Sari Alkhatib
Sari Alkhatib is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Socio-Technical Risk Analysis (SoTeRiA) Research Laboratory in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering (NPRE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Sari received his B.Sc. in Nuclear Engineering from the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) in 2012. In 2014, he obtained his M.Sc. in Advanced Nuclear System Engineering at the University of Science and Technology (UST), South Korea. During this period, Sari worked as a researcher in the Core Design Team of the Research Reactor Development Division at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). Afterwards, he worked as a nuclear engineer in the JRTR construction, (cold and hot) commissioning, and operation phases until 2019.
Sari’s research interests are mainly focused on advancing cost- and risk-informed approaches and tools that consider influential decision-making perspectives to ensure safe and efficient operations for complex technological systems such as commercial nuclear power plants and advanced reactors. Specifically, he is interested in the screening processes in Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA), integration of financial aspects in risk management, degree of realism and level of knowledge, and risk-informed decision-making. He is implementing his research on multiple case studies, such as, Fire PRA, FLEXible mitigation and coping (FLEX) strategies, and new technologies.
As a member of SoTeRiA, Sari has received multiple opportunities such as becoming a Mavis Future Faculty Fellow (MF3), 2022-2023, and a Nuclear Education, Skills and Technology (NEST) Framework – Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Fellow, 2022. He is also a member of various campus committees, namely, NPRE Graduate Student Advisory Committee (GSAC), 2021 & 2022, Students Advising on Graduate Education (SAGE), 2021-2023, and Illinois Scholar at Risk (iSAR) Committee, 2022-2023.