Fission Engineering and Nuclear Energy
Energy Technology Management & Policy
Kent F. Hansen
Professor Emertius of Nuclear Engineering
S.B., Nuclear Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1953; Sc.D., Nuclear Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1958
Nuclear energy policy and management; nuclear plant operations and simulation.
Modeling of DOD Research and Development Programs
The United States Department of Defense is a very large sponsor of research in the United States. The science and technology R&D budget is about $7 billion per year. The Department is interested in developing models of the impacts of R&D on defense capabilities in the future. Our current project is aimed at creating quantitative models of the effects of budget allocations between phases of research and research output.
The three phases of science and technology budgeting are identified as Basic Research, Applied Research, and Advanced Development. The long-term productivity of the system is sensitive to allocations between the three phases. Our project is modeling one sector of defense R&D to generate a system dynamics model of the historic evolution of the technology. Work to date has focused upon such matters as mechanical design of aircraft, propulsion systems, and electronic controls. Programs at research facilities in all three service areas have been reviewed. Our future work anticipates including a broader review of the R&D program of each service, as well as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Richard K. Lester
Professor of Nuclear Engineering; Director, Industrial Performance Center.
BS '74 Imperial College, University of London; PhD '79 (nuclear engineering) MIT.
Industrial productivity and competitiveness; public management of technology; energy and environmental technology and innovation.
The Industrial Performance Center
As director of the Industrial Performance Center, I work with students and faculty from all five of MIT's schools (Science, Engineering, Management, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Architecture and Planning) on a broad range of multidisciplinary research projects concerning the uses of science and technology in industry and the implications of these developments for society and the global economy. The main areas of research at the Industrial Performance Center (IPC) at present concern: (1) globalization and the location of core productive activities; (2) local systems of innovation; and (3) technology and the changing nature of work.
I am currently leading an international project on the technological transformation of local economies and the role of universities in this process. Our research team is analyzing and comparing the economic performance of more than twenty regions in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. In a related IPC project, another interdisciplinary research team is investigating the consequences of globalization and industrial re-organization for productivity, innovation, and job creation in five major industries.
My research and teaching in the field of energy and environmental technology emphasizes the importance of simultaneously considering the technical, economic, political, environmental, and international aspects of the innovation in question. A recent example of this integrated approach is the MIT Study on the Future of Nuclear Power in which I participated along with faculty colleagues from the Nuclear Science and Engineering Department and several other MIT departments. I have a longstanding interest in the fields of nuclear technology and waste management and regulation. Recent student theses in this area include assessments of alternative arrangements for improving the security of nuclear materials around the world, and of alternative strategies for regulating high level waste repositories.
