Nuclear Engineering (NE)

Nuclear and radiological engineering application ranges from the use of radiation in medicine for treatment and diagnostics; the design, development and operation of nuclear power systems; numeric simulation of nuclear systems; health physics/radiation protection; biomedical engineering, especially in the area of radiation imaging; nondestructive examination of materials and structures using radiation techniques; nuclear energy for space power and propulsion; and the use of radiation in food processing and industrial process and manufacturing control.

The program has sufficient flexibility so that the choice of electives allows emphasis in nuclear power engineering, health physics, engineering physics, nuclear instrumentation, radioisotope applications, radiation imaging, medical treatment and scientific computing.

A full complement of experimental facilities is available. Major facilities include a 100 KW research and training reactor, a neutron activation analysis laboratory, a higher performance PC lab with multiple terminals and PCs and interface capability to the college network and the main university computing facility (Northeast Regional Data Center), a Particle Transport and Distributed Computing (PTDC) lab for simulation of nuclear systems. The department also has robotic research facilities along with specialized nuclear instrumentation.

The department will provide quality education and conduct nationally recognized research in nuclear and radiological engineering to serve the needs of Florida and the nation.

The department’s primary goal is to educate nuclear and radiological engineering professionals to benefit society in the release, control and safe utilization of nuclear energy, radiation and radioactivity.

• To provide students the ability to apply advanced mathematics, computational skills, science and engineering science, including atomic and nuclear physics, to identify, formulate, analyze and solve nuclear and radiological engineering problems,
• To develop knowledge of the fundamentals of radiation transport, interactions, detection and numerical simulation with the principles required for the analysis, design and safe operation of radiation producing and using equipment and systems,
• To design and conduct experiments and to analyze and interpret data using current experimental, data acquisition and data analysis techniques, and
• To communicate effectively, work collaboratively and understand the professional and ethical responsibilities and the impact of engineering solutions in a societal and economic context to facilitate their pursuit of successful, productive careers.

Students should concentrate several elective courses in one discipline to achieve solid familiarity in a minor field of study. The engineering science design technical electives, chosen in consultation with an adviser, allow specialization in reactor engineering, reactor operations, radioisotopes and nuclear radiation technology, and radiation and bio systems.

The following electives are available:

Nuclear Engineering

To remain ‘on track’ for this major a student must meet the following critical tracking criteria. The critical tracking courses appear in bold.

• 2.0 UF GPA required for semesters 1-5
• 2.5 GPA on all critical tracking course work for semesters 1-5
• Complete 1 of 8 tracking courses with a minimum grade of C within two attempts. CHM2045, (CHM2046 or approved Biological Science course), MAC2311, MAC2312, MAC2313, MAP2302, PHY2048, PHY2049

• Complete 1 additional course with a minimum grade of C within two attempts

• Complete 2 additional courses with a minimum grade of C within two attempts

• Complete 2 additional courses with a minimum grade of C within two attempts

• Complete all 8 critical tracking courses with a minimum grade of C in each course within two attempts