What do you think of when you imagine a nuclear engineer? The Simpsons? A 50-something white male? Someone boring and anti-social? A scientist locked in a lab with glowing radioactive liquid?

The I'm a Nuke campaign was formed to change the image of the nuclear engineer and show the public that we are real people with diverse interests. We all became nuclear engineers for different reasons and have done many different things with our degrees and careers.

Meet Melanie, a nuclear engineering graduate student at MIT. She's from Montreal, has a Bachelor's in music, and describes herself as a "super hippie environmentalist." Her first memories of nuclear energy came from The Simpsons and the three-eyed fish in the lake on the show. She later realized that nuclear energy did not create three-eyed fish and that it could be used to power the world in a "green" way. 

Melanie studies heat transfer at MIT, meaning that she figures out how to optimize the heat transfer from the reactor to the water/steam that spins the turbines, which then makes electricity. Thus, she is working on making nuclear power plants even more efficient. Watch Melanie's full interview below.

Nuclear undone is a new grassroots movement to challenge your thinking about nuclear energy and nuclear security issues. The political, social, and technical challenges brought on by the atomic age are complex and difficult to discern. This initiative works to "undo" these complex problems and present them in a way in which the general public can understand so that you can have well-informed opinions about nuclear issues. Thus allowing you to make educated decisions about which policies to support and not support on the local, national, and international level. 

We want to hear your questions and concerns about anything nuclear. Fill out the contact form and Nuclear Undone will work to find the answers to your inquires by accessing a large network of technical and policy experts. This website is for you to learn and not to pass on the agenda of the nuclear industry or government.

My name is Lenka Kollar and I am the owner and editor of Nuclear Undone. I am a nuclear engineer educated at Purdue University in the United States. Formerly a researcher at Argonne National Laboratory and the National Nuclear Security Administration, I am now spending my career educating people about nuclear issues. To learn more about me, visit my website.