Founding chair of ANS Young Members Group wins Landis Award
David Pointer, principal nuclear engineer at Argonne National Laboratory and the founding chair of the American Nuclear Society's Young Members Group (YMG), was honored with the 2012 ANS Landis Young Member Engineering Achievement Award. The award recognizes an individual who has made significant technical contributions in any one of the many engineering disciplines served by ANS. The contributions can be in the form of a new principle, concept, design, method of analysis, product emanating from research or development, or from effective application of engineering knowledge to yield a commercial service or product needed in the nuclear energy enterprise.
Pointer
Pointer received the award in recognition of his outstanding young career, exceptional technical achievements, and excellence in leadership to support the development of next-generation simulation tools on high-performance computing platforms. He is currently the technical lead in the development of the SHARP toolset, an integrated code able to address reactor multi-physics problems (thermal-hydraulics, neutronics, structural mechanics) in a fully coupled manner. Among his numerous achievements are notably the development of innovative aerodynamic solutions for trailer-trucks, the development of multi-phase computational fluid dynamics models, and ground-breaking simulations of large-scale sodium fast reactor assemblies.
Pointer also received the YMG Excellence Award in 2007. A long-time member of YMG, and now a supporter of its mission, he exemplifies how YMG can be instrumental in promoting and fostering a young professional's career through ANS. He had this to say about his vision of the role of YMG and how it helped him:
"The ANS Young Members Group was established to enable the next generation of nuclear professionals to reap the full benefits of active involvement in the Society much earlier in their careers. My involvement in YMG has enabled me to take a much more active role in the development of my career, and I credit much of my success to the strong relationships I've forged through YMG."
The Landis Award will be presented to Pointer at the ANS Annual Meeting in Chicago, in June. Join us there to toast Dave Pointer for this prestigious achievement!
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Varnedoe
Jennifer Varnedoe is chair of the ANS Young Members Group. She is a project engineer with Advanced Programs at GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. She has been an ANS member since 2007 and is a guest contributor to the ANS Nuclear Cafe.
