Rob Hayes
Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering, Joint Faculty Appointment with SRNL, Advisory board member of ONE Nuclear

- 919-515-2321
- rbhayes@ncsu.edu
- Burlington Laboratory 2101
- Visit My Website
Dr. Hayes’ thrust areas span nuclear nonproliferation including nuclear assay and retrospective dosimetry. He also finds health physics, nuclear crtiticality safety, burnup, shielding, nuclear waste disposal and novel detection methods of interest, particularly when they relate back to nonproliferation. Dr. Hayes is a Certified Health Physicist and a licensed Professional Engineer (nuclear) with industry and field experience in radiological emergency response, nuclear waste management, nuclear safety, radiation dosimetry, nuclear criticality safety, air monitoring, ALARA and shielding design.

Education
Nuclear Engineering
University of Utah
Physics
University of Utah
Physics
University of Utah
Mathematics
University of Utah
Research Description
Dr. Hayes' research interests include nuclear nonproliferation, radiological emergency response and nuclear waste disposal technologies which are advanced using novel hybrid approaches including radiation detection, air monitoring, luminescence and magnetic resonance coupled with Monte Carlo radiation transport modeling. His research includes luminescence and magnetic resonance techniques on free radicals created from exposure to ionizing radiation in conjunction with air monitoring technologies related to consequence assessment and emergency response. Tying all these together are novel detection methodologies which include HPGe applications for field assay coupled with low resolution detector platforms. Modeling these effects with Monte Carlo radiation transport codes to interpolate and extrapolate from measured values then allows useful predictions tied back to measurement. His background includes many years of industrial experience at a nuclear waste repository and on the federal radiological emergency response teams.
Publications
- Innovative use of novel shielding materials for space electronics
- Hartwell, P., McDonell, S. M., & Hayes, R. B. (2025, December), RADIATION PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY, Vol. 237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2025.113023
- Optimal Additive Dose Distributions for Minimizing Dose Estimate Error in Retrospective and Emergency Dosimetry with Heteroscedastic Effects
- Polk, M. G., & Hayes, R. B. (2025, April 20), NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING. https://doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2025.2480858
- Radiation Hardness Assurance by Redundancy in Raspberry Pi Zero W Computation Metrics via Total Ionizing Dose 60Co Testing for Spacecraft Applications
- Hanson, S. C., & Hayes, R. B. (2025), HEALTH PHYSICS, 128(6), 457–466. https://doi.org/10.1097/HP.0000000000001940
- A preliminary NASA compliant conformal coating for optimized space radiation shielding configurations and its mass attenuation coefficients
- Hanson, S. C., Xiao, Y., Charrette, R., & Hayes, R. B. (2024), PROGRESS IN NUCLEAR ENERGY, 169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnucene.2024.105089
- Demonstrating a Quantitative and Systematic Approach to Reducing Excess Conservativism in Nuclear Criticality Safety Analyses
- Holyk, S. A., & Hayes, R. B. (2024), Nuclear Science and Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2024.2323866
- Optimization of pure elemental and oxide-based shielding materials for cost
- Peete, B., Trainor, S., & Hayes, R. (2024), PROGRESS IN NUCLEAR ENERGY, 177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnucene.2024.105444
- A thermal natural uranium breeder reactor for large and small applications with passive safeguard designs
- Hayes, R. B., & Sawyers, M. J. (2023), PROGRESS IN NUCLEAR ENERGY, 163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnucene.2023.104804
- An Assessment of Heterogeneous Effects on System Reactivity for Criticality Safety Analyses with LEU+ and HALEU Materials
- Sewell, P. H., & Hayes, R. B. (2023), Nuclear Technology, 209(6), 835–856. https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2157662
- Dose Estimation for Extravasation of 177Lu, 99mTc, and 18F
- Tsorxe, I. Y., & Hayes, R. B. (2023), Health Physics, 124(3), 217–220. https://doi.org/10.1097/HP.0000000000001653
- EVALUATION OF EXISTING PUBLIC DOSE LIMITS APPLIED TO RECREATIONAL SPACEFLIGHT
- Long, M. A., & Hayes, R. B. (2023), Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 199(5), 482–489. https://doi.org/10.1093/rpd/ncad037
Grants
- Polymer-Based Conformal Space Radiation Shield with Thermal Management Manufactured by Five-Axis 3D Printing Platform
- US Dept. of Energy (DOE)(8/16/22 - 8/27/25)
- OSL and EPR Measurements by North Carolina State University
- National Nuclear Security Administration(8/30/21 - 7/31/24)
- Measurements of Short-lived Fission Products Yields from Photon-Induces Fission of Special Nuclear Materials
- National Nuclear Security Administration(10/01/18 - 5/31/22)
- Consortium for Nonproliferation Enabling Capabilities
- US Dept. of Energy (DOE)(7/31/14 - 9/30/20)
- Faculty Development Program in Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State University, 2014
- US Nuclear Regulatory Commission(8/01/14 - 7/31/19)