PNNL

Megan Higley is a mechanical engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). She began her journey at the laboratory in 2021 with the first of two internships after completing her master's degree at the University of Nevada, Reno. Prior to this, Higley had internships at Aix-Marseille University in Marseille, France, and at Argonne National Laboratory. She started working full-time at PNNL in 2023 and completed her PhD in 2024. In October 2024, Higley was among four PNNL staff members recognized with awards at the annual meeting of AIChE, the world’s leading organization for chemical engineering professionals.

• Computational Fluid Dynamics
• Discrete Simulation Monte Carlo
• ANSYS Fluent
• STAR-CCM+
• Thermal Analysis
• Data Analysis

PhD in mechanical engineering, University of Nevada, Reno

MS in mechanical engineering, University of Nevada, Reno

BS in mechanical engineering, University of Nevada, Reno

Graduate Certificate in Nuclear Packaging, University of Nevada, Reno

• President, UNR Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student Association, 2020
• Graduate Student President, UNR American Nuclear Society, 2020 

• Nuclear Power Fellow, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2019
• Graduate Dean’s Merit Scholarship, University of Nevada, Reno, 2020
• Roy G. Post Foundation Scholarship, 2021

Higley M., M. Greiner, and M. Hadj-Nacer. 2024. "Uncertainty quantification of thermal gap widths on internal temperatures in the TN-32B HBU demo cask." Progress in Nuclear Energy, vol. 169, p. 105064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnucene.2024.105064.

Higley M., M. Hadj-Nacer, and M. Greiner. 2023. "Effect of basket/rail gap on temperature prediction in the TN-32 cask under storage and drying conditions." Nuclear Engineering and Design, vol. 407, p. 112296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2023.112296.

Jensen B. J., S. R. Suffield, and M. E. Higley. 2022. “Computational Fluid Dynamic Modeling of Dry Cask Simulator with Crosswind.” In Proceedings of the ASME 2022 Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Las Vegas, NV, July 17–22, 2022, Volume 5, Paper No. PVP2022-84090, V005T07A026. PNNL-SA-169740. https://doi.org/10.1115/PVP2022-84090.

Richmond D. J., S. R. Suffield, J. A. Fort, and M. E. Higley. 2022. Uncertainty in Thermal Modeling of Spent Nuclear Fuel Casks. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory PNNL-33409. Richland, WA.