In this issue(*), we profile August Fern who graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1997 with a double major in Nuclear Engineering and Material Science Engineering. After 2 1/2 years with Andersen Consulting, she is now working for Utility.com, a new company “putting utilities and utility services online to deliver savings, reliability and convenience.” I asked August to talk about her involvement in the nuclear community.

Q: Describe your involvement, professional and/or “extra-curricular” in the field of nuclear science and technology?

A: While at Cal I was involved in a whole host of nuclear activities - ANS, the DC delegation, an exchange program with Russia. Since Cal, I have been Secretary, Vice-Chair, and most recently, Chair of the Northern California Section [NCS] of ANS. I was the American lead on the 1998 Forum “Youth and the Plutonium Challenge” [and] the Corporate Relations chair for the International Youth Nuclear Congress (IYNC) 2000.

Q: Ever since I first met you, you have had a strong connection with the YG from Russia. How did this get started?

A: Actually, quite randomly. When the 1995 Winter Meeting was held in San Francisco, I was president of the UC Berkeley student section. I received word through an elaborate network that the Nuclear Society of Russia was willing to host US students at their upcoming National meeting if we returned the favor. I had no budget but thought the idea was cool. We exchanged a few faxes and a couple of weeks later, Alexandre Tsyboulia and Serguei Klykov arrived in San Francisco. Since I had no budget, they stayed in the dank guest room of my student co-op, we scrounged for food, and there wasn’t much entertainment. But while here, they convinced me to take a chance and book a ticket to the NSR meeting in Moscow 3 weeks later, without any commitments for the $1200 plane fare (luckily the Northern California section, Berkeley’s NE department, and the College of Engineering chipped in). After these first couple of experiences, we realized the importance of international exchange and cooperation and worked to gather actual funding sources to implement future exchanges. These exchanges led to the Pu Forum and ultimately to IYNC.

Q: Do you have a mentor/role model in nuclear science & technology? Why that person?

A: I don’t have a single mentor or role model. However, I have been a participant in the Executive Committee meetings of the NCS pretty consistently since I was a sophomore (the president of the UC Berkeley student section is a member of the NCS Executive Committee). So effectively, the entire NCS executive committee has been my mentor. The ex-com members have years of experience in the nuclear industry and have seen just about everything come around at one point or another.

Q: What is your favorite nuclear experience? (e.g. public info, conference, facility tour, meal with someone, etc...)

A: My favorite nuclear experience? I don’t know if I have just one, there are lots of things that stand out:

• Talking with Congressional staff members about nuclear policy.
• Organizing the “Youth and the Plutonium Challenge” forum in Russia and having 3 U.S. senators show up.
• Having a one-on-one video interview with Dr. Glenn Seaborg for the Pu Forum.
• ANS Night at LaVal’s, sponsored by the Berkeley student section the first Friday of every month.
• Working on IYNC when we were at the early (and sometimes difficult) discussion phase at ENC 98 and seeing it through to a Congress with more papers than we could accommodate and participation from 33 countries.
• Meeting so many contacts (and friends) from around the world while participating in nuclear activities. Meeting all these cool and interesting people makes me want to stay involved in the nuclear industry.

(*) Beginning with this issue of GoNuke!, the YG Profile will be a regular feature. If you have feedback YG Profile, including suggestions for young professionals to be featured here, (whether it is a specific individual or a general type of person) or questions you would like to see asked, please send e-mail to ygprofile@na-ygn.org.