Home About News Rackham Alumna Helps Lead Development of World’s First Mass-Produced Microreactor Rackham Alumna Helps Lead Development of World’s First Mass-Produced Microreactor Rita Baranwal serves as chief nuclear officer of Radiant, a start-up developing small, portable nuclear reactors. January 26, 2026 | Rackham Graduate School Categories: Alumni Spotlights News As the first chief nuclear officer at the start-up Radiant, Rita Baranwal (M.S. M.S.E. ’96, Ph.D. ’98) is helping lead the development of the next evolution of nuclear energy: microreactors. Designed to be built in a factory and trucked to military facilities, data centers, factories, or even small towns, where they can provide power for years without refueling or maintenance, microreactors promise new, versatile energy solutions. With a fueled test of its new reactor scheduled for 2026—the first such test of a new commercial reactor in the United States in 50 years—Baranwal and her colleagues at Radiant hope their work leads to the first mass-produced microreactor in the world. Baranwal received her master’s and Ph.D. degrees in materials science and engineering from U-M. She has previously worked at Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, the Idaho National Laboratory, Westinghouse Electric Company, and served as the U.S. assistant secretary of energy for nuclear energy from 2019 to 2021. Read more at Michigan Engineering News. Tags: alumni alumni spotlight Materials Science and Engineering news
Pioneering Accessibility: Early Computing, Screen Readers, and New Tech January 28, 2026 | Rackham Graduate School Brought together at U-M in the early 1960s, Rackham alumni Jim Thatcher and Jesse Wright went on to create IBM’s first screen readers for blind and low-vision computer users. Over six decades later, a Rackham alum and his faculty mentors are preparing the next leap in accessible computing. Alumni Spotlights
Are You Not Entertained? February 3, 2026 | Rackham Graduate School Rackham classical studies Ph.D. candidate Alanna Heatherly looks at how ancient athletes used pain to shape their identities—and how we can still learn from their experiences today. Student Spotlights
