Cazalas Group of Radiation Detection, Effects, and Dosimetry (CAZ-RAD) at the University of Utah

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• May 2025: Logan Jackson and Jacob Strong graduate from University of Utah and the Caz-Rad group (M.S., Nuclear Engineering and B.S. Physics and Applied Mathematics, respectively).​

 

• Apr 2025: Prof. Cazalas and research group along with others from UofU tour the Westinghouse Zirconium facility in north Utah (pictured below) and gives invited talk. Westinghouse Zr Facility is the prime location for development and manufacturing of Zr parts and components in the nuclear field and beyond. The work done here is truly unique and world-class.

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• Jan 2025: Prof. Cazalas awarded ~$400K Professional Scholars Development Award from DOE NNSA Consortium for Nuclear Forensics (CNF, administered by University of Florida). Project entitled, "Analysis of 2-D and Quantum Dot Materials for Nuclear Radiation Signals Analysis."

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• June 2024: Prof. Cazalas, Jacob Strong, and Jesse Snow present on "Cherenkov-Based Neutron Detector Design and Development for Advanced Reactors," at American Nuclear Society Conference in Las Vegas, NV.

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• June 2024: Prof. Cazalas chairs session on "Radiation Effects on Materials and Advanced Sensors," at American Nuclear Society Conference in Las Vegas, NV.
   

• June 2024: Prof. Cazalas and InnoSys Inc. awarded grant from DOE (Phase I) for Rad Effects in Stepper Motors (~$62K to UU).

 

• May 2024: Prof. Cazalas and InnoSys Inc. awarded grant from DoD (Phase I) for Electron/Photon Machine Development (~$52K to UU).

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• May 2024: Prof. Cazalas hires M.S. student Logan Jackson and 3 Undergraduates, Peter Schutz, Alex Gilbreath, and Victor Boyer on to group along with managing the Honors Thesis of Brandon Peterson. This expansion supports in-coming and currently funded projects.

 

• April 2024: Prof. Cazalas and InnoSys Inc. awarded Navy phase I grant for Rad Effects on Exploding Foil Initiators (EFIs) (~$13K to UU).

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• December 2023: Teancum Quist and Codey Olson graduate with Ph.D.'s in Nuclear Engineering from University of Utah with Prof. Cazalas as primary advisor. Congrats, Teancum and Codey!

 

• November 2023: Wall Street Journal ranks University of Utah #1 Public University in Western U.S.: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/top-public-private-colleges-western-u-s-81eb8632?mod=education_more_article_pos11

 

• November 2023: Jesse Snow publishes, "A Perovskite-graphene Device for X-ray Detection." with Prof. Cazalas as co-author.

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• November 2023: Codey Olson successfully defends Ph.D. dissertation, "Computational and Experimental Characterizations of Radiation Sources and Detection Systems." Congratulations, Codey!

 

• October 2023: Prof. Cazalas establishes 'spin-off' company Radiation Research.

 

• September 2023: Prof. Cazalas mentioned in article about Wasatch Thunder - a training exercise held by Department of Energy (DOE) with University of Utah, State of Utah, and FBI on handling terrorist attacks on radiation sources. https://attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff/wasatch-thunder/

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• August 2023: Teancum Quist successfully defends Ph.D. dissertation, "Modernizations in the Measurement and Analysis of Low-Flux Neutron Sources." Congratulations, Teancum!

 

• July 2023: Teancum Quist publishes, "Design, Modeling, and Initial Testing of a Multi-volume Neutron Spectrometer," with E. Cazalas as co-author.

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• June 2023: Dr. Cazalas chairs ANS Annual Meeting sessions in "IRD: Isotopes and Radiation," and "IRD: Radiation Detection and Imaging."

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• May 2023: Codey Olson and Jesse Snow publish, "An Experimental Validation of Spectrally Matched Neutron Detection Systems Using He-3 and BF3," with co-authors V. Wang, G. Sjoden, and E. Cazalas.

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• Nov 2022: Dr. Cazalas presents at IEEE-NSS Conference on, "Fast Real-time Dosimeter Development for FLASH Radiotherapy," with co-authors Codey Olson (Ph.D. student) and Dr. Geoff Nelson.

 

• Oct 2022: Dr. Cazalas and InnoSys Inc. awarded Phase II STTR grant by DoD with $500K going to University of Utah. Project entitled, "Methodologies to Develop Radiation Testing Environments for Survivable Microelectronics."

 

• Oct 2022: Dr. Cazalas co-authors poster with Hans Priesmeyer as lead author entitled, "Thermal Neutron Triggered Nuclear 'Hotspots': Can They Initiate D-D Fusion?" at European Nuclear Physics Conference.

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• July 2022: It is with great sadness that I report one of my students, Scott Miller, has passed away. I am very grateful to have known him and he will be remembered.

 

• May 2022: William Bates graduates with M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from University of Utah (Cazalas advising). Congratulations Will!

 

• May 2022: Scott Miller graduates with M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from University of Utah (Cazalas advising). Congratulations Scott!

 

• Mar 2022: Pre-WWII shielding cave moved and placed.

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• Mar. 2022: Codey Olson featured in Innovation at the University of Utah, https://lassonde.utah.edu/advancing-nuclear-research/

 

• Jan. 2022: Codey Olson and Will Bates publish, "Retrieval and Characterization of a Plutonium-beryllium Source at the University of Utah," in Health Physics Journal.

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• Dec. 2021: Dr. Cazalas awarded $80k (to UU) as PI with industry partner InnoSys Inc. entitled, "Methodologies to develop radiation testing environments for survivable microelectronics," as a Phase I STTR from DOD.

 

• Dec. 2021: Dr. Cazalas organizes and hosts IRD session at ANS Winter Conference, entitled, “Measurement techniques for nuclear security and radiation effects."

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• Dec. 2021: Codey Olsen presented at ANS Winter Conference, entitled, “Retrieval and characterization of plutonium beryllium source for new irradiation facility."

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• Oct. 2021: Jesse Snow presented at IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, entitled, “An Organic Perovskite-Graphene Device for Radiation Detection.”

 

• Oct. 2021: Dr. Cazalas awarded $40k (to UU) as Co-PI on "Perovskite-Graphene Energy Integrating Detector for X-ray Imaging," from NIH SBIR Phase I, with PI: Kendon Shirley (Kairos Detectors LLC.).

 

• Aug. 2021: Jesse Snow becomes Ph.D. student in CAZ-RAD group (Dr. Cazalas as committee chair).

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• July 2021: Dr. Cazalas assumes role as Faculty Advisor for the UU Chapter of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM).

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• July 2021: Teancum Quist presents at the LANL MCNP User Symposium, entitled, "Utilizing PTRAC for Time of Flight Detector Characterization."

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• May 2021: Jesse Snow graduates with M.S. in Nuclear Engineering (Dr. Cazalas as committee chair). Congrats, Jesse!

 

• May 2021: Teancum Quist and Codey Olson accepted into PNNL's Radiation Detection for Nuclear Security Summer School.

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• Feb. 2021: Teancum Quist receives "Best Student Paper" award, as given by the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division of ANS for his presentation on “MCNP modeling of a multi-volume neutron spectrometer,” at the 2020 Winter ANS Conference. Congrats, Teancum!

 

• Dec. 2020: Will Bates joins CAZ-RAD group as an M.S. researcher

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• Nov. 2020: Teancum Quist presents, "MCNP Modeling of a multi-volume neutron spectrometer," at the ANS Virtual Winter Conference, E. Cazalas as co-author.

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• Aug. 2020: Proposal team led by Dr. Cazalas awarded DOE NEUP grant ($617K total with $130K cost share) to upgrade the UUTR cooling system to 1 MW capacity. 

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• Jun. 2020: K. Powell et al., presents, "Photovoltaic Response of Thin-Film CdTe Solar Cells under Accelerated Neutron Radiation in a TRIGA Reactor," at the Electronic Materials Symposium (NSF), E. Cazalas as co-author.

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• Jun. 2020: Ryan Godin graduated from UU with a B.S. in E.E. Congrats Ryan!

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• May 2020: Aaron Fjeldsted graduates from the University of Utah with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. Congratulations, Aaron!

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• May 2020: Ryan Godin featured in CVEEN Newsletter.

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• Jan. 2020: Aaron Fjeldsted joins CAZ-RAD as an undergraduate researcher.

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• Nov. 2019: Dr. Cazalas publishes "Gamma-ray radiation effects in graphene-based transistors with h-BN nanometer film substrates."

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• Aug. 2019: Dr. Cazalas formally institutes CAZ-RAD (Cazalas Group of Radiation Detection, Effects, and Dosimetry).

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• Aug. 2019: Jesse Snow becomes an M.S. student in the Nuclear Program at UU.

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• July 2019: Maj. Matthew Recker (Air Force, AFIT) graduated from AFIT with Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering.

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• Jun. 2019: Codey Olson joins CAZ-RAD as a Ph.D. student.

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• Jun. 2019: Ryan Godin joins CAZ-RAD as an undergraduate researcher.

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• April 2019: William Erwin (AFIT, Ph.D. - Dr. Cazalas advising), Dr. Cazalas co-author, publishes "The gamma emission spectrum from the Fast Burst Reactor." Distribution DOD limited.

 

• Feb. 2019: Jesse Snow joins CAZ-RAD as an undergraduate researcher.

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• Dec. 2018: Dr. Cazalas publishes "Defending Cities Against Nuclear Terrorism: Analysis of A Radiation Detector Network for Ground Based Traffic."

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• Dec. 2018: Teancum Quist joins CAZ-RAD as a Ph.D. student.

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• Nov. 2018: Matthew Recker (AFIT, Ph.D. - Dr. Cazalas on Ph.D. committee), Dr. Cazalas co-author, presents "Comparison of SiPM and PMT performance using Cs2LiYCl6:Ce3+ (CLYC) scintillator with two optical windows." at IEEE-NSS, Sydney, Australia.

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• Oct. 2018: Matthew Recker (AFIT, Ph.D. - Dr. Cazalas on Ph.D. committee), Dr. Cazalas co-author, publishes "Pulse shape discrimination with a low-cost digitizer using commercial off-the-shelf components."

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• Aug. 2018: Dr. Cazalas hired into the Nuclear Engineering Program as Assistant Professor at the University of Utah.