Charles Hirst named Steven J. and Teresa M. Zinkle Nuclear Materials Assistant Professor

The College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has appointed Charles Hirst as the Steven J. and Teresa M. Zinkle Nuclear Materials Assistant Professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics. 

Hirst’s research investigates nuclear materials for both fission and fusion power systems, exploring the interplay between radiation damage, stored energy, temperature, and stress to determine how materials will behave in irradiation environments. 

As the Assistant Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Ion Beam Laboratory (IBL), Hirst is leading the development of several in situ ion irradiation experiments analyzed through a combination of existing and novel characterization methods, as well as atomistic simulations, to determine the mechanisms behind defect evolution and recovery in nuclear materials. 

This knowledge will impact the operation and maintenance of current nuclear plants, and will provide the foundation for the development of more resilient materials for the next generation of fission and fusion reactors.

Steven Zinkle, an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, sponsored the professorship to advance nuclear materials research. Currently the Governor’s Chair Professor for Nuclear Materials at the University of Tennessee Knoxville with a joint appointment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Zinkle received his PhD in Nuclear Engineering from UW–Madison in 1985.