Kati Austgen is a Senior Project Manager for New Reactors at the Nuclear Energy Institute. She specializes in advocacy for all new reactor technologies, including large light-water reactors, small modular reactors, non-light-water reactors, and micro-reactors. Kati leads the NEI New Reactor Regulatory Working Group which is focused on providing industry coordination and strategic guidance on key generic licensing and regulatory issues for new reactors. Their efforts to resolve regulatory issues and implement recommendations for ensuring a modern and efficient regulatory framework are aimed at ensuring viability of multiple Advanced Reactor deployments by 2030. Kati holds a Bachelor and Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering from Oregon State University and the University of Missouri, respectively.

Dr. Kemal Pasamehmetoglu has been with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) since 2004, currently serving as the Executive Director for the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) Project. He was instrumental in the launch of the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative and initially served as the director for GAIN after its inception. Prior to his time at INL, he held senior technical leadership positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory where he worked between 1986 and 2004. He holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Central Florida and has more than 30 years of research and engineering experience within the Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratory system.

Caroline Cochran is the COO and co-founder of Oklo, a Sunnyvale, California based company working on advanced fission clean power technology. She has worked with energy technologies that span natural gas, oil, nuclear, and solar. Prior to graduate school, she was a program manager at the University of Oklahoma where she was part of establishing a technology commercialization program. She received her SM in NSE from MIT, a BA in Economics, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma.

Eric Loewen has worked for 35 years in nuclear science and technology in the nuclear navy, nuclear waste processing, and now as Chief Consulting Engineer, Advanced Plants Technology at GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy.

Loewen joined the Idaho National Laboratory in 1999 where he contributed to the development of a Generation IV lead-bismuth cooled reactor. He was Director of Research, Molten Metal Technology in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Loewen has received several awards, including the 2018 NAYGN Continental SENSEI Award. He has 18 issued patents and has served as President of American Nuclear Society. Loewen received his BA in Chemistry and Math with a minor in Physics from Western State College and, MS in Nuclear Engineering and PhD in Engineering Physics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Niko McMurray is the Senior Program Director for Nuclear Energy at ClearPath. In this role, he develops and advances ClearPath’s policies on nuclear energy as part of the organization’s broader focus on clean energy and industrial innovation. Niko builds and maintains stakeholder relationships across private industry and the federal government to develop these policies. He also produces research insights pertaining to ongoing nuclear energy legislative, regulatory, and innovation activities, and he educates policy-makers on recent nuclear energy initiatives and ClearPath priorities.

Prior to joining ClearPath, Niko was a Materials Engineer at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. While at the NRC, he developed and provided technical guidance on materials, component integrity, and licensing topics for new and advanced nuclear reactors.

Niko holds a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University.

Tom Nixon has more than 30 years of experience in building and leading high-performance teams with his entire career spent at Bechtel, primarily in the nuclear power industry.
Currently, Tom is serving as project manager for the conceptual design of the Versatile Test Reactor. Tom’s responsibilities include transitioning the existing team from conceptual design to a preliminary/final design approach using experiences from all three aspects of project inception to completion (i.e., Engineering, Procurement, Construction).
Additionally, Tom has held leadership roles on nuclear projects at Columbia Nuclear Plant and San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station; and civil engineering leadership roles at Fort Calhoun, North Anna, Davis Besse, Qinshan, and the Department of Energy Savannah River Site.

Randy Stark is the Director of the Fuels, High Level Waste and Chemistry businesses within the Nuclear Sector at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

Stark has spent over 25 years in the nuclear industry, including the last 15 years at EPRI, where he has successfully managed both BWR and PWR materials programs as well as chemistry, radiation safety, fuels, high and low level waste and decommissioning programs.

Stark received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Santa Clara University.  He also holds a Master’s of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and a Master’s in Business Administration from Santa Clara University.