indiana, I met with legislative assistants from the offices of Indiana senators Richard Lugar (R.) and Dan Coats (R.) and Congressman Todd Rokita (R.).
One of the most exciting and important events at the American Nuclear Society's Winter Meeting in Washington, DC, this year was the "Capitol Hill Day" visit held on November 4. This event allowed society members the opportunity to go to Capitol Hill to meet with congress persons and staffs, and to offer unique expertise as the world's foremost experts in nuclear technologies.
Snow day
Your reporter has been tramping around chilly Washington, DC, beset by an unseasonable early snow storm on Saturday. At the American Nuclear Society Winter Meeting, aptly named this year, I'm collecting observations, rumors, and raw random data, throwing out the rumors and keeping the rest to post here. This will be a daily feature through Wednesday of this week.
We are just a few days away from the 2011 Young Professionals Congress, taking place during the ANS Winter Meeting next week in Washington, DC. We have many exciting and informative sessions scheduled for the meeting-informational sessions on important current topics, workshops, and interactive skills sessions (to find out more, see Nuclear Cafe posts 9-21 and 8-30).
The 2011 Young Professionals Congress (YPC 2011) is coming, and the time to register is now! YPC 2011 is an embedded topical of the American Nuclear Society Winter Meeting in Washington, DC, October 30-November 3, 2011. YPC2011 is the fourth YPC, and the second to be held as an embedded topical in parallel with the ANS Winter Meeting.
It's time to make plans to attend the American Nuclear Society's 2011 Winter Meeting and Nuclear Technology Expo, this year held in Washington, DC, on October 30-November 3 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.