Michael Tonks

Profile Information
Name
Professor Michael Tonks
Institution
University of Florida
Position
Interim department chair
Affiliation
INL
h-Index
43
ORCID
0000-0002-1343-3193
Biography
Dr. Michael Tonks is the Interim Department Chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Department at UF and is the Alumni Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Nuclear Engineering. Prior to joining UF in Fall 2017, he was an Assistant Professor of Nuclear Engineering at Pennsylvania State University for two years and a staff scientist in the Fuels Modeling and Simulation Department at INL for six years. Dr. Tonks has carried out and directed research on modeling reactor performance using MOOSE for over fourteen years. He was also the original creator of the MARMOT tool and led its development for five years. He was the first person to use MOOSE for multiscale modeling and has used multiscale modeling to develop and implement mechanistic materials models in the BISON tool. His research is focused on using mesoscale modeling and simulation results coupled with experimental data to investigate the impact of irradiation induced microstructure evolution on material performance. He has authored over 110 publications. He has won numerous awards, including the NEAMS Excellence Award in 2014, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2017, and the TMS Brimacombe Medal in 2022.
Expertise
Accelerated Fuel Qualification (AFQ), Accident Tolerant Fuel, Advanced Fuels, BISON, Modeling, Molten Salt Corrosion, MOOSE, Uranium Alloys