Executive Team

Dr. Bethany Goldblum is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at UC Berkeley (UCB) and Faculty Scientist in the Nuclear Science Division at LBNL. She has extensive experience coordinating the execution of large programs, having served as Executive Director of the NSSC since 2017 and lead PI on several multi-institution projects. In her current role with the NSSC4 (2026-), she provides strategic direction for ten universities and six national laboratory partners. Prior to this, she leveraged her experience in program development, management, and coordination as NSSC3 Executive Director (2021-2026), NSSC2 Executive Director (2017-2021), and NSSC2 and NSSC1 Scientific Director/Associate Director (2014-2017). As Director of Education for the NSSC, she established two major education and training initiatives in cooperation with NNSA National Labs: the NSSC-LANL Keepin Nonproliferation Science Summer Program and the NSSC-LLNL Summer Experience. Goldblum also previously served as Director of the UCB-LLNL-SNL Project on Nuclear Gaming (2017-2021), where she led the development of SIGNAL, an experimental strategic wargame to study decision-making and nuclear deterrence, and as Assistant Director of the Berkeley Nuclear Research Center (2009-2013), where she developed programs for six Asia-Pacific Forums on nuclear energy and security. Goldblum currently leads the Bay Area Neutron Group, focused on nuclear security and nonproliferation R&D, which brings together scholars at UCB and scientists from LBNL, LLNL, and SNL. She is a recognized expert in nuclear security policy, a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Nuclear Security and Arms Control, and former director of the IGCC’s Public Policy and Nuclear Threats Boot Camp from 2014-2024. She is advisory editor of Annals of Nuclear Energy, member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Nuclear Engineering, member of the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Radiation Instrumentation Steering Committee, and recipient of the 2020 James Corones Award in Leadership, Community Building and Communication.

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Dr. Kathryn (Katy) Huff is a Spangler Professor and Chair of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s (UW-M) Department of Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics (NEEP). Previous to joining NEEP, she was an Associate Professor in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering at UIUC. There, Huff was the Director of the Advanced Reactors and Fuel Cycles Research Group. From May 2021 to May 2024, she took a leave of absence from UIUC to hold multiple positions in the U.S. Department of Energy, including that of Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy. Before joining UIUC, Huff was a Postdoctoral Fellow with both NSSC1 and the Berkeley Institute for Data Science at UCB. She received her PhD in Nuclear Engineering from UW-M in 2013. Her research focuses on nuclear engineering software development, including the Cyclus nuclear fuel cycle simulator, the PyNE toolkit, and extensions to MOOSE. Huff is particularly interested in robust modeling and simulation of advanced reactors emphasizing scientific software engineering best practices. She is an active member of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), a past chair of the Nuclear Nonproliferation and Policy Division as well as the Fuel Cycle and Waste Management Division. She is the recipient of prestigious awards including the Sinclair Medal from the  National Council on Radiation Protection as well as ANS Awards: the Young Member Excellence Award, Mary Jane Oestmann Professional Women’s Achievement award, and the Distinguished Public Service Award.

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Dr. Kai Vetter is a Professor of the Graduate School in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at UCB and a former Faculty Senior Scientist and Head of the Applied Nuclear Physics program at LBNL which he founded in 2011. Vetter’s main research interests are in the development and demonstration of new concepts and technologies in radiation detection to address some of the outstanding challenges in fundamental sciences, nuclear security and safety, and health. He has been leading and overseeing a wide range of developments in radiation detection and imaging and the fusion of nuclear with complementary data that are relevant in the mapping of contamination in Fukushima or the verification of ion-cancer therapy. He has been Director of the Institute for Resilient Communities, which he established in 2015 to address the need to better integrate advancements in sciences and technologies with communities locally and globally. He has authored and co-authored more than 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He received Presidential Citations from the American Nuclear Society twice, for his engagement in Fukushima through measurements and enhancing community resilience. 

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Dr. Lee Bernstein is a Professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at UCB and Senior Scientist in the Nuclear Science Division at LBNL. From 2016 to 2026, he was head of the U.S. Nuclear Data Program Center at LBNL. He currently leads the Bay Area Nuclear Data Group, which works to address the nuclear data needs of basic and applied nuclear science while training the next generation of nuclear scientists and engineers in the process. Bernstein earned his Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics from Rutgers University in 1994 and spent 22 years at LLNL as a staff scientist studying high-spin nuclear structure, reactions, and developing the nuclear science and diagnostics program at the National Ignition Facility. He teaches courses in nuclear reactions, nuclear physics in high energy density plasmas, and applied nuclear science related to nonproliferation. Bernstein has supervised 4 dozen postdoctoral researchers and graduate students and published more than 250 articles. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and recipient of a DOE Defense Programs Award of Excellence, Director’s awards at both LLNL and  LBNL, and awards for student and postdoctoral mentoring at LLNL. Bernstein also chaired the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee subcommittee which identified Nuclear Data needs for national security, medical applications, nuclear energy and nonproliferation. 

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Dr. Jasmina Vujic is a Professor of the Graduate School in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at UCB. She served as the Chair of the Department from 2005 to 2009, and as the Vice-Chair/Chair of the Nuclear Engineering Department Heads Organization (NEDHO) from July 2008 to June 2010. Vujic has extensive experience in managing large programs. From 2011 to 2026, she was at the helm of the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium as Principal Investigator and Director. Vujic has supervised 36 Ph.D. students and 30 M.S. students. She did research and taught courses in Nuclear Reactor Physics, Numerical Methods in Radiation Transport, and Radiation Biophysics and Dosimetry. From 2006 to 2010, she served as a member of the UC Board of Governors Science and Technology Advisory Committee for LANL and LLNL. She is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), served on the ANS Board of Directors for 3 years (2008–2011), and as the Vice-Chair/Chair of the ANS Mathematics and Computations Division. She was General Chairman for SORMA West (Symposium on Radiation Measurements and Applications) in 2012, and Chair of the Technical Program Committee for the Joint International Topical Meeting on Mathematics & Computations and Supercomputing in Nuclear Applications in 2007 (ANS M&C+SNA2007). Vujic holds a Ph.D. in Nuclear Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.