Cindy Cerna (Mechanical Engineering)
About DOE Fellow:
Cindy Cerna graduated from Florida International University in the Spring of 2010 with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. After she left DOE, she was accepted by MIT for a summer research program. She also did an internship at GE Aviation where she was asked a full-time position which she declined to be able to attend graduate school. She will be pursuing her Ph.D. full-time in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor starting June of 2010. She plans to finish her PhD by 2015. Cindy is currently working at the Naval Sea Systems Command.
Accomplishments as DOE Fellow:
Ms. Cindy Cerna worked on a research project involving the dismantling and decommissioning methods for contaminated stacks at different nuclear facilities. Elevated ventilation stacks are one of the most iconic features present at nuclear sites. Once these sites reach the final stage of their life cycle the ventilation stacks are often in deplorable conditions. The high levels of contamination present on these stacks became one of the biggest challenges for the decommissioning process. Ms. Cerna focused her efforts on researching and gathering all the needed information to characterize the physical structure such as age, built composition, and physical dimensions for the decommissioned nuclear stacks. All the findings of this research were incorporated to design a machine/robot that will be able to take physical samples of the structure to determine the levels of radiation and other toxics at different locations within the structure. This information served as a guideline to determine the process required to safely initialize the dismantling and decommissioning process.