With two years of intense planning and dedication, the 2015 ANS student conference was successfully executed April 9-11. The conference theme was “Powering Tomorrow Together,” and aimed to highlight the growing globalization of the nuclear and health physics industries. The conference provided attendees the opportunity to become familiar with the international nuclear community through internationally recognized keynote speakers, workshops, technical sessions, special paper tracks, and interaction with international students and attendees. The final count for registered attendees was 530; 25 guests were international students. Overall, 43 schools were represented in attendance.
In order to integrate the theme into the events and sessions, a special session for summaries of international relevance was added. This saw a diverse set of projects and presentations over international collaboration and was definitely a unique technical session due to the subject matter. Two of the panels specifically focused on the theme, each from a different angle. “International Business Experiences” looked outward to highlight the ways students can be part of the global community, while the “Diversity Panel” was introspective and sought to educate and start a dialogue on the complex make-up of the nuclear engineers of today and tomorrow. There was also international representation on the regulatory affairs panel, which added a unique perspective on governance of the nuclear industry.
There were opportunities for students to network with professionals at the dinners and peers at the socials. This year incorporated company tables at dinner, allowing students to seek out professionals they had heard speak on panels or met at the career fair earlier in the day. There was also a large attendance at the socials each night, which kept the conference attendees together as they explored College Station in the evenings.
"For the student conference, we sought to provide an environment for networking. The Memorial Student Center on the Texas A&M University campus is a great space for a conference and we were fortunate to host all conference activities in the same building, with the exception of a few of the workshops. Hosting the conference in a single location allowed attendees to stay close and connect with other attendees between conference events," said Timothy Crook, co-chair of the planning committee.
Particularly outstanding workshops included the “Young Members Group Involvement in ANS National & Hosting a Student Conference” and the “Global Fuel Cycle workshops.” The former was a new workshop for student sections interested in hosting a student conference. Attendees found the panelists full of great information and this panel will be continued for future student conferences. The “Global Fuel Cycle Workshop” was one of the largest workshops this year. This unique learning opportunity allowed students to practice diplomacy and trade. Participants were able to experience the development of nuclear technology in nations without, as well as the maintenance of infrastructure for existing nuclear states. One nation actually staged a covert operation to steal nuclear materials for its own nuclear plant. Workshop facilitators enjoyed seeing the participants think as both technical experts and political strategists in order to accomplish their country's goals.