“What appealed to me about INL,” she said, “was the ability to do all steps of an experiment – researching, building, and testing fuel – at one location. Prior to joining INL, she worked at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in New York and Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque. in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned her bachelor’s in nuclear engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Heather Chichester is the director of the Post-Irradiation Examination Division at INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex. Heather Chichester Post-Irradiation Examination Division Directorĭr. I’m proud to work at the lab and know what we’re doing will make a positive impact in the world.”ĭr. We’re very lucky to have the opportunity to work on challenging and unique problems. The opportunities offered to look at materials and issues in nuclear fuels are unparalleled. What’s kept him in Idaho? He really does love his job. INL is the one of the few places in the world where entire research projects can be completed, from hypotheses through testing and through post-irradiation examination analysis of fuels and materials.
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Although he spent some time in academia, he said what drew him to the national lab system was the ability to do the full scale of work. Still at MFC, today his research is focused on the microstructural development of nuclear fuels by using transmission electron microscopy to look at material defects at the near-atomic level. In 2002, he was hired to work as a research scientist at Argonne-West, what is now the Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC). in nuclear engineering from University of Michigan. in physics from Central Michigan University, and an M.S. Gan attended Fudan University, one of the top schools in China, and got his Bachelor of Science degree in physics. “When I was younger, other kids would be outside playing, but I used to play with models and electronic devices.” It seemed natural to him to study and go into the field of science. “I’ve always been fascinated by high-tech stuff,” he said. But Jian Gan is happy with how his 25-year career in materials characterization has progressed. Originally from Shanghai, China’s largest city with over 24 million people, living in Idaho Falls (Idaho’s fourth largest city coming in at a whopping 62,000 people) seems like an extreme change. “Embrace it, face it, and you will shine. “Don’t be afraid of a challenge – no matter how difficult it looks” Albuquerque said. “Someone around you might say something to make you doubt yourself, but trust your skills and abilities,” she said. She says one thing she’s learned since beginning her career is that it’s important to trust your instincts. She earned both of her degrees at the University of Sao Paulo, first her bachelor’s in chemistry and then her doctorate in analytical chemistry.Īlbuquerque is happy to see that INL values all of its employees, no matter where they’re from, what they look like, or what their name is. “It’s like when we’d go to the countryside in Brazil,” she said. It has everything you need, but everything is so close you don’t have to drive far for shopping or work.”Īlbuquerque also loves that the Idaho locals are so friendly. “But I never imagined I would adapt so fast. “Obviously Idaho is a lot different from Brazil,” she said. Albuquerque’s work helps predict problems that might occur with specific materials and helps to develop better, more predictable fuels and materials.īorn and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a city of 11 million people, taking a job in another country was a change. “I analyze samples of fuels and materials to give researchers information about impurities, the efficiency of products, and let them know if their samples are behaving as expected,” she said. Albuquerque likens her job as an analytical chemist to that of a crime scene investigator.
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