UNM Professor Prinja elected fellow in the American Nuclear Society

May 13, 2003

UNM Professor Prinja elected fellow in the American Nuclear Society

Anil K. Prinja, professor in the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of New Mexico, has been elected Fellow of the American Nuclear Society (ANS).

“Being elected to the Fellow grade of the American Nuclear Society is a huge personal honor,” Prinja said. “It is a mark of peer recognition at the highest level and provides a validation of one’s professional work, although it is also humbling when I look at some of the names that preceded me.”

Prinja said being elected as an ANS Fellow also honors UNM.

“What is really satisfying about this award is that I am being honored for work done in large measure at UNM in conjunction with, and this is very significant, UNM students. In that sense, the award also honors UNM as an institution and directly speaks to the quality of scholarship at UNM. I take particular delight in this,” Prinja said.

Prinja also received the 2002-03 School of Engineering Senior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award.

Prinja joined the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Department at UNM in 1987 as an assistant professor of nuclear engineering, becoming associate professor in 1989, full professor in 1995, and associate chair in 2002. He also holds extended visiting professorships at UCLA and Chalmers University, Sweden. He is the associate editor of the publication, Annals of Nuclear Energy. He has approximately 100 publications in peer reviewed journals and has given more than 50 invited presentations, colloquia and seminars nationally and internationally.

He received his bachelor’s degree (1st class honors) in 1976 and his Ph.D. in 1980, both in nuclear engineering from the University of London, England. He then joined the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) initially as a post doctoral student then later served as a research faculty in nuclear engineering.

The American Nuclear Society is a not-for-profit, international, scientific and educational organization. It was established by a group of individuals who recognized the need to unify the professional activities within the diverse fields of nuclear science and technology. December 11, 1954, marks the Society’s historic beginning at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. ANS has since developed a membership composed of approximately 11,000 engineers, scientists, administrators, and educators representing more than 1,600 plus corporations, educational institutions and government agencies.

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