Head of the Ken and Mary Alice Lindquist Department of Nuclear Engineering Pennsylvania State University - College

Position: Head of the Ken and Mary Alice Lindquist Department of Nuclear Engineering The Pennsylvania State University - College
Location: University Park

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

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* If you are NOT a current employee or student, please click "Apply" and complete the application process for external applicants.

Approval of remote and hybrid work is not guaranteed regardless of work location. For additional information on remote work at Penn State, see Notice to Out of State Applicants.

POSITION SPECIFICS

The Pennsylvania State University's College of Engineering invites inquiries, nominations and applications for the position of Head of the Ken and Mary Alice Lindquist Department of Nuclear Engineering.

The College seeks an individual who will provide dynamic, strategic, and forward-looking leadership, supported by strong administrative capabilities and a demonstrated commitment to excellence in higher education. The successful candidate must possess exemplary academic credentials and an established, nationally or internationally recognized reputation in one or more subdisciplines of nuclear science and engineering. An earned doctorate in nuclear engineering or a closely related field is required, and candidates should hold the rank of full professor with tenure or be eligible for immediate tenure at that rank.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate the ability to engage effectively with national laboratories, industry partners, governmental agencies, and other external stakeholders, strengthening and expanding the department's extensive network of collaborations. Additionally, the candidate should be well positioned to enhance the department's visibility and impact at the national and international levels, advancing its research, educational mission, and contributions to the broader nuclear engineering community.

The ideal candidate will also strive to mentor and promote junior faculty.

Founded in 1959, the Ken and Mary Alice Lindquist Department of Nuclear Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University is a nationally recognized leader in nuclear science and engineering education, research, and innovation. The Department currently has thirteen tenure-line faculty, who are leaders in their fields, as well as several research and teaching professors that help educate undergraduate and graduate students in Nuclear Engineering.

The Department offers B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees to resident students. In addition, the Department boasts a long-standing professional Master of Engineering degree, which is taught fully online through Penn State World Campus. The Department also established the first graduate Nuclear Security program in the country and just created a nuclear engineering minor in the college. The undergraduate population is high - Penn State graduated about 10% of all nuclear engineers in the U.S. during the last 15 years.

All of this means the Department has a large alumni population and active alumni association.

The faculty in the department performs cutting-edge research in the various areas of nuclear engineering including radiation detection, reactor physics, thermal hydraulics, nuclear materials, radiochemistry, fusion, and nuclear medicine. The department benefits from exceptional research infrastructure, within the Radiation Science and Engineering Center (RSEC), a premier research facility, which houses the Breazeale Nuclear Reactor, the first and longest-operating licensed research reactor in the United States.

Among many other research facilities, the RSEC now houses a Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) facility with a unique materials characterization technique. We also benefit from many other world-class research facilities within the department and within the university such as the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS) and the Millenium Science Complex which contains the Materials Characterization Laboratory.

Finally, one of Penn State's top strategic initiatives is FRONTIER (Forging a Renaissance of Nuclear Through Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Research), developed to position Penn State and Pennsylvania as a national hub for advanced nuclear energy through integrated research, workforce development, micro-credentials, fellowships, and digital innovation. At its core, HORIZON (Hub for Open Research and Instruction in Zero-carbon Optimized Nuclear Energy) envisions the deployment of the first university-based advanced microreactor research facility in the U.S. as a research, testing, validation, and workforce training platform.

Applications should be received by April 15, 2026, for full consideration. The review of applications will continue until the position is filled. It is…