Personal information

Nuclear Engineering, Lasers, Direct Energy Conversion, Diamond Films, Wide Band-Gap Materials, Plasmas

Biography

Mark A. Prelas is professor and director of research for the Nuclear Science and Engineering Institute at the University of Missouri. He is also an adjunct professor of nuclear engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology and an adjunct professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Dr. Prelas received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1979. He has received numerous awards and recognition including being named a Presidential Young Investigator by the National Science Foundation in 1984, was a Gas Research Institute Fellow in 1981 working on the production of fuels from inorganic resources, was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of New South Wales in 1992, was named a fellow of the American Nuclear Society in 1999, was a William C. Foster Fellow with the U.S. Department of State in 1999-2000 where he served as a science advisor for the Bureau of Arms Control and he received the Glenn Murphy Award from ASEE in 2009 for his contributions to nuclear engineering education and research. He has also served as the senior scientist on a Strategic Defense Initiative project at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy in 1987. In 2008 he was awarded the Frederick Joliot-Curie Medal from the Government of Russia and the Editorial Board of International Scientific Journal for Alternative Energy and Ecology for his contributions to the field of direct energy conversion and his pioneering work on the fabrication of photovoltaic cells from wide band-gap materials. He was awarded a TeXty by the Text and Academic Authors Association for Energy Resources and Systems Volume II: Renewables for best textbook in engineering and computer science in 2012. In 2017 he was named a fellow of the American Physical Society. He has over 30 years experience in direct energy conversion, the synthesis and applications of wide band-gap materials (including the fabrication of photovoltaic cells), directed energy weapons, advanced nuclear reactors (including space based systems), advanced nuclear reactor materials (including radiation hardening), hydrogen (storage and production), nuclear batteries, nonproliferation, chem/bio/nuclear sensors and gaseous electronics. He has published over 200 papers, 10 books and holds 20 national and international patents.

Activities

Employment (4)

University of Missouri Columbia: Columbia, MO, US

1979-08-20 to present | Professor (Nuclear Engineering)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas

US Department of State: Washington, DC, US

1999-08-20 to 2000-08-19 | Foster Fellow (Bureau of Arms Control)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas

University of New South Wales: Sydney, NSW, AU

1992-08-01 to 1993-01-20 | Fulbright Fellow (Physics)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas

Idaho National Laboratory: Idaho Falls, ID, US

1987-01-02 to 1988-01-01 | Sr. Scientist (Physics)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas

Education and qualifications (3)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Urbana, IL, US

1976-06-01 to 1979-12-17 | PhD (Nuclear Engineering)
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Urbana, IL, US

1975-08-21 to 1976-05-31 | MS (Nuclear Engineering)
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas

Colorado State University: Fort Collins, CO, US

1971-09-01 to 1975-06-10 | BS (Engineering Science)
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas

Professional activities (5)

Materials Research Society: Warrendale, PA, US

1991-08-01 to present
Membership
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas

American Society For Engineering Education: Washington D.C., District of Columbia, US

1981-01-01 to present | Member
Membership
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas

IEEE: New York, NY, US

1977-08-01 to present | Senior Member
Membership
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas

American Physical Society: College Park, MD, US

1977-08-01 to present | Fellow
Membership
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas

American Nuclear Society: IL, IL, US

1977-08-01 to present | Fellow
Membership
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas

Funding (4)

Presidential Young Investigator: Interactions Between Wall Materials and a Hot Plasma Interface

1984-07-01 to 1990-06-30 | Grant
National Science Foundation - Directorate for Engineering (n/a, US)
GRANT_NUMBER: 8352345
GRANT_NUMBER: 8352345
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas via DimensionsWizard
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Excimer Research Using Nuclear-Pumped Facilities

1983-10-15 to 1985-03-31 | Grant
National Science Foundation (n/a, US)
GRANT_NUMBER: 8302771
GRANT_NUMBER: 8302771
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas via DimensionsWizard
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Specialized Research Equipment: a Transient Recorder and Control Unit For Research in Nucleonics

1982-02-15 to 1983-07-31 | Grant
National Science Foundation - Directorate for Engineering (n/a, US)
GRANT_NUMBER: 8115341
GRANT_NUMBER: 8115341
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas via DimensionsWizard
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Research Initiation - Steady State Nuclear Pumped Laser Research 005771

1980-05-15 to 1982-10-31 | Grant
National Science Foundation - Directorate for Engineering (n/a, US)
GRANT_NUMBER: 8006668
GRANT_NUMBER: 8006668
Source: Self-asserted source
Mark Prelas via DimensionsWizard
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎