William Charlton has joined UNL as associate vice chancellor for research and professor of mechanical and materials engineering.
Charlton, who began his duties in June, will divide his time between UNL and the University of Nebraska's National Strategic Research Institute, where he is research director for nuclear programs. In his role as associate vice chancellor for research, Charlton will be responsible for working with UNL faculty and sponsors on defense-related research.
"Dr. Charlton's experience, expertise and enthusiasm will be great assets in working with our faculty on efforts to expand defense-related research at UNL," said Prem S. Paul, vice chancellor for research and economic development. "We're pleased to support and collaborate with NSRI with Dr. Charlton's hire and are excited to have him on board and expect he’ll accomplish great things."
Charlton comes to Nebraska from Texas A&M University, where he had been the founding director of the Nuclear Security Science & Policy Institute since 2006 and a nuclear engineering faculty member since 2003. He is an expert in nuclear nonproliferation research and education.
Earlier, he was an assistant professor in nuclear and radiation engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He has been a consultant and technical staff member in the Nonproliferation and International Security Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He continues to work closely with several national laboratories.
Charlton holds doctorate, master's and bachelor's degrees in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M. He has authored more than 200 technical articles in referred journals and conference proceedings, and has earned numerous research and teaching honors.