Sukesh Aghara is an Professor, Director - NEET, Director INSSL, Director - Nuclear Engineering in the Chemical Engineering Department at UMass Lowell.

Sukesh Aghara, Ph.D.

Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, Professor, Director - NEET, Director INSSL, Director - Nuclear Engineering

College
Francis College of Engineering
Department
Chemical Engineering
Phone
978-934-3115

Research Interests

Characterization of radiation fields; isotope inventory quantification of nuclear fuel cycles; and detector response characterization for nuclear security and safeguards applications. Radiation shielding analysis for earth and space radiation environments. Applications of nuclear analytical techniques and research reactor.

Applications of nuclear codes (MCNP, MCNPX, PHITS) to model nuclear systems, control and management of nuclear materials (ORIGEN, HELIOS, NJOY). Serves as the Subject Matter Expert to the IAEA and U.S. Department of State on threat assessment of cyber and physical security vulnerability to nuclear and radiological material and facilities. He contributes to nuclear security topics on - insider threat, detection of radiological materials outside of regulatory control, nuclear forensics, nuclear materials and accountancy.

Education

  • Ph D: Mechanical Engineering, (2003), University of Texas at Austin - Austin, TX
  • MS: Mechanical Engineering, (2001), University of Texas at Austin - Austin, TX
    Supporting Area: Nuclear and Radiation Engineering
  • MS: Environmental Engineering, (1999), Vanderbilt University - Nashville, TN
  • BA: Environmental Engineering, (1996), College of Engineering

Biosketch

Prof. Aghara is the Director of the Nuclear Engineering program and the Integrated Nuclear Security and Safeguards Laboratory at UMass Lowell. He is Nuclear Security Fellow with Center for Terrorism and Security Studies (CTSS).

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Best Presentation and Paper Award, Scholarship/Research - American Nuclear Society and European Nuclear Society International Meeting
  • Outstanding Achievement in Teaching Award, Teaching - Center for Teaching Effectiveness, U. T. Austin.
  • Outstanding Research of the Year Award, Scholarship/Research - Roy G. Perry College of Engineering
  • Outstanding Undergraduate Student Paper, Leadership - HPS Texas Regional Conference
  • President Of American Nuclear Society (ANS) UT chapter, Leadership - American Nuclear Society
  • Radiation Damage research, San Diego, CA, Scholarship/Research - Nuclear News
  • Visiting scientist at NASA Langley Research Center, Service, Professional - Radiation Transport Group
  • Visiting scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Scholarship/Research - Nuclear Science and Technology Division (NSTD)
  • NASA Administrator's Fellow (Cohort 11) (2014), Leadership - NASA

Selected Publications

  • Ehlig-Economides, C., Yalvac, B., Binks-Cantrell, E., Pisupati, S., Gilman, D., Toossi, R., Aghara, S., Robinson, T., Smith, D., Ayar, M. (2014). Live energy: US faculty co-author an electronic textbook to deliver the most up-to-date and relevant content in energy and sustainability. ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
  • Sriprisan, S., Aghara, S., Singleterry, R. (2013). Analysis of Monte Carlo transport code - PHITS for solar particle events source (109:PART 1 pp. 36-39). Transactions of the American Nuclear Society
  • Grice, J., Aghara, S., Wu, H. (2013). Transport modeling of high-energy neutron transversal through tissue equivalent medium (109:PART 2 pp. 1187-1189). Transactions of the American Nuclear Society
  • Atwell, W., Rojdev, K., Aghara, S., Sriprisan, S. (2013). Mitigating the effects of the space radiation environment: A novel approach of using Graded-Z materials. AIAA SPACE 2013 Conference and Exposition
  • Ehlig-Economides, C., Yalvac, B., Binks-Cantrell, E., Gilman, D., Ayar, M., Robinson, T., Kovscek, A., Toossi, R., Pisupati, S., Aghara, S. (2013). Live energy: An initiative for teaching energy and sustainability topics with the most up-to-date and relevant content. ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
  • Aghara, S. (2012). Development of Undergraduate Research Infrastructure in the Energy Engineering at Prairie View A&M University.
  • Ehlig-Economides, C., Aghara, S. (2012). Live Energy: An Initiative for Teaching Energy and Sustainability Topics with the Most Up-to-Date and Relevant Content.
  • Amarasekara, A.S., Owereh, O.S., Aghara, S. (2009). Synthesis of 4-Acylpyrazolone Schiff Base Ligand Grafted Silica and Selectivity in Absorption of Lanthanides from Aqueous Solutions. Journal of Rare Earths, 27(5) 870-874.
  • Aghara, S., Blattnig, S.R., Norbury, J.W., Singleterry Jr, R.C. (2008). Benchmark Analysis of Pion Contribution From Galactic Cosmic Rays.
  • Aghara, S., Charlton, W. (2006). Characterization and Quantification of an In-Core Neutron Irradiation Facility at a TRIGA II Research Reactor. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 248(1) 181-190.
  • Spratt, J.P., Aghara, S., Fu, B., Lichtenhan, J.D., Leadon, R. (2005). A Conformal Coating for Shielding against Naturally Occurring Thermal Neutrons. Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on, 52(6) 2340-2344.
  • Aghara, S., Beard, C.A. (2002). Feasibility Study of a Proliferation-Resistant Fuel form for Plutonium Recycling. Nuclear Technology, 137(1).

Selected Contracts, Fellowships, Grants and Sponsored Research

  • UMASS Lowell Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Science Scholarship Program (2013), Grant -
    Aghara, S. (Principal)
  • UMASS Lowell Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Science Scholarship Program (2013), Grant -
    Aghara, S. (Principal)
  • Nuclear Engineering Education and Training (NEET) Summer Institute (2013), -
    Aghara, S. (Principal)
  • Nuclear Engineering Education and Training (NEET) Summer Institute (2013), -
    Aghara, S. (Principal)
  • NEET - Nuclear Security (2013), -
    Aghara, S. (Principal)
  • NSF CCLI Phase 2 (2010), Contract - Live Energy
    Aghara, S. (Principal)
  • (2008), Contract - NASA University Research Center/Center for Radiation Engineering and Science for Space Exploration (CRESSE)
    Aghara, S. (Co-Principal)
  • ARI-MA Research Program in Exploiting Time-Correlated Signatures and Directionality of Interrogation to Detect Shielded Highly-Enriched Uranium (2010), Contract - National Science Foundation (NSF)
    Aghara, S. (Co-Principal)
  • NSF Center for Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) (2010), Contract - Center for Energy and Environmental Sustainability, PI/Director
    Aghara, S.
  • NRC Curriculum Development Grant (2010), Grant - Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
    Aghara, S. (Principal)
  • NRC Scholarship Grant (2010), Grant - Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
    Aghara, S. (Co-Principal)
  • NASA Research Contract - Verification and Validation Using Monte Carlo (2008), Contract - NASA
    Aghara, S. (Principal)
  • GNEP Readiness Grant (2007), Grant - U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
    Aghara, S. (Principal)
  • NASA Administrator's Fellow (2007), Fellowship - NASA
    Aghara, S. (Principal)