This summer I worked as an intern at the US Department of Energy, in the Office of Nuclear energy on the Systems Engineering and Integration team within Fuel Cycle Technologies. My responsibilities included conducting a multi-year audit of all Office of Nuclear Energy and Office of Science funding to fuel separations- and wasteforms-related research to alleviate concerns of redundant funding. I also attended and provided evaluation of a State Department course on nuclear energy and related international affairs designed for Foreign Service officers.

In addition to these primary responsibilities, I also had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting of the Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee, a discussion between nuclear engineers at the DOE and Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change to coordinate cooperation on future research and development efforts, and the annual Fuel Cycle budget planning meeting. I was also provided with a tour of the Vitreous State Laboratory at the Catholic University of America.