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Education
- Degree: Ph.D.
- Year:
- Institution and Location
  University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Major Discipline
  Quantum Engineering and System Sciences
- Degree: M.S.
- Year:
- Institution and Location
  University of California, Berkeley, CA
- Major Discipline
  Nuclear Engineering
- Degree: B.S.
- Year:
- Institution and Location
  Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
- Major Discipline
  Nuclear Engineering

Karen Vierow Kirkland

Associate Department Head, Associate Professor, Department of Nuclear Engineering

Department(s): Nuclear Engineering
Campus: Texas A&M University

Contact Information

Phone: 979-458-0600
E-mail: vierow@tamu.edu

Personal/Dept/Lab URL:
http://engineering.tamu.edu/nuclear/people/vierow-karen

Research Topic(s)

Hydrogen production; Nuclear safety and security; Electric power generation and storage; Modeling, simulation and optimization of energy systems

Research Summary

My research focuses on fundamental thermal hydraulics phenomena and nuclear reactor safety analysis. Current research programs include studies of steam-water and air-water counter-current flow limitation in large diameter pipes; long-term containment cooling for Boiling Water Reactors under Station Blackout conditions; reactor safety system design; and severe accident analysis, in which core damage has occurred. My Laboratory for Nuclear Heat Transfer Systems is equipped with a 150-kW steam generator, four test sections, state-of-the-art flow measurement devices and a National Instruments data acquisition system. Analytical capabilities include MELCOR and RELAP5-3D reactor safety codes, VIPRE subchannel code and GOTHIC thermal hydraulic code.

Professional Background

2006-Present	Associate Professor (tenured effective Sep 2009), Department of Nuclear Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
2001-2006	Assistant Professor, School of Nuclear Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
1993-2000	Assistant Chief Engineer, Nuclear Power Engineering Corporation
1990-1993	Engineer, General Electric Nuclear Energy
1988-1990	Research Assistant, Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
1987-1988	Visiting Researcher, Hitachi Energy Research Laboratory

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Karen Vierow Kirkland

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