By Grant Guggisberg
Division of Communications and Marketing
MANHATTAN — The Carl R. Ice College of Engineering at Kansas State University, with recent approval from the Kansas Board of Regents, will add nuclear engineering as its 15th Bachelor of Science degree program.Offered through the Alan Levin Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, the curriculum of 123 credit hours will be officially available in fall 2025.
Nuclear engineers impact the world through designing and improving reliable, efficient nuclear energy generation; developing life-saving innovations in medical imaging, treatments and therapies; and contributing to national security through the advancement of nuclear safety, radiation protection and defense technology.The degree was previously offered at K-State beginning in 1952 and ending in 1996, when the nuclear engineering and mechanical engineering departments merged. The bachelor's degree program was discontinued due to a nationwide decline in perceived demand for nuclear engineers; instead, the college has since offered nuclear engineering as a sub-plan within the mechanical engineering curriculum.In adding the bachelor's program back into its offerings, K-State will again offer nuclear engineering degrees at all levels.
The university continues to be the exclusive home to a nuclear engineering program at any level in Kansas. Additionally, the TRIGA Mark II Nuclear Reactor Facility in Ward Hall is one of only 25 university research reactors in the nation and the only such facility in the state."We've seen substantial increases in the number of students interested in pursuing our nuclear engineering option within the mechanical engineering bachelor's degree program," said Amir Bahadori, nuclear engineering program director and associate professor in the mechanical and nuclear engineering department. "K-State already has nuclear-option graduates working for highly visible entities, such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and Evergy, as well as many of the country's top national laboratories. Adding this undergraduate degree will further strengthen K-State as a regional leader in this field.