Deputy Director, IDREAM EFRC
Deputy Director, IDREAM EFRC

Biography

Jay LaVerne, PhD, is a professional specialist and concurrent professor of radiation physics at the University of Notre Dame. He is the deputy director of the Ion Dynamics in Radioactive Environments and Materials (IDREAM) Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC), a multi-institution, multidisciplinary partnership led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to explore the complex chemical phenomena of radioactive waste. IDREAM is stewarded by the Basic Energy Sciences program in the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

Based in the Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory and Department of Physics, Professor LaVerne specializes in discovering radiation chemical effects with heavy ions. His recent scientific accomplishments include radiation track modeling, state selected decomposition of liquid aromatics, hydrogen atom formation in boehmite, radiation stability of uranyl clusters, and water decomposition within very short timeframes.

From his University of Notre Dame biography: Professor LaVerne's main research concerns examining the energy loss, charge, and other properties of ionizing radiation and elucidating the fundamental radiolytic decomposition of molecules and the subsequent kinetics of the reactive transients. Applications of this research are mainly focused on the nuclear power industry, such as reactor water chemistry, separations, and waste storage, but environmental and biological radiation effects are also considered. This work involves the development and use of a wide variety of experimental radiolysis techniques including beta radiolysis, gamma radiolysis, fast electron pulse radiolysis, and heavy ion radiolysis (protons to uranium), as well as the application and development of many analytical techniques in radiation chemistry. Experiments are complemented by theoretical physical track structure calculations and diffusion-kinetic chemical model calculations.

Research Interest

  • Experimental Heavy Ion Studies
  • Condensed Phase Radiolysis
  • Track Chemistry
  • Interfaces

Education

  • PhD in physical chemistry, University of Nebraska
  • BS in chemistry, Lamar University

Publications

Selected Publications