Nuclear Engineering Program Graduate George Imel Honored as Outstanding Engineering Alumnus

May 01, 2012

Dr. George Imel (right), pictured here with Dr. Arthur Motta, Chair of Nuclear Engineering

Dr. George R. Imel, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering at Idaho State University, was recently honored as an Outstanding Engineering Alumnus in the Penn State College of Engineering.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and political science from Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., Dr. Imel pursued his master’s degree in nuclear engineering (1973) and his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering and physics (1977) both from Penn State.

Dr. Imel was a faculty member at Penn State from 1981 to 1983, during which time he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in reactor kinetics, reactor physics and neutron transport, and he also helped analyze the accident at Three Mile Island.

Since then Dr. Imel has had a distinguished and varied career including stints at research laboratories--including Argonne National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory and the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab--and working overseas, including for the Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique in Cadarache.

He was also an original member and leader of the experimental program for multinational project Triga Accelerator Driven Experiment of ENEA (National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) in Italy, where his assignments reflected the evolution of the nuclear industry at the time.

In 2007, Dr. Imel returned to academia as Professor and Chair of Nuclear Engineering at Idaho State University, and last year he was named Dean of the College of Science and Engineering. As dean, he was instrumental in the recent purchase of a major new facility that will house state-of-the-art experimental equipment and will be structured as a user facility to enable researchers from Idaho State and elsewhere perform their work.

The annual Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award is the highest honor conferred by the College of Engineering and recognizes graduates who have reached exceptional levels of professional achievement.