Amy E. Hixon

Amy E. Hixon is an Associate Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. Her research focuses on actinide behavior in environmental and engineered systems, including environmental radiochemistry, nuclear materials properties, and plutonium compound synthesis. She earned her Ph.D. and M.S. from Clemson University (2013, 2008) and B.S. from Radford University (2006).

Her work spans three core areas: (1) understanding actinide complexation/sorption for environmental fate predictions, (2) studying nuclear material degradation and properties, and (3) synthesizing novel plutonium compounds. She has pioneered studies on uranyl peroxide nanoclusters and plutonium metal-organic frameworks.

Hixon actively contributes to nuclear education through outreach programs like Science Alive! and TEAMS competitions. Her group emphasizes training across K-12 to postdoctoral levels, with notable alumni positions at national labs like Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore.