Valerio MascolinoReactor Physics · Colorado School of Mines

M-PRISM research groupMines Physics of Reactors: Integrated Simulation & Multi-Physics

Valerio Mascolino

Assistant Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Colorado School of Mines

My group builds methods that simulate nuclear reactors with Monte Carlo-level accuracy at a fraction of the cost: hybrid particle transport, real-time 3-D reactor kinetics, and ML-enabled digital twins for advanced reactor design.

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PhD, Virginia TechFormerly Principal Nuclear Engineer, Argonne National Laboratory

8 projects · 19 current and visiting students · 17 open research topics · 8 collaborating institutions

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Portrait of Valerio Mascolino

Research

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Latest news

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  • · ANS Winter Conference, Phoenix

    PhD student Samah Balouza and undergraduate Jake LaFore each lead a paper on the JSI TRIGA Mark-II reactor at the 2026 ANS Winter Conference & Expo in Phoenix, Arizona.

    • Comparing Fission Matrix Approaches using a JSI TRIGA Mark-II Reactor ModelSamah Balouza
    • Evaluation of the Effect of Control Rod Positioning on One-Group Effective Nuclear Data for Ex-Core Flux Reconstruction in the JSI TRIGA Mark-II ReactorJake LaFore

    The 2026 ANS Winter Conference & Expo

    Banner of the 2026 ANS Winter Conference & Expo: November 15–18, Phoenix, AZ, with the theme Going Critical: Creating a Durable Nuclear Resurgence

  • · RERTR-2026, Osaka

    Advances in Open-Source Research Reactor Design with OpenMC and ADDER for Proliferation Resistance Optimization

    Collaborators from Argonne National Laboratory will present this work by undergraduate Thomas McCoy at RERTR-2026, the 46th International Meeting on Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors in Osaka, Japan: in Panel 1 and in the evening poster session.

    The research reactor design project

    Cover of the RERTR-2026 program: 46th International Meeting on Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors, October 26-29, 2026, Osaka, Japan

  • · ME faculty meeting, Mines

    The postdoc in my terminal: agentic AI across a real research workflow

    I spoke to the Mechanical Engineering faculty, at a session hosted by the department AI Committee, about using an AI agent (Claude Code) in research. Over four weeks it worked with me on three projects: a paper, a C++ simulation engine, and a study. Two agents ran live demos during the talk.

    Download the slides (PDF, 2.5 MB)

    Title slide of the talk The postdoc in my terminal: agentic AI across a real research workflow, by Valerio Mascolino, October 6, 2026, on the Colorado School of Mines template

  • · Mines Undergraduate Research Symposium

    Undergraduates Jake LaFore, Thomas McCoy, and Daris Paine presented posters at the fifth annual Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium at Colorado School of Mines, held in the CoorsTek Atrium.

    • Computational Analyses for Validation and Acceleration of a Machine Learning Approach to Neutron Flux Reconstruction in Next-Generation Nuclear ReactorsJake LaFore
    • Advances in Open-Source Research Reactor Design with OpenMC and ADDER for Proliferation Resistance OptimizationThomas McCoy
    • Neural Network Prediction of the Fission MatrixDaris Paine

    Abstract booklet of the symposium

    Colorado School of Mines Undergraduate Research Symposium logo, with the word Research filled with images of student projects

Recent publications

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Bold: V. Mascolino · Dotted underline: student in the group

Journal articles

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Team

All 19 members

Students

Do reactor physics research with us

17 research topics, from real-time reactor kinetics to digital twins for lunar reactors, each broken into concrete tasks for PhD, MS and undergraduate students.

How to join See the 17 topics

Collaborating institutions