Kathryn (Katy) Huff began her new role as Spangler Faculty Professor and chair of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics in July 2026. Her research interests focus on advanced nuclear reactors and fuel cycles, multi-physics simulation, energy systems analysis, scientific computation and nuclear energy policy.
She earned her BA in physics from the University of Chicago in 2008 and her PhD in nuclear engineering from UW-Madison in 2013. From 2021 to 2024, she held senior leadership positions in the U.S. Department of Energy, including assistant secretary of energy for nuclear energy. Prior to joining NEEP, Huff was an associate professor of nuclear, plasma, and radiological engineering at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, where she founded the Advanced Reactors and Fuel Cycles group.
In this Q&A, Huff talks about her research, her work at DOE and her plans for leading the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics at UW-Madison.
What is the focus of your research?
I run a group called Advanced Reactors and Fuel Cycles, which is focused on using computational techniques to model and simulate both next-generation nuclear reactors of all types and how they fit in the broader system of nuclear fuel cycles, which includes mining, conversion, enrichment, fueling reactors and managing and recycling the spent nuclear fuel.
My team writes open-source software tools at many different scales, including software that’s run on big supercomputers, to do this modeling and simulation work. The goal is for our research results to inform the design of reactors, the regulation of reactors or policy around their fuel cycles. Our software tools have been used by reactor companies, national laboratories and researchers around the world.
What are some key accomplishments from your time in leadership roles at the DOE, including as the assistant secretary of energy for nuclear energy?
It was a real honor to run the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy for three years, where I led nuclear energy policy, managed a multibillion-dollar research and development portfolio, and coordinated work across national laboratories, universities and industry. I joined the Office of Nuclear Energy in May 2021 as principal deputy assistant secretary, and I was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as assistant secretary for nuclear energy a year later. I served in that role until May 2024, when I returned to academia.
Some accomplishments that I’m especially proud of include keeping the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in California operating and supporting the restart of the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan. It was a huge, collective effort and I’m very proud of what we achieved.
There were also some major challenges, such as when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and then captured a nuclear power plant there. We at DOE urged Russia to shut down all of the reactors at that plant so there wouldn’t be a chance for a nuclear accident, but they resisted this recommendation. So, for many months, I was taking frequent midnight emergency phone calls about the evolving situation in Ukraine. I lived about a block from the DOE office, so I would literally run to the emergency operations center there at all hours. It was intense.
We also engaged in diplomacy with our allies. For example, I organized a response team made up of the United States and four other countries to coordinate on uranium supply because Russia, the biggest supplier of enrichment, couldn’t be trusted. I worked with Congress to get $2.7 billion invested in new enrichment. When the United States finally banned Russian uranium, I was delighted to receive a signed copy of the bill in the mail, because we had worked tirelessly for about two years to get that bill exactly right.
One of the coolest things we did at DOE during that time was to really put together a comprehensive energy policy for the United States. There was a series of reports called the Liftoff reports, and DOE basically took the following tactic: In 2050, we need to be at net-zero carbon. So, working backwards how much of each type of carbon-free energy are we going to need, and how are we going to get those industries commercially lifted off to get to those numbers? Each sector got its own commercial pathway to liftoff report. And since DOE’s calculations determined the nuclear energy part of this 2050 net-zero goal would be 300 gigawatts, we outlined how we would get there. I think this set of reports represent the most comprehensive energy policy the United States has had in 50 years.
Why did you decide to join the NEEP faculty at UW-Madison?
UW-Madison has one of the best nuclear engineering departments in the country. The Department of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is an amazing department as well, and I’m grateful for my time there. I was very happy at Illinois, but the chance to come back to Madison and to the department that shaped me as a nuclear engineer is just an incredible opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. And, of course, Madison is a beautiful place to live with its bikes and lakes and beer and cheese. How could I resist?
It’s also a great moment for Wisconsin with the incredible enthusiasm for fusion right now. With the department’s exceptional faculty and longstanding excellence in fusion research, we’re poised to lead the way in realizing fusion-driven limitless distributed power, which is one of the College of Engineering’s six Engineering Moonshots.
What are your plans as chair for leading the NEEP department?
My No. 1 goal is to do no harm. The NEEP department is doing great and has amazing growth and momentum. If we can keep it sailing straight on course, it could be the best department in the country soon. I want to make sure that we are communicating the incredible achievements of our faculty, staff and students.
I’d also like to leverage resources to bring more federal program managers, national laboratory scientists and others to campus so they can see firsthand our world-class facilities and research. I’m interested in hosting more events in the department to bring people together and really showcase our strengths.
I’ll focus on ensuring that we continue to provide an exceptional student experience in the department. Being a smaller department, we have a unique opportunity to more directly engage with all the students. As chair, my goal is to know the names of all the graduate students and undergrads by the end of my first year. We can create a strong community of support, engagement and friendship that’s more than professional networking. I want the department to provide many activities and fun opportunities for people to just hang out as a group.
What are your hobbies and other interests?
I bike a lot. I like to absorb art and culture, and I enjoy playing Dungeons and Dragons. It was sad to leave my Dungeons and Dragons group in Illinois, and a key thing I fully intend to do is figure out who I’m going to be playing Dungeons and Dragons with here in Madison. I tend to use Dungeons and Dragons as a way to get my friends together in a room where no one is touching computers. I suppose you could host dinner parties or something, but I think this is way more fun.
Photo of Katy Huff by Joel Hallberg