The Vanderbilt University Student Branch Chapter of the Nuclear & Plasma Sciences Society (NPSS) had a productive school year, offering a range of research-focused and professional development events!

The year began with a resume workshop that also served as a welcome event for new students who joined the program this year. In collaboration with Vanderbilt’s Career Center, students were able to get one-on-one feedback on their resumes. The goal of this workshop was to help students best present themselves when applying to graduate school opportunities. This was a very well-received event, as many of the students who attended this event went on to secure internships in industry for the upcoming summer.

Another successful event held this school year was a “how to write an abstract” workshop, led by a senior graduate student. Abstracts written in previous years were reviewed by the attendees to better understand what makes a compelling research summary.  Many of the students in attendance ended up submitting summaries to the IEEE Nuclear & Space Radiation Effects Conference and had their summaries accepted. This is a major achievement, particularly for students who were submitting abstracts for the first time!

To wrap up the year, the Vanderbilt NPSS chapter welcomed distinguished lecturer Allan Johnston, who presented on “A Concise History of Radiation Effects and Some Unresolved Issues”. This presentation was open to all members of the Vanderbilt Electrical and Computer Engineering department and received great feedback. In addition to the lecture, students presented their research, led a campus tour, and had the opportunity to engage with Allan Johnston in a small-group setting to gain further insight into his career and receive feedback on their research projects.

These events highlight some of what the Vanderbilt NPSS chapter has offered this school year to foster career development and enrich student research activities.

Jenna Kronenberg can be reached by email at [email protected]