For Adrien Couet, one of the most important long-term questions in nuclear engineering is how we can design materials for nuclear reactors and power plants that will be able to withstand the demanding pressures of an aggressive environment.

Couet, who recently joined the Department of Engineering Physics as an assistant professor, studies how materials, their environment, and the stresses with which they come into contact, tend to couple in ways that are less than fortuitous for the maintenance and safety of a nuclear power plant.