Per Peterson

Per F. Peterson is Professor and Chair of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. After joining UCB in 1990 as an Assistant Professor he received a NSF Presidential Young Investigator award, and most recently received the Fusion Power Associates Excellence in Fusion Engineering Award and the American Nuclear Society Thermal Hydraulics Division Technical Achievement Award.  His research interests focus on topics in heat and mass transfer, fluid dynamics, and phase change. He has worked on problems in energy and environmental systems, including advanced reactors, inertial fusion energy, high level nuclear waste processing, and nuclear materials management, with over 100 publications on these topics.  His research group currently focuses on high-temperature heat transport for nuclear hydrogen and gas-cycle electricity production with high temperature reactors, and on the applications of liquid salt coolants in advanced nuclear energy systems.  His broader interests in energy and environment focus on nuclear technologies and nuclear materials management, and methods to enhance long-term proliferation resistance and physical security in the nuclear fuel cycle.