Paul Wilson is the Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering in the University of Wisconsin-Madison‘s Department of Engineering Physics. His research interests focus on developing improved tools for computational modeling of complex nuclear energy systems, with applications in radiation shielding, nuclear waste management, nuclear non-proliferation and energy policy. Paul joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an assistant professor in August 2001 as part of the Energy Systems and Policy Hiring Initiative. Paul currently serves on the Program Committee of the Energy Analysis and Policy Graduate Certificate , the Executive Committee of the Wisconsin Energy Institute and the Governance Committee of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.

In addition to the research pursued by his Computational Nuclear Engineering Research Group (CNERG), Paul has served in a number of advisory and consultant roles. From 2001-2003, he was a member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Generation IV Technology Roadmap Committee. In 2010, he was engaged as a consultant to the CEA Saclay, ERC Petten, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Energy Future.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and raised in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada, Paul specialized in the Nuclear Power option of theEngineering Science program at the University of Toronto. After receiving his Bachelor of Applied Science in Engineering Science, he began his graduate schooling in nuclear engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After three years, he moved to Karlsruhe, Germany, where he studied in the Institute for Neutron Physics and Reactor Engineering (of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), earning his Dr.-Ing. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1998. Returning to Madison, Paul completed his Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering in 1999.

Paul was the founding President of the North American Young Generation in Nuclear [NA-YGN], an organization created to provide unique opportunities to young professionals in all fields of nuclear science & technology. Paul has been active in the American Nuclear Society for over 15 years, including membership in various committees and chairing the Student Sections Committee and the Special Committee on Electronic Communications and Publications. Paul also represented the ANS and NA-YGN at the international climate change negotiations in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1998), and Bonn, Germany (1999). He is a member of the American and Canadian Nuclear Societies, the American Society for Engineering Education and the NA-YGN.

Paul is married and has two daughters. They enjoy biking around Madison’s paths and spending time outside.