Dale Klein, left, receiving the Smyth Award from Joe Colvin, president of the American Nuclear Society.
Dale Klein, a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department and assistant vice president for research at The University of Texas at Austin, was recently recognized for his career contributions to the nuclear energy field by the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI).
Klein was awarded the Henry DeWolf Smyth "Nuclear Statesman" award during a national ANS meeting in late June.
The award, jointly presented by ANS and NEI, is named after Henry DeWolf Smyth, an American physicist and diplomat who had several key roles in the early development of nuclear energy.
"I am very honored to present this award to a distinguished member of our community, who is also a long-time friend of mine," said ANS President Joe Colvin while presenting the award to Klein. "Dale represents everything I admire about our colleagues: he's committed to the future of nuclear energy, which he has demonstrated by his dedication and public service."
Klein is former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a position he was appointed to in 2006 by President George W. Bush. As chairman, Klein was the principal executive officer and official spokesman for the NRC, responsible for conducting the administrative, organizational, long-range planning, budgetary, and certain personnel functions of the agency. Additionally, he had the ultimate authority for all NRC functions pertaining to an emergency involving an NRC licensee. The remainder of this term was as commissioner of the NRC from May 2009 to March 2010.
Klein is associate director of the university's Energy Institute. He received doctorate in nuclear engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
