Jeffrey Favorite

[M.S.N.E. 1994, Ph.D. NE 1998]
Member, Technical Staff
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, New Mexico

I decided to do graduate study at Georgia Tech because, after graduating from Tech with my bachelor's degree, I knew the professor I wanted to work with and the project that I wanted to work on. I think this is a testament to how the faculty looks after its undergrads.

My graduate school experience prepared me well for a career in applied theoretical and computational transport theory at a national laboratory. In graduate school my research topic combined applied mathematics with nuclear reactor physics. Although I don't deal directly with reactor physics any more, I learned some important tools for approaching many physical problems, tools that I do use in my job. Also, in graduate school I worked independently on my thesis project, but I worked on large teams for two major design projects. Both skills are very important at the lab.

The major strengths of the Woodruff School are its faculty and staff. My advisor was one of the pioneers in the field of my research, and the rest of the faculty are also experts in their fields. The management of the Woodruff School was always helpful, supportive, and attentive. I was always encouraged to publish my work and supported to attend meetings. I really felt like the entire School was my ally in obtaining my Ph.D. Another strength is the support from the rest of the Institute. The faculty in the other departments is very strong. Also, the central computing facility has high-performance computers available for special projects.

The nuclear engineering graduate program is outstanding. There are high-quality facilities available for both computational and experimental research, and the faculty is especially good. These are the main reasons that I took my Ph.D. at Georgia Tech.