Paul Hurley received his B.Sc. degree in Physics from Boston University in 2018 and joined HEATS Lab in that same year. He got an M.Sc. degree in Nuclear Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2020 working on the pioneering use of optical fibers to investigate quenching behavior for different materials, roughness, and subcooling levels. During his graduate studies, he received the NRC Fellowship, the Davenport Leadership Fellowship, and the ATH’22 Best Paper Award. He also published three journal papers and seven conference papers.
His Ph.D. dissertation on boiling water reactor instabilities contributed to the understanding of density waver oscillations during anticipated transients without scram (ATWS) scenarios. Paul is the first student in the HEATS Lab to receive his Ph.D. and he will join GE Hitachi as a Reactor Nuclear and Thermal Hydraulics Physics and Methods Engineer. Congratulations, Dr. Hurley!!