Graduate student elected to the American Nuclear Society Board of Directors

NEEP graduate student Julia Marshall was elected to the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Board of Directors along with NEEP alumni Grace Stanke and Sama Bilbao y León. 

A second-year PhD student in The Wright Lab, Marshall conducts fusion-relevant computational research under the guidance of Assistant Professor Adelle Wright. In her new role on the ANS Board, she will help advocate for the interests of student members across the country.

To mark this exciting milestone, Marshall sat down with us to reflect on her first year of graduate school, the experiences that have shaped her journey, and her goals for the future. 

Why did you choose UW–Madison for graduate school?

During my undergrad, I was doing very fundamental plasma physics research, and in my sophomore or junior year, I saw a photo of ITER being built. One of my motifs throughout my career path has been that if something looks really cool, I have to go do whatever that is, like a little kid wanting to be an astronaut. I knew I enjoyed plasma physics, being in a Nuclear Engineering program, so that got me interested in going to grad school for something fusion related. 

A lot of professors in my program told me that Wisconsin is a great place to go if you want to do fusion. I started looking into the research being done at Wisconsin, and I really liked Professor Wright’s work. When I met her and talked with her, it seemed like her work and approach to things was really in line with mine and the group was one I thought I could work well in. 

So, I sent in all of these applications, but I knew that Wisconsin was the number one choice. 

What is your research focus area and what kind of work have you been doing so far?

I’ve always liked computational research, so what I want to focus on is fusion-relevant computational research. I worked on some MHD modeling in the fall, and then last semester I started gyrokinetic simulations focused on turbulence. I’m still pretty new to turbulence, but it seems like a really exciting field. It’s just a very weird part of physics that’s been really interesting to dig into.

Why do you gravitate towards computational research?

It’s not the most sophisticated answer. The first time I took a CS class was during my freshman year of undergrad. I was told computation is super hard, even for people who have been computer geniuses since they were 10 years old. And my first CS class was incredibly hard—but that’s kind of what I liked about it. It was sold to me as, “Oh, you shouldn’t do that. It’s too hard for you,” but that kind of drew me to it. 

I don’t know if I would have continued with it, except that once I started doing it, I found it really interesting. I took a class last spring about numerical analysis and numerical methods, and we did a little section on how computers store numbers. Those are the types of things that I could get lost in for hours. 

What have been some of the highlights of your graduate experience so far? 

At the end of my first year, I got to go out to dinner and look back with other first year students in my close peer group and think about everything we’ve learned in the last two semesters. It’s a crazy amount of information. When I started grad school it felt like there was so much to learn, but now I know at least 10% more of what’s going on, and we’ll just keep incrementing. 

It was really cool to do that with my peers because we all find plasma physics and fusion fascinating. So, it’s not just about what I’ve learned, but I look at all the people around me who are also learning and who are psyched out about the same things that I am. 

That also made the choice to come here easier. It was definitely made clear to me from when I visited, and throughout my entire first year, that the NEEP community is really strong and that graduate students support each other. When I started studying for quals, I had no idea where to begin, but I was able to get help. 

It’s a big thing to be able to approach other students when I need help or when I need to find a textbook for this class or even the social aspect of “I don’t know what to do this Friday night.” I think community is the cherry on the top of being in a department that’s got so much going on with fusion research because not only does it have that, but it has a really strong community. 

You were recently awarded a scholarship from the IAEA Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme which supports young women on the path to careers in nuclear energy. What do you anticipate the value of this program will be for your career?

So far, it’s been valuable just to gain connection to an international group of women in nuclear science. It’s not just an American fellowship, it’s something that connects women across all types of nuclear science—fission, fusion, materials—internationally. 

It provides more exposure to things outside of just the U.S. There’s a lot of good science in the U.S., but there’s also good science in other places, and I think there’s a lot of value in having multiple perspectives and connections. You never know when it’s going to be useful to be able to reach out to a group like this, so I’m always happy to talk to different people in nuclear science and hear what they have to say. There is potential to make strong connections, and I look forward to opportunities to meet other women with this fellowship in person.

You were also part of the 2024 Delegation of the Nuclear Engineering Student Delegation (NESD). Can you share about your motivation to join the delegation and what that experience was like? What were some of the main viewpoints that the delegation advocated for during your term?

NESD is something I had heard about from being involved in ANS. The motivation was mostly that I was curious about policy-related work and how these policies that influence a lot of science are created. 

The committee brought ideas together and created this policy document, and then we met with our representatives and people in different organizations around D.C. like the EPA, NRC, and DOE. The policy document focused on workforce development, infrastructure, and advanced tech. I threw in fusion for advanced tech because it was a very fission-focused group of students. Although, I know they have FuSD now, which is a fusion student delegation. 

If you think you’re interested in policy work, it’s a great experience to see how that all actually happens. And you get to talk with NGOs around Capitol Hill that influence policy and see what they actually do. It was also a really good opportunity to meet with people who have very different perspectives on nuclear science. 

What role do students play in advocating for nuclear energy?

I think students can have a lot of influence on the field even with just a willingness to talk about it with people. You see it with Solis, Engineering Expo, and Fusion Science Week. Particularly now, it seems like students are so willing to just go out and talk to kindergartners through retirees about the science they do. That has the potential to have a big impact, especially in the sense that somebody can go to high school now having heard about nuclear science and have a more direct path to studying it in the future. 

I also know individuals in different states who have spent a lot of time talking to their representatives and even people on the street. It’s really cool momentum that I can tell people about what I do and they say, “Oh, I’ve heard about this.” There are even TikTok influencers in nuclear science, and it’s students using that new technology to tell people about what they do. 

But students have always been the future of any workforce; these students are going to be running the field one day. 

You were recently elected as the student director on the ANS Board of Directors. What interested you in the position and what impact do you hope to have during your term?

I’ve been involved in ANS since I was an undergrad, and then when I graduated, I got more involved with the Student Sections Committee (SSC) which runs all the ANS student sections. The chair of the committee recommended that I run for this student director position.

It seemed interesting because it’s kind of the interface between the board of directors and the students of the organization. The board of directors is very receptive to students because they are a huge chunk of the membership of the organization, and they value the students’ input and perspectives quite a lot. At my first meeting, it was very evident that this group of people in all ranges of leadership in the nuclear science field really valued and listened to my perspective. 

This position seemed like an interesting way to have an impact on nuclear science, and it’s definitely unique because not many students get the opportunity to see how an organization like ANS works and all of the minor details it takes to function.

It definitely feels like a responsibility. I hope to support students in nuclear science and do something impactful with my position. I want to listen to the perspectives of other students and bring those ideas to the board.
 

What are you looking forward to in grad school and what are your long-term goals?

For one, I want to finish my PhD. And I’m really hoping to see ITER before I graduate. After that, I have a hard time setting a firm goal, because it seems like the fusion industry is changing so quickly right now. 

The motivation of the work I do is what’s really important to me. I know I want to stay on a path that works towards fusion energy. I also want to stay in research; I really enjoy research. And I want to do work that is meaningful to clean energy and fusion energy. 

Even being the first of my family to finish a master’s is going to be really cool because none of my family is in academia. To bring home my first published paper that I write to my grandma will definitely be one of the best experiences in grad school. 

What advice would you give to other students considering a path in nuclear engineering?

There’s no way that you come in knowing how to do everything, so just ask as many questions as you can. Take every opportunity you can. And this is for anyone, but specifically for younger women in the field: You know the amount of work you put in, and you know that the things you’ve accomplished are hard. It’s okay to be proud of that. 

If you know you’ve worked really hard for something, be proud of that, and don’t let anyone diminish the work you’ve done. Not everyone’s going to see all of the hard work you put it in sometimes. It can be easy to feel boastful, but you’re allowed to be confident and you’re allowed to be proud when you work hard.

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