Areg Danagoulian is an Associate Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT. He did his PhD research in Experimental Nuclear Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Areg’s PhD thesis focused on experiments that used real Compton scattering on the proton at 2-6 GeV, allowing to probe the proton's internal structure and understand how it couples to external excitations. After his PhD Areg worked at Los Alamos as a postdoctoral researcher, and then as a senior scientist at Passport Systems, Inc. (PSI). At PSI Areg focused on the development of Prompt Neutron from Photofission (PNPF) technique, which allows to rapidly detect shielded fissionable materials in the commercial cargo traffic. Areg's current research interests focus on nuclear physics applications in nuclear security, such areas nuclear nonproliferation, technologies for treaty verification, nuclear safeguards, and cargo security. Current specific research areas include:
- nuclear disarmament verification via resonant phenomena
- monoenergetic photon sources from nuclear reactions for achieving high precision cargo radiography
Other areas of interest involve new detection concepts, and applications of information theory to non-proliferation.
Selected Publications
- E. M. Engel, A. Danagoulian, “A physically cryptographic warhead verification system using neutron induced nuclear resonances,” Nature Communications, vol. 10 (2019) 1
- Jayson R Vavrek, Brian S Henderson, Areg Danagoulian, “Experimental demonstration of an isotope-sensitive warhead verification technique using nuclear resonance fluorescence,” Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115 (2018) 17
- Brian S. Henderson, Hin Y. Lee, Thomas D. MacDonald, Roberts G. Nelson, Areg Danagoulian, “Experimental Demonstration of Multiple Monoenergetic Gamma Radiography for Effective Atomic Number Identification in Cargo Inspection,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 123 (2018) 17
- J. Hecla, A. Danagoulian, “Nuclear Disarmament Verification via Resonant Phenomena,” Nature Communications, vol. 9 (2018) 1
- R.S. Kemp, A. Danagoulian, R.R. Macdonald, J.R. Vavrek, “Physical Cryptographic Verification of Nuclear Warheads,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 113 (2016) 31
- B.E. O’Day III, Z.S. Hartwig, R.C. Lanza, A. Danagoulian, “Initial Results from a Multiple Monoenergetic Gamma Radiography System for Nuclear Security,” Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, vol. 832 (2016) pp. 68–76
For a more complete list see the following:
Our Research In the News
- "How to dismantle a nuclear bomb", MIT News
- "Scientists have a new technique for verifying a dismantled nuke", Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
- "MIT scientists have figured out a way to tell if a nuclear weapon is real or fake...", Business Insider
- "Nuclear Weapons Inspection: Encryption System Could Thwart Spies and Expose Hoaxes, IEEE Spectrum
- "Keeping tabs on nuclear weapons", BBC Science in Action
- "For nuclear weapons reduction, a way to verify without revealing", MIT News
- "Gamma-ray method flags up nuclear stashes" Nature News
- "Nuclear Needles in Cargo Haystacks", APS News
- "Remember that time the US thought about nuking the moon?", Vice Magazine
Students and postdocs
Alumni
- 2LT Ezra Engel
- Dr. Jayson Vavrek: currently postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Dr. Brian Henderson: postdoctoral researcher, Currently VP of Engineering at Lantern UAS
- Dr. COL Buck O'Day: assistant professor at Air Force Institute of Technology
- MAJ Jill Rahon: lecturer at West Point Academy
- 2LT Roberts Nelson
- Jeremiah Collins
- Jake Hecla: currently a PhD student in UC Berkeley
Contact info
Office: 24-220, MIT
Email: aregjan@mit.edu