ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
Meeting Spotlight
2023 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 12–15, 2023
Washington, D.C.|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 2023
Jan 2023
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2023
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Environmental regulator gives nod to plans for first Polish nuclear plant
Poland’s General Directorate for Environmental Protection (GDOŚ) has given its imprimatur to the Central European nation’s plan to build and operate its first nuclear power facility, state-owned utility Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe announced last Friday.
PEJ, which submitted its environmental impact report for the proposed project to GDOŚ in March 2022, called the decision “a key permit obtained in the investment process, because subsequent administrative approvals, including the decision to determine the location of the investment and the building permit, must comply with the arrangements and conditions contained in the decision on environmental conditions.”
Utilizing the Nuclear Engineering Education for the Disadvantage (NEED) funds, the Diversity and Inclusion in ANS (DIA) Committee administers the George A. Ferguson Motivational Grants. Grants are awarded to individuals and institutions who wish to expand their STEM curriculum by introducing nuclear science and technology to Kindergarten through High School students. The grants are available to individuals (including K-12 teachers, nuclear professionals, and other volunteers) and educational institutions that provide inclusive services to students from geographic, cultural and socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds in the United States (and its territories). Priority is given to ANS members and ANS local and student sections.
View Recipients
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Grant Guidelines
Dr. George Alonzo Ferguson, Jr.
Dr. George Alonzo Ferguson Jr. was a physicist and former director of Howard University's nuclear engineering program. Dr. Ferguson was born in Washington and graduated from Armstrong High School in 1941. He served in the Army during World War II and was stationed in Europe and the Philippines.
He received a bachelor's degree in 1947 and a master's degree the next year, both in physics from Howard. He received his doctorate in physics from Catholic University in 1965. His doctoral research involved the structure determination of hydrogen compounds using the technique of neutron diffraction.
He was chairman of the physics department at Clark College in Atlanta from 1950 to 1953 and a research assistant at the University of Pennsylvania in 1953-54.
He conducted research for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory from 1954 to 1975 and served on the faculty of the Howard's School of Engineering from 1966 to 1986. He was responsible for founding Howard's program in nuclear engineering and served as its director from 1967 to 1986. While serving as a volunteer for the American Nuclear Society, Dr. Ferguson helped establish the NEED Committee in 1969 and embarked on a fundraising campaign to provide scholarships and motivational grants. These efforts have allowed ANS to support underrepresented or disadvantaged students since 1979.
After retiring, he served as an administrative judge with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Diversity and Inclusion in ANS Committee
An applicant may receive one grant per year. The limit for a single grant is $5,000. Recipients must complete the project within 12 months after receiving the grant, and a grant report must be submitted to the ANS DIA Committee within two months after completion of the project.
Grants funds may not be awarded for the same program more than three (3) times.
The following provides guidance on general expectations, timeline, and restrictions on expenditures using NEED funds. The DIA Committee reserves the right to reduce the amount of a grant to an institution if the proposal contains activities that are not aligned with NEED’s mission.
2-5 awarded annually up to $5,000/each
Application Deadline
Review/Evaluation
Funding Awarded
May 1
ANS Annual Meeting (June)
July 1
October 1
ANS Winter Meeting (Oct/Nov)
December 1
Last modified August 29, 2023, 12:21pm CDT