Cyclotron Institute

10/16/2026

Since 2022, the Texas A&M University-led U.S. Department of Energy-funded Horizon-broadening Isotope Production Pipeline Opportunities (HIPPO) collaboration has been providing students like Texas A&M Physics and Astronomy senior Dominic Motekaitis ‘27 with novel laboratory skills, connections and career paths to contribute to the U.S. isotope enterprise.

"HIPPO is a broad, student-first program that makes researchers out of students," Motekaitis said. "... Besides the many lessons in nuclear science, one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is to study what you love."

Read more about Dominic's summer HIPPO experience that spanned nine weeks of undergraduate research at Argonne National Laboratory, a week at The University of Utah, and the weeklong HIPPOmoot hosted by Los Alamos National Laboratory:

http://tx.ag/MotekaitisHIPPO2026

09/22/2026

Texas A&M nuclear chemist Sherry Yennello and Texas A&M Chemistry graduate students Shayden Fritz and Marcus Le are in Italy this week for the International Symposium on Technetium and Other Radiometals in Chemistry and Medicine (TERACHEM 2026), where they will present the Yennello Group’s latest work with astatine and its applications to chemistry and medicine.

Read more about Yennello and their research:
http://tx.ag/YennelloAstatine

07/31/2026

Whoop! Congrats to all our undergraduate researchers, and hope you have enjoyed your time in Aggieland as much as we have! 👍

07/29/2026

Lots of great nuclear science research was on display from our 2026 'Tron Summer Scholars and their cross-campus colleagues at today’s Texas A&M Undergraduate Research Summer Poster Session, held in the Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building at Texas A&M University. Congrats and well done, students and mentors!

See additional photos:
http://tx.ag/2026UGRSummerPosterSession

07/24/2026

A Texas A&M University-led U.S. Department of Energy Genesis Mission project will teach AI to run the world’s most delicate physics experiments, maximizing foundational discovery and dramatically increasing the productivity of U.S. scientific infrastructure.

Learn more about the project and its lead investigator, Texas A&M Physics and Astronomy Assistant Professor and Cyclotron Institute member Jonas Karthein:

http://tx.ag/KartheinGenesisMission

07/24/2026

07/09/2026

More than 130 researchers from around the world visited Texas A&M University in May for the 2026 CeNAM Frontiers in Nuclear Astrophysics Meeting, co-hosted by the Texas A&M Cyclotron Institute and Texas A&M Physics and Astronomy, to share research progress and inspire collaboration across a multidisciplinary field with strong overlaps and unlimited potential.

The annual event was sponsored by the Center for Nuclear astrophysics Across Messengers (CeNAM), the International Research Network for Nuclear Astrophysics (IReNA), the European Physical Journal A, and the WoodNext Foundation.

Relive the experience through the eyes of Texas A&M graduate students and event co-chairs John Dixon and Anthony Lestone and check out additional event photos at the link below:

http://tx.ag/Frontiers2026Recap

06/16/2026

Dozens of Bryan/College Station Girl Scouts recently joined us for Atomic Arts Day, featuring hands-on workshops, a pizza lunch with Texas A&M University faculty and graduate students, and tours of the Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M Physics and Astronomy, the Nuclear Engineering & Science Center TRIGA reactor, the Texas A&M AgriLife National Center for Electron Beam Research and the Texas A&M Engineering Zachry Engineering Education Complex. Thanks to all participants and sponsors and to all whose planning and behind-the-scenes work made this lifelong nuclear science learning opportunity possible!

05/28/2026

We're proud to welcome 19 undergraduate researchers from across the state and nation as 2026 'Tron Summer Scholars encompassing our National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program as well as the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded Texas Research Expanding Nuclear Development (TREND) and Horizon-broadening Isotope Production Pipeline Opportunities (HIPPO) programs. Lots of great nuclear science research to come in Aggieland!

05/20/2026

We are proud to congratulate graduate student Iain Bisset on being awarded a prestigious U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Fellowship. Advised by Professor Bhaskar Dutta, Iain will spend the remainder of his PhD at Los Alamos National Laboratory, collaborating with leading scientists across institutions on cutting edge neutrino research.

Iain received the award for his proposed research project, “Developing Rigorous Methods of Model Discernment in Neutrino Phenomenology.” The origin of dark matter and the smallness of neutrino masses remain two of the most fundamental open questions in particle physics. In his fellowship proposal, Iain aims to address these challenges by developing machine learning based techniques to identify experimentally accessible signatures of new physics.

His work will focus on efficiently distinguishing rare signals from complex background data, enhancing sensitivity to subtle features in particle interactions such as kinematics, timing, and topology. These approaches will help enable the identification and characterization of dark sector interactions and the underlying mechanisms responsible for generating neutrino masses.

The DOE SCGSR award recognizes outstanding academic accomplishments, the merit of the proposed research, and the potential to make important contributions to the mission of the DOE.

Please join us in congratulating Iain on this outstanding achievement!