The Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards program is designed to: 1) award graduate and undergraduate students for innovative nuclear-technology-relevant research publications, 2) demonstrate the Department of Energy’s commitment to higher education in nuclear-technology-relevant disciplines, and 3) support communications among university students and Department of Energy representatives.

 Justin Felder, a member of Professor Hans-Conrad zur Loye's group, was awarded a prize in the Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Award.  His award is in the Competition for Students Who Attend Universities with Less than $600 Million in 2015 R&D Expenditures.

His award-winning research paper, “Application of a Mild Hydrothermal Method to the Synthesis of Mixed Transition-metal(II)/Uranium(IV) Fluorides,” was published in the journal Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers in January 2017.