Career path in NE

[EEESSS]

Hi,
My son is a junior in HS. He is thinking about Nuclear Engineering. He is interested in not only the operations side of the field but also the design side. He is thinking about majoring in an engineering field at the Naval Academy, if accepted, and then going through their school upon graduation (the Academy does not offer BS in NE). I have read some of the Navy's nuke forums on line and get the feeling that this path will lead only to the operation side and make it difficult to get into research or design. He could do this and serve his five years and go on to get his Masters in Nuclear Engineering. Which would be the better path, go to a public university to get the BS in NE and then get a Masters in NE versus going to the Naval Academy, majoring in one of the engineering fields, then to the Navy Nuke School, and when the opportunity is there get a Masters in NE? It seems to me that the person with the BS and MS in NE would have more knowledge than the person with BS in engineering or physics from the Academy, goes to Navy Nuke School, and then gets the Masters in NE.
Thanks for any info.

[co60slr]

Hi,
My son is a junior in HS. He is thinking about Nuclear Engineering. He is interested in not only the operations side of the field but also the design side. He is thinking about majoring in an engineering field at the Naval Academy, if accepted, and then going through their school upon graduation (the Academy does not offer BS in NE). I have read some of the Navy's nuke forums on line and get the feeling that this path will lead only to the operation side and make it difficult to get into research or design. He could do this and serve his five years and go on to get his Masters in Nuclear Engineering. Which would be the better path, go to a public university to get the BS in NE and then get a Masters in NE versus going to the Naval Academy, majoring in one of the engineering fields, then to the Navy Nuke School, and when the opportunity is there get a Masters in NE? It seems to me that the person with the BS and MS in NE would have more knowledge than the person with BS in engineering or physics from the Academy, goes to Navy Nuke School, and then gets the Masters in NE.
Thanks for any info.

I think the best option is to explore all the different avenues.  Starting an engineering career in operations will certainly lay a foundation for how to find a better design in the future.  You son can certainly get a BSME degree at the academy and a MSNE from MIT later, if he so desires.   The father you get into research at Oak Ridge, KAPL, Bettis, etc. the more your son would need a PhD anyway.  Is he ready for 10 years of college?

The Director of the Navy's Nuclear Program does not have multiple NE degrees, nor does my site's VP.  A Bachelor's degree in (any) Engineering can be considered as a "license to learn more".   More advanced degrees as he continues into his specific field of interest will steer his course.   Given that, a path at either the Naval Academy or any public university will serve him well.   http://www.navy.mil/navydata/bios/navybio.asp?bioID=96

In any event, he needs the highest GPA he can achieve.   If he's a 2.50 student right now, this is all a moot point.   If he's taking AP subjects and getting a 4.00...he's on the right track.  Cast a wide net and see what schools will take him.   Make your decision with several acceptance letters on the kitchen table.   Meanwhile, he has to master the Calculus.

[EEESSS]

Thank you for your reply. It really does help. Good info kinda scarce for this field. The part that is kinda confusing is that a person can get a MS in NE without the BS in NE. Made me think that without the BS in NE a person would be missing something.  Grades not a problem. Again Thanks.

[greenbean]

Mechanical Engineering is his best choice at USNA. The classes and applications he will learn with an ME degree will coincide very closely with what he would learn in a NE degree plan. For instance:

I am earning a BS in NE from Texas A&M. A third of my coursework is Mechanical Engineering Classes, another third was Math and Phyiscs, and finally I have about 45 hrs of actual Nuclear Engineering Classes. Most of what we are learning in my NE classes involve design/analyis and mathematical simulations specific to next generation nuclear reactors. (These are not the reactors the Navy uses.)

Your son will get 2/3rds of the same knowledge and have a lot of flexibility with his ME degree when he gets out. The heat-transfer, thermodynamics, and fluids are extremely important when working with reactors. Chemical Engineering would be the second choice if he wants to end up in the Nuclear field. He will learn all the basics he needs to know and by the time he gets to a Masters in NE he will be able to absorbe the material about multi-group diffusion and transport theory very quickly. (If he is missing any nuclear basis, a good grad school will catch him up quickly.)

Ultimately, if your son wants to do research and design, he is best off going to one of the top schools (MIT, Texas A&M, University of Michigan...) for Nuclear Engineering. There are lots of opportunities for scholarships as an undergrad and if he is a good student then grad school is paid for (Masters or PhD) as long as he proves to be a hard worker and a good researcher. The offer here is $1900 a month in stipend and tution/fees are paid for by the department when you get to Grad school.

I have been accepted into the NUPOC program and so I will earn my BS in NE and get to serve my country. I feel very blessed and honored at this opportunity and I have open invitations here at A&M to return to research when I complete my service in the Navy. One of our tenured professors was a submariner and actually retired from the Navy as a Commander. He now works on space applications of nuclear reactors and has some crazy zero-g research projects with nuclear reactors using vortex fluid flows to transfer heat from the reactor to the rest of the system. Very cool stuff.

[EEESSS]

Thank you for your time. It is very helpful. We have been reading about the NUPOC Program. Looks interesting. Again thanks to all.