Dr. BARBARA SZPUNAR, P. Eng.
email: B.Szpunar@usask.ca
tel.: work: 306-966-6462
Recent
research highlights:
·
First
principles, predictive simulations of properties of accident tolerant and
recycled nuclear fuels
·
Physical &
chemical properties of nuclear materials and radiation damage
·
Semi-empirical
simulations of physical & chemical properties of materials
·
Multidisciplinary
studies of reactor safety
·
Accidents in
nuclear reactors:
o Oxidation
o Diffusion
and fission product transport
·
Artificial
transmutation
o Medical
isotopes production
o Nuclear
waste treatment
Career Objective: To apply my multidisciplinary experience in computer
simulations in studies of nuclear and advanced materials. Teaching of multidisciplinary
courses.
Work Experience:
Canada: Senior Research Scientists,
Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Saskatchewan; Physicist, Fuel
Channel and Fuel Safety Branch, Chalk River Laboratories, Atomic Energy of
Canada Limited; Postdoctoral Fellow and Adjunct Associate Professor, Physics
Department, Chemistry Department and Department of Materials and Metallurgy,
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada and Royal Military College.
After working for over seven years at Atomic Energy Canada Limited (AECL) where
I pursued my interest in the simulations of accidents in CANDU and Advanced
CANDU reactors (ACR) I moved to the University of Saskatchewan (Physics and
Engineering Physics) with my husband with whom I collaborates on materials for
clean energy. The main goal of my early research has been to model the
structure and properties of complex materials. I have been involved in the
following research topics: the influence of the structural disorder on the
magnetic and elastic properties of nanocrystalls;
electronic structure of high temperature superconductors; magnetism of textured
polycrystalline industrial magnets; finite element calculations for
nondestructive testing by remote electromagnetic fields; molecular dynamics
simulations of hydrogen diffusion; Mapping Monte Carlo simulations for
microstructures and porosity during the process of solidification.
International: Visiting Scientist,
Max Planck Institut für Festkörperforschung, Stuttgart, Germany (Electronic
structure of buckyballs); Visiting Scientist,
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA (Electronic
structure of Mott insulators (GW corrections)). Other Institutions I have been
working at: Chemistry Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA;
Physics Department, Durham University, Durham, England; School of Mathematical
and Physical Science, University of Sussex, Brighton, England; National
Laboratory, Riso, Denmark; Department of Solid State
Physics, Academy of Mining and Metallurgy, Krakow, Poland. Topics of research area
were: electronic structure calculations; theory of magnetism of the rare-earth
transition metals alloys; theory of metal hydrides; surfaces studies of
transition metals; magnetism of textured polycrystalline industrial magnets; micromagnetism; magnetocrystalline
anisotropy.
Computer Skills: Fortran (it is the fastest language for scientific
calculations), c, c++, Java, HTML, Web Page Design, MAPLE,
MATHEMATICA, MATLAB, COMSOL, extensive use of Compute Canada supercomputers (https://computecanada.ca),
familiarity with SUN, SP2 and SG
(system administrator) workstations, Main Frame, Cray.
Education:
Publications: ~200 publications and over 60 AECL
technical documents. My RG (Research Gate) score
is 33.9 (higher than 93% members) and my h (citation/impact) index is 23 (i10-index:
45).
Professional Affiliations: Professional Engineer of Ontario; Canadian
Nuclear Society; Women in Nuclear: I am a member of the Saskatchewan Chapter
(also covers Alberta) and also joined WIM/WIN leadership team; Co-editor of
Physics International: http://thescipub.com/pi.toc
Awards: Minister's Individual Award for research achievement.