NESD Experience
I wanted to let you know about my trip to Washington this summer with the Nuclear Engineering Student Delegation, a program which sends students from different nuclear engineering programs around the country to Washington D.C. to speak to policy makers about nuclear engineering education programs and federal funding for research projects among other topics. More information could be found at www.nesd.org.
The trip was a life changing experience for me. I was given the opportunity to speak on behalf of the University of Florida among a group of the most incredible nuclear engineering students in the country. During our trip we met with executives of the Nuclear Energy Institute and various politically driven nuclear engineers in industry stationed in Washington. We were also privileged with a private dinner with Pete Lyons, the Assistance Secretary of Nuclear Energy, who is in charge of everything Nuclear in the Department of Energy. In our lobbying efforts to restore scholarships and fellowships for Nuclear Engineering Students we were able to meet with representatives of the Office of Management and Budget as well as over 20 representatives and senators including Ron Paul and John McCain.
I am planning of creating a similar organization here at UF to lobby specifically for nuclear engineering education in the state of Florida.
This group of students would go to Washington this upcoming summer and focus on congressional lobbying for the re-institution of funds for the Integrated University Program, which funds the majority of scholarship and fellowships for nuclear engineering students and has been zeroed out of fiscal year 12 and 13.
