FALL 2026 WEEKLY COLLOQUIUM SERIES
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 20262:55 PM Pizza & Drinks3:05 PM–4:20 PM TalkBiological Sciences Room 247Zoom Link | 
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U.S. Nuclear Power: Then, Now, and Next
Follow-Up Talk
Dr. Ondrej Chvala
University of Texas at Austin
In this follow-up talk to the colloquium on September 10, Dr. Chvala will explain how Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs) can eliminate nuclear waste, improve safety, and reduce cost. He will also address radiation concerns and discuss how funding works for new nuclear projects.
BIOSKETCH
Dr. Ondrej Chvala is a Senior Research Scientist at the Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory (NETL) in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, where he leads reactor-physics support for the NETL TRIGA digital twin and the Molten Salt Research Reactor, developing SCALE-based modeling in support of its R&D and licensing. He earned his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Charles University in Prague and began his career in experimental high-energy physics with the PHENIX and NA49 collaborations at RHIC and CERN before turning to computational reactor physics, where he has spent over two decades developing neutronics, fuel-cycle, and system-dynamics tools for molten salt and advanced reactors, most recently as a full-time research professor at the University of Tennessee.
Dr. Chvala has authored more than 500 scholarly works, including over 250 journal articles (h-index 71 on Google Scholar), and has taught reactor physics and mentored more than 30 graduate and undergraduate researchers. His research spans molten salt reactor physics, nuclear fuel cycles and safeguards, machine learning and high-performance computing, and detector development.
Fall 2026 Colloquium Schedule
(will be updated throughout the semester)
Meets every Thursday in Biological Sciences Room 247
2:55 PM Pizza & Drinks · 3:05 PM–4:20 PM Talk
Date | Invited Speaker | Institution | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
09/03/2026 | Department Faculty | California State University, Los Angeles | Department Research Opportunities (Meet & Greet) |
09/10/2026 | Ondrej Chvala | University of Texas at Austin | U.S. Nuclear Power: Then, Now, and Next |
09/17/2026 | Christine Nattrass | University Tennessee, Knoxville | Making the most out of comparing data and models |
09/24/2026 | Barry Weissman | David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA | Secrets of Corneal Physiology |
10/01/2026 | Shawn Pollard | University of Memphis | Disorder by Design: Controlling Composition in Ferrimagnets for High-Speed, Low-Power Spintronics |
10/08/2026 | Seth Linker | California State University, Los Angeles | Characterizing and Mitigating Scatterers in Optical Coatings for Gravitational Wave Detection |
10/15/2026 | Yannis Semertzidis | Institute for Basic Science’s Center for Axion and Precision Physics Research | Conquering the High-Frequency Axion Range |
10/22/2026 | Axel Drees | Stony Brook University | Trillions of Collisions, One Perfect Liquid: The Legacy of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider |
10/29/2026 | Ondrej Chvala | University of Texas at Austin | U.S. Nuclear Power: Then, Now, and Next; Follow-Up |
11/05/2026 | Rahul Patel |
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11/12/2026 | M.S. Student Research | California State University, Los Angeles | |
11/19/2026 | Sara Callori | California State University, San Bernardino | From Myth to Material: A Materials Physics Perspective on Adamantium |
11/26/2026 | Thanksgiving – Campus Closed | ||
12/03/2026 | Megan Connors | ||
12/10/2026 | Jonathan Daniel | ||
Archived access to the Zoom recording of Dr. Caitlin Duffy's talk from October 9, 2025, "When Metals Become Strange"
Note: You will be prompted to login to Zoom; use passcode: 0#U@FS5$
