Zavier N. Ndum has successfully defended his PhD thesis titled “A Generative AI–driven Framework for Robust Automation of Nuclear Modeling and Simulation Workflows with Multi-modal Domain Knowledge Integration” in March 27, 2026, as a first PhD graduate from SMART Lab.
During his time in the SMART Group, Dr. Ndum produced a remarkable body of work applying GenAI to nuclear engineering, developing novel AI systems including AutoFLUKA, RADIANT-LLM, AutoSAM, and AROMA-GPT, each of which instantiates a unified human-in-the-loop framework for automating nuclear reactor modeling, simulation, and knowledge management workflows. His research resulted in two published peer-reviewed journal articles, in Progress in Nuclear Energy (2026) and Energy and AI (2025), with additional manuscripts currently under review. Along the way, he earned several competitive honors, including the Texas A&M Chevron Energy Graduate Fellowship, the ANS Graduate Scholarship, the Health Physics Society Fellowship, the TAMIDS Data Science and GenAI Ambassadorship, the Best Oral Presentation Award at the 2025 Texas A&M Energy Research Society Conference, and the J.D. Williams Student Paper Competition Award at the 2025 INMM Annual Conference. We are incredibly proud of everything Zavier has accomplished and wish him all the best in the next chapter of his career.
Congratulations Dr. Ndum!
