On behalf of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and its Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society (NPSS), Radiation Effects Steering Group (RESG) and the 2026 Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference (NSREC) committee, I am pleased to invite you to attend NSREC to be held July 20th – 24th, 2026.

The conference will be held at the Sheraton Puerto Rico Resort in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with the adjoining Puerto Rico Convention Center. Puerto Rico is the smallest island in the Greater Antilles, nestled in the Caribbean, just east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands. Known for its stunning beaches, vibrant culture, and rich history, Puerto Rico’s location makes it a perfect destination with easy access from the mainland U.S.A. As a U.S. territory, American citizens do not need a passport, and the official currency is the U.S. dollar.

Conference Schedule

The conference begins Monday, July 20, with a one-day Short Course titled, “Radiation Hardness Assurance for New Space Missions and Advanced Electronics: Challenges, Risks and Approaches for Success”. The Short Course is organized by Dr. Pascale Gouker (MIT Lincoln Laboratory) and features four parts taught by experts from our community. The first part will review the natural space environment and the radiation interaction with matter to provide practical guidance for heavy-ion single-event-effects (SEE) testing. Differences between radiation testing facilities, device design and circuit complexity will be discussed. The second part will more specifically cover the various methods used for the SEE rate calculation and will include a comparison with on-orbit data for different device technologies. The third part will review the lessons learned from past European Space missions and what RHA mitigation approaches implemented at the system level are flowed down to the subsystem and part level. The fourth part will review how the current commercial space market competition and limited testing resources are changing the mission assurance practices and moving the community toward exploring new approaches.

The main technical program is from Tuesday, July 21 to Friday, July 24. Sylvain Girard, University St. Etienne, is the conference Technical Program Chair. He, along with his technical committee, has chosen an outstanding set of contributed papers organized into 8 sessions of oral presentation and a poster session encompassing papers from all 8 sessions. In addition to the main technical sessions, the technical committee has also selected outstanding papers for the Radiation Effects Data Workshop. This is an additional poster session describing radiation effects data on electronics, photonic devices, and systems, new simulation capabilities, and information on new test facilities. Finally, Sylvain has invited three speakers to give talks of more general interest to start each morning from Wednesday to Friday.

The Industrial Exhibit, organized by Larisa Milac, EMPC, opens Tuesday morning and concludes Thursday around lunchtime. Attendees will be able to visit the booths during scheduled breaks and during lunch on Tuesday. Attendees and guests are invited to attend a cocktail reception in the exhibit hall on Tuesday evening. The exhibit showcases the products and capabilities of the exhibitors in areas such as semiconductors, systems, modeling, and test resources.

I hope that you will enjoy our social program in San Juan organized by Melanie Berg, SpaceR³. Three companion tours are scheduled; Tuesday will have a guided Old San Juan walking tour followed by a trip to the Bacardi factory, Wednesday conference guests can explore El Yunque rainforest, and Thursday will be an island excursion tour by boat. On Wednesday evening, we have planned a dinner with live music and performance to cap off the night, for all attendees, at the beautiful historic Caribe Hilton.

Your 2026 Conference Committee looks forward to seeing you in San Juan this July!

Please visit the NSREC website (www.nsrec.com) for 2026 conference details and travel planning tips.

“It is my pleasure to invite you to join us for the 2026 NSREC in the heart of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico. Once the crown jewel of the Spanish Empire, San Juan was founded in 1521 and is now the Island’s historic and cultural center. It is the oldest European-founded city in the Americas but is home to much more than just history. San Juan blends elements of the Old World (cobblestone streets and colonial architecture) with modern urban life (craft cocktails, contemporary dining, amazing shopping, and vibrant nightlife). Our committee has planned for you a great week of technical presentations and social functions. Don’t miss the opportunity to immerse yourself in the culture and explore the wealth of art, food, adventure, and beauty that is waiting to be discovered. Please join us for NSREC 2026 and experience it for yourself.”

~ Philippe Paillet, NSREC 2026 General Chair, CEA, France

Technical Program

The Technical Program Chair, Sylvain Girard, University of St. Etienne, and his committee will be assembling the technical agenda from abstracts due February 6, 2026, and from Late News abstracts due mid-May 2026. They anticipate nine oral sessions and a Poster Session. Papers presented in the NSREC technical sessions are expected to be submitted for publication after the conference in the January 2026 issue of the IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science (TNS), subject to the standard TNS peer review process.

Hardness Assurance

Chair: Amuldena Lindoso, University Carlos III Madrid

Environments, Facilities, and Dosimetry

Chair: Cornelia Hoehr, TRIUMF

Photonic Devices and Integrated Circuits

Chair: Julien Mekki, CNES

Radiation Effects in Devices and Integrated Circuits

Chair: Corinna Martinella, Université Montpellier

Basic Mechanisms of Radiation Effects

Chair: Marta Bagatin, University Padova

Single-Event Effects: Mechanisms and Modeling

Chair: Jeffrey Warner, Northrop Grumman

Hardening by Design

Chair: Nathan Nowlin, Sandia National Laboratories

Single-Event Effects: Devices and Integrated Circuits

Chair: Ruben Garcia Alia, CERN

The Poster Session Chair is Vincent Goiffon, ISAE-SUPAERO.

Radiation Effects Data Workshop

The Radiation Effects Data Workshop is a forum for papers addressing radiation effects data on electronic devices and systems. Workshop papers are intended to provide radiation response data to scientists and engineers who use electronic devices in radiation environments, and for designers of radiation-hardened or radiation-tolerant systems. Papers describing new simulation capabilities and facilities are also welcome.

The Data Workshop Chair is Jennifer Taggart, Aerospace Corporation.

Industrial Exhibit

An Industrial Exhibit will be included as an integral part of the conference and will be chaired by Larisa Milic, EMPC. Exhibitors will include companies or agencies involved in manufacturing electronic devices or systems for applications in space or nuclear environments, modeling and analysis of radiation effects at the device and system level, and radiation testing.  Exhibit and Supporter Registration is open at www.nsrec.com

2025 IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference Awards

It is a longstanding tradition of the IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference to recognize the Outstanding Conference Paper and the Outstanding Data Workshop Presentation from the previous conference. In recent years recognition has also been given to the best paper presented by an IEEE Student Member, who must also be the first author. The awards process recognizes high quality and important work and encourages authors to produce presentations and manuscripts of high technical quality, clarity of presentation, and significance to the community.

It is our pleasure to announce the award winners from the 2025 NSREC. Their awards will be presented at NSREC 2026 Conference in San Juan, PR:

Outstanding Conference Paper

Vincent Goiffon, Clementine Durnez, Antoine Jay, Ali Jouni, Vera Kharchenkova, Aubin Antonsanti, Valerian Lalucaa, Damien Lambert, Thomas Jarrin, Antoine Salih Alj, Richard Monflier, Nicolas Richard, Philippe Paillet, Anne Hemeryck, Daniel McGrath, and Cedric Virmontois, “Gamma-Ray Induced Displacement Damage in Silicon Microvolumes: Single Defect Generation Rate and Random Telegraph Signal.”

Meritorious Conference Papers (2)

• Aldo I. Vidana, Colin G. McKay, Nathaniel A. Dodds, David R. Hughart, Phil Oldiges, Trace Wallace, Joseph V. D’Amico, Josh Joffrion, Keshab R. Sapkota, R. Nathan Nowlin, and Hugh J. Barnaby, “Ultra-Fast Recovery from TID-Induced Degradation in MOS Transistors via Electrical Rapid Annealing.”
• George N. Tzintzarov, Jeffrey W. Teng , Atharva Kulkarni, Adam W. Bushmaker, Pietro Musumeci, Mark D. Looper, Dicky Daniel, Robert Berry, Stephen Milton, Larry D. Edmonds, and Gregory R. Allen, “Pulsed, Focused Electrons as a Surrogate Single-Event Effects Testing Technique.”

Outstanding Student Paper

Brett L. Ringel, Jeffrey W. Teng, Peter J. Francis, Mozhgan Hosseinzadeh, Delwyn G. Sam, James H. Shin, Zachary R. Brumbach, Christopher R. Snyder, Adrian Ildefonso, Ani Khachatrian, Dale McMorrow, Joel M. Hales, Trevor Crane, George N. Tzintzarov, and John D. Cressler, “Analysis of Optical and Electrical Single-Event Transients in Integrated Silicon Photonic Micro-Ring Modulators.”

Outstanding Radiation Effects Data Workshop Presentation

Adrian Ildefonso, Joel Hales, Trevor Crane, and Dale McMorrow, “CHALICE: Calculator for Highly Accurate Laser-Induced Carrier Excitation.”

Michael Campola, RE Vice Chair for Publicity, can be reached by E-mail at [email protected]

Kay Chesnut, RE Chair, can be reached at [email protected]