Volume 3, Number 2
September 2005

A History of the Texas A&M Student Chapter
By Karen Miller

The Texas A&M Chapter of the INMM began as an idea by William Charlton and Paul Nelson, professors in the nuclear engineering department at Texas A&M University. Texas A&M has been developing education in nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear materials management for several years, and it was recognized that students might benefit from additional learning “outside the classroom.”

During the fall 2004 semester, Charlton e-mailed several of his graduate students asking if they had any interest in building a student chapter of the INMM. Many of the students were already members of the INMM, had attended an INMM annual meeting or had interned with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Clearly, there was interest, and the students met with Charlton and Nelson to discuss the benefits of forming a new chapter. Attendance at this initial meeting exceeded expectations.

What will the students gain from having their own chapter? What will the INMM gain from a student chapter? Will students outside the nuclear engineering department want to join? All of these questions and more were discussed at that first informal meeting, and everyone walked away with a new sense of enthusiasm and excitement about starting the first student chapter in INMM history.

Texas A&M University has a long tradition of encouraging students to develop leadership skills, the so-called “Other Education,” and thus has a program designed to teach students how to build an organization from the ground up.

In order to become an officially recognized student organization, the founding members of the Texas A&M Chapter were required to apply for recognition, attend several training seminars, elect officers, write a constitution and receive approval from the university.

The training seminars focused on issues such as risk management, problem solving, setting up a Web site and using Texas A&M’s student organization financial system. They also outlined the elements required for a constitution, which include GPA requirements for the officers in addition to the standard sections of a constitution.

The chapter was recognized by the university during the spring 2005 semester and immediately applied for recognition by the INMM. Seven members of the INMM in the nuclear engineering department at Texas A&M signed a petition requesting chapter recognition and were approved at the subsequent INMM Executive Committee Meeting.

That spring, the Texas A&M Chapter hosted four general meetings that included guest speakers and student presentations. The chapter also received generous support from the Southwest Chapter.

This summer, Texas A&M students have participated in two INMM events: the Southwest Chapter’s Annual Taos Technical Meeting in May and the INMM 46th Annual Meeting in July.

Charlton and seven students attended the meeting in Taos, including Alexander Solodov and Karen Miller, who gave presentations on their research. Solodov presented his research at the INMM Annual Meeting along with recent Texas A&M graduate David Burk, who was one of two winners of INMM’s J. D. Williams Student Paper Award for 2005.

All of the Texas A&M students who attended the annual meeting were warmly welcomed and recognized at the business meeting and the awards banquet. Several INMM members volunteered to mentor students at the annual meeting at the conference and help the students meet more people. This proved to be very rewarding for the students.

Today, the Texas A&M Chapter of the INMM has about 25 members. With the start of the fall semester, the students will work to increase membership and participation from more departments at Texas A&M. They will also explore new fundraising opportunities so that more students will be able to attend conferences and INMM events. For more information about the Texas A&M Chapter, visit the Web site at http://inmm.tamu.edu.