June 20, 2023 Recent grad Claire Griesbach wins first place in fuel cycle technologies from Nuclear Energy University Program Written By: Caitlin Scott Departments: Mechanical Engineering Categories: Alumni|Awards|Students May 2023 graduate Claire Griesbach has received the First Place Open Competition award from the Nuclear Energy University Program’s Innovations in Nuclear Energy Research and Development Student Competition (INSC)! Claire Griesbach Griesbach’s research aims to better understand the failure response of a protective coating in nuclear fuel particles which is designed to contain the harmful effects of radiation. In October 2022, Griesbach received an award from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program to conduct research at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) on tristructural isotropic (TRISO) nuclear fuel particles. The research she conducted at ORNL expands on her work to investigate the irradiation-induced micro- and nano-structural changes in the buffer layer of AGR-2 TRISO particles. Learn more about her research. The journal article for which Griesbach received the INSC award, ‘Microstructural heterogeneity of the buffer layer of TRISO nuclear fuel particles,’ is published in the February 2023 edition of the Journal of Nuclear Materials. Griesbach completed her Engineering Mechanics degree in the lab of Assistant Professor Ramathasan Thevamaran and will be starting a new postdoc position with Prof. Dennis Kochmann at ETH Zurich in September. Congratulations, Claire!