Webster receives the 2022 Nuclear Nonproliferation International Safeguards Graduate Fellowship

Congratulations to S. Owen Webster, NC State Nuclear Engineering doctoral student, is the recipient of the 2022 Nuclear Nonproliferation International Safeguards Graduate Fellowship (NNIS). This fellowship is administered by the Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of International Nuclear Safeguards (OINS). Their comprehensive, multi-million-dollar program is dedicated to developing policies, concepts, technologies, expertise, infrastructure, and the human capital necessary to sustain and enhance international nuclear safeguards. DOE NNSA is the principal federal sponsor of this NNIS Graduate Fellowship Program.

Owen is from Winston Salem NC and completed his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (2021) & Economics (2020) and a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Languages & Literatures – Asian Language Concentration (2020) degrees at NC State University before starting his PhD in Nuclear Engineering. His faculty adviser is Dr. Ge Yang, associate professor of nuclear engineering. Reflecting on this fellowship, Owen writes –

I am overjoyed to have been selected for an award so intertwined with my personal goals, and I am grateful to my advisor, recommenders, and everyone along the way. I primarily owe my relatively newfound passion for nuclear engineering to a growing understanding of how desperately we need to achieve global unilateral disarmament. Through previous work with Beyond the Bomb, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the Hiroshima Prefecture, and the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction, I have come to the inescapable conclusion that nuclear deterrence can and will eventually fail. This grim reality is compounded by the fact that all nine weapons states are either modernizing or expanding their stockpiles, all while destabilizing trends such as climate change and AI only heighten the risk of accidental or intentional nuclear conflict. Seriously contending with the dual use nature of the science that we love, nuclear engineers should work aggressively not only to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons abroad, but also sincerely work towards their complete eradication at home.

With the resources and guidance afforded to me by NNIS, I hope to contribute to the international safeguards’ regime, but also set its sights higher, and make unapologetic steps towards complete disarmament in accordance with Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Beyond that, I dream of contributing towards the wide adoption and enforcement of even more bold international agreements such as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), and otherwise challenging nuclear colonialism whenever possible.