Lawrence E. Hochreiter Graduate Scholarship

The ANS Thermal Hydraulics Division established the Lawrence E. Hochreiter Graduate Scholarship in November 2018 for graduate students enrolled in a U.S. institution pursuing a Master's or a Ph.D. with the main focus on thermal-hydraulics as applied to nuclear energy.

One scholarship will be awarded to a graduate nuclear science/engineering major, with the desired emphasis on areas supporting thermal-hydraulics as applied to nuclear energy. These areas include, but are not limited to computational thermal-hydraulics, experimental thermal-hydraulics, two-phase flow and heat transfer, thermal-hydraulics of severe accidents, thermal-hydraulics of operating light water reactors, and thermal-hydraulics of advanced reactors.

Lawrence E. Hochreiter

Dr. Lawrence E. Hochreiter was employed at Westinghouse during the formative years of nuclear safety and later as a professor and mentor at Penn State University. At Westinghouse, he led the evaluation of safety issues for both Pressurized and Boiling Water Reactors and consulted with the Westinghouse Savannah River Company and the Westinghouse Naval Division. His collaboration partners included the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Electric Power Research Institute, Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory and many companies in the industry. He served in a direct role in nuclear industry’s more significant events, including the nuclear industry’s response to the 1972-1973 Emergency Core Cooling System Hearing, the 1979 Three Mile Island accident and the 1986 Chernobyl accident. In 1986, as an adjunct professor, Hochreiter began teaching graduate courses in the Penn State/Westinghouse mechanical engineering program. He joined Penn State's nuclear engineering department in 1997 as a professor of nuclear and mechanical engineering, teaching undergraduate and graduate students.

His research at the university focused on thermal-hydraulic modeling of nuclear power plants, reactor safety analysis, and experimental studies of two-phase flow and heat transfer. He created a state-of-the-art reflood heat transfer facility where Penn State graduate students carry out a variety of experiments in heat transfer, convective steam cooling, and steam cooling with droplet injection. Hochreiter received posthumously the Technical achievement award, the highest honor of THD, in 2008. Always a passionate teacher and mentor, he inspired a generation of THD leaders. As THD chair he spearheaded efforts that ultimately led to the establishment of this scholarship.