Congratulations to Drs. Djamel Kaoumi, Katharina Stapelmann, and Ge Yang on their promotions.

Dr. Djamel Kaoumi is now a full professor of nuclear engineering. Kaoumi’s research revolves around materials for extreme environments such as nuclear reactors. He is interested in developing a mechanistic understanding of microstructure property relationships in nuclear materials, with an emphasis on microstructure evolution under harsh environments (i.e. irradiation, high temperature, and mechanical stress) and how it can impact the macroscopic properties and performance. Kaoumi is currently leading the NC State University (NCSU) contribution to the Nuclear Science & Security Consortium 3.0 funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NSSA) and to the Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) led by Los Alamos National Laboratory called Fundamental Understanding of Transport Under Reactor Extremes 2.0 funded by DOE Basic Energy Sciences (BES) to study the synergistic effects of irradiation and corrosion on metals; he is also currently leading a multi-institutional project on alloy development for Molten Salt nuclear Reactors involving UK and South Korean scientists.

Dr. Katharina Stapelmann is now an associate professor of nuclear engineering. Stapelmann studies the interactions of technical plasmas with biological systems on a macromolecular level. Her focus is on the characterization and optimization of plasma discharges used for biomedical applications and the understanding and improvement of plasmas used, for example, in medicine and agriculture. The applications range from wound healing to cancer treatment, nitrogen fixation from air, and water cleaning. Furthermore, plasma-liquid interactions and plasma discharges in liquids belong to the repertoire. In one of the first NIH R01 addressing plasma-assisted wound healing, she is leading an interdisciplinary multi-institutional team to develop sensor-based plasma endpoint detection. She is also leading one of the four NCSU’s GRIP4PSI programs where she and her team are developing the “Fertilizer of the Future” (https://cals.ncsu.edu/news/fertilizer-of-the-future/).

Dr. Ge Yang is now a full professor of nuclear engineering. Yang’s research revolves around the opportunities at the intersection of nuclear engineering, materials science and engineering and electrical engineering. Special emphasis is placed on developing new materials and devices for improving radiation detection and imaging technologies, which are widely needed in medical imaging, nonproliferation, nuclear security, industrial process monitoring, environmental safety survey and remediation, astronomical observation instrumentation and high energy physics R&D. Dr. Yang is also interested in investigating radiation effects in electronic, optical and structural materials and developing radiation-resistant materials. All of these topics are investigated using both theory and experimental techniques.