Title: Uncertainty Quantification for Nuclear Safeguards and Nondestructive Assay
Mentors: Andrea Favalli, Brian Williams
Description: Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) is the scientific art of generating confidence statements without which physical measurements and calculations have no meaning. Nondestructive assay (NDA) of items containing special nuclear material uses calibration and modeling to infer item characteristics on the basis of detected radiation such as neutron and gamma emissions, hence in the field of NDA UQ is fundamental. The project focuses on the UQ in NDA applications where challenges such as item-specific biases, errors in predictors, model selection effects, quantification of uncertainty in computer model parameters and errors play an important role.
In the frame of this project we are looking for a student to join a team composed of statisticians and NDA experts during the summer time. The type of work requires a background in statistics and some knowledge of nuclear measurements in NDA for safeguards/nonproliferation application.
Duration: 10-12 weeks
Number of students: 1