LANL Researcher David Andersson to Speak in UW Distinguished Speaker Series

David Andersson of Los Alamos National Laboratory will present as part of the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources’ Distinguished Speaker Series on Wednesday, March 4, noon to 1 p.m., in the Energy Innovation Center’s Encana Auditorium, with a free lunch open to all students, members of the campus community and the public. The University of Wyoming and LANL posted the announcement March 2, 2026.

UW’s School of Energy Resources says Andersson is the national technical director of the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation program, and UW notes he is the deputy group leader of MST-8: Materials Science in Radiation and Dynamics Extremes. LANL’s writeup describes Andersson as the deputy lead for the materials and fuel technical area of DOE’s NEAMS program and as a staff scientist on MST-8’s Modeling of Radiation Effects team. LANL also states that as of 2022 Andersson is the deputy national technical director for DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Program, and that he previously held a similar position with the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors program.

UW says Andersson’s presentation will introduce the NEAMS program, which develops predictive modeling and simulation tools to support the design, development, licensing and operation of nuclear reactors, and that he “will elaborate on multiscale simulations for nuclear fuel performance, with examples for uranium oxide in light water reactors and, if time permits, other fuel types.” LANL’s event posting likewise billed the talk as covering Andersson’s nuclear research, noting his work in atomistic modeling and multiscale simulation for fuel performance.

Andersson joined Los Alamos in 2007 and received his doctorate in materials science and engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, UW reports. LANL notes he is the author of more than 110 published papers with more than 5,000 citations. Google Scholar excerpts in the event materials list several of his highly cited papers, including a 2014 Journal of Nuclear Materials article on atomistic modeling of fission gas diffusion in UO2 with 164 citations, a 2018 Journal of Nuclear Materials review on unit mechanisms of fission gas release with 161 citations, and a 2013 Inorganic Chemistry paper on DFT calculations of UO2 oxidation with 149 citations.

LANL and UW materials emphasize the technical depth Andersson will draw on: density functional theory and DFT+U methods, atomistic simulation of fission gas behavior and thermal conductivity, and multiscale efforts that feed mesoscale fuel performance models. European MRS abstracts tied to Andersson show talks and poster slots on DFT calculations for uranium oxides and structural models for α-U4O9−y, illustrating the kinds of defect, diffusion and oxidation topics he has published on.

Andersson was awarded the American Nuclear Society Mishima Award in 2023 for advancing understanding of nuclear fuel performance through fundamental studies of defect properties and their integration in performance models. LANL quoted Andersson on the award: “I am very happy and honored to be awarded the Mishima award from the American Nuclear Soci­ ety,” Andersson said. “I would like to acknowledge my colleagues at Los Alamos National Laborato­ ries and other collaborators for enabling the work that underpinned the award. Thank you.”

UW’s news item notes the visit came through the School of Energy Resources’ Nuclear Energy Research Center to build capacity, partnerships and exposure to nuclear topics on campus. The March 4 seminar offers a rare campus opportunity to hear a senior NEAMS and LANL researcher explain DOE-backed simulation work that informs reactor licensing, fuel qualification and advanced fuel concepts.