Journal: Journal of the Physical Society of Japan
Susan L Hogle
Division Director, Radioisotope Science and Technology
Bio
A nuclear engineer, Dr. Susan Hogle is director of the Radioisotope Science and Technology Division of the Isotope Science and Engineering Directorate. She also leads the Office of Science for Isotope R&D and Production to develop enhanced, on-demand production of berkelium-249 in support of superheavy element discovery missions, and for advanced manufacturing of isotope production target bodies.
Hogle was previously Interim Section Head for Radioisotope Research and Development, as well as Interim Radioisotope Portfolio Manager within the Isotope and Science and Technology Division. She originally joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory in March 2013 in the Medical, Industrial, and Research Isotopes (MIRI) Group (then a part of the Nuclear Materials Processing Group) as a nuclear engineer, supporting a variety of radioisotope production programs such as californium-252, nickle-63, and selenium-75, and became Group Leader in 2019. In that role, Hogle developed a strong research portfolio in isotope production modeling, simulation, and optimization, and also pursued nuclear data research in support of rare isotope production.
Hogle holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto in Canada and worked in process and project engineering at Ecolab Inc., then at Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, before moving to Tennessee in 2008 to pursue her graduate degree. She holds Master of Science and doctoral degrees in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her doctoral graduate research was in conjunction with the Nuclear Materials Processing Group, developing evolutionary algorithms to optimize the design of a californium‑252 production target. Hogle has mentored graduate students at the University of Tennessee and the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, in addition to collaborating with UT’s Department of Nuclear Engineering to provide several lectures on reactor production of isotopes.