Principal Investigators
R. Scott Kemp is an Associate Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and director of the MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy. His research combines physics, engineering, and the history of science to draw more clearly the limits and policy options for achieving international security under technical constraints. (more...)
Michael Short is an Associate Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT. He is a metallurgist with interests in measuring the fundamental mechanisms of radiation damage. His research with LNSP includes nuclear forensics and environmental detection of clandestine plants. (more...)
Areg Danagoulian is an Associate Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT. He received his S.B. degree in physics from MIT and Ph.D. in Experimental Nuclear Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on radiation measurements for nuclear security applications. (more...)
Jake Hecla is an Assistant Professor jointly appointed in the departments of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Nuclear Science and Engineering. His research interests focus on nuclear thermal propulsion, micro-reactors, and advanced radiation detection techniques. Hecla holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in nuclear engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and an S.B. in nuclear science and engineering from MIT. (more…)
Research Staff
Richard C. Lanza is a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT. His interests are primarily in the area of developing novel techniques and instrumentation for nuclear and radiation detection, including for the detection of special nuclear materials. (more...)
Lisbeth Gronlund is a Research Affiliate of LNSP. She holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Cornell University and has worked on technical and policy issues related to nuclear weapons, missile defenses, and space weapons for over three decades. (more...)
David Wright is a Research Affiliate of LNSP. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University. He has worked on arms control and international security issues since 1988, researching technical aspects of nuclear weapons policy, missile defense systems, missile proliferation, hypersonic weapons, and space weapons. (more...)
Christopher Fichtlscherer is a Postdoctoral Fellow at LNSP. His research focuses on vulnerabilities in critical nuclear infrastructure, nuclear disarmament verification technologies, risks of proliferation, radiation transport as well as detector modelling. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics from RWTH Aachen University (Germany), an M.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Hamburg, and B.S. degrees in Physics and Mathematics from TU Darmstadt. (more…)
Non-Resident Affiliates
Lucas Arthur is a Ph.D. student in the MIT Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. He received his S.B. degree in physics with a minor in political science from MIT in 2021 and worked for two years as a research scientist at LNSP. Lucas works primarily on asteroid detection and consults on ballistic missile guidance. (more…)
Natalie Montoya is an M.D. Ph.D. student at University of California, Irvine. She received her S.B. degree in Nuclear Engineering from MIT in 2021. Natalie has worked on nuclear-war planning, strategic strike options, and conventional counterforce for LNSP. (more…)
Eli Sanchez is a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow in the MIT Security Studies Program. He received his Ph.D. in Nuclear Science and Engineering from MIT in 2024 and holds an undergraduate degree in chemistry with a minor in physics from the University of Texas at Dallas. He currently studies the survival of strategic submarines. (more...)
Jenifer Shafer is Associate Professor of Chemistry at the Colorado School of Mines. She works on f-elements relevant to solid-liquid and liquid-liquid separations chemistry. She collaborates with LNSP on radiochemistry topics, and in particular, on the detection of ultra-trace effluents from clandestine nuclear facilities. (more…)
Rachel Carr is a Pappalardo Fellow at the MIT Department of Physics. Her background is in experimental particle physics. Rachel was previously an AIP-ASA Congressional Science Fellow in the U.S. Senate And a Stanton Fellow at LNSP. She received a PhD in Physics from Columbia University and a BA in Physics and Philosophy from the University of Virginia.