91°µÍø

Bio

Connor has been in RSTD since August 2022. Originally from Los Angeles, California, he joins from Clemson University in South Carolina, where he earned his PhD in Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences. Before that, he earned his undergraduate degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He focuses on solid state characterization of transuranics by synthesizing crystals, firing oxides, and analyzing these materials with the suite of instrumentation we have available at ORNL's Radiochemical Engineering and Development Center (REDC). Understanding the fundamental chemistry of these solid-phase materials can help shine a light on new applications for these heavy elements that have yet to be richly characterized in the open literature like their lighter counterparts have (uranium and plutonium).

Postdoctoral work here at ORNL from August 2022 to August 2024 was focusing on curium oxide characterization and crystallographic studies of actinides and their corresponding lanthanide surrogates.

During his dissertation research, Connor studied wetland uranium geochemical transport at the Savannah River Site in conjunction with Savannah River National Lab and the Savannah River Ecology Lab at the University of Georgia. 

Education

Ph.D. (2022), Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences, Clemson University

B.S. (2017), Environmental Engineering, University of Notre Dame

Publications