Aditi Verma

Aditi Verma is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan's Department of Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences (NERS). She holds affiliations with the Center for Japanese Studies and CJS Faculty Associates. Previously, she served as an Assistant Research Scientist at NERS (2021–2022) and a Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center (2020–2021). Her research focuses on nuclear energy policy, fusion technology development, and socially engaged design methodologies.

Education: PhD in Nuclear Science and Engineering from MIT (2013–2017), with distinctions as a Burchard Scholar and Kelly-Douglas Fellow. Additional academic roles include Visiting Scholar at Harvard's Project on Managing the Atom and participation in the Global Fusion Forum.

Research Interests: Nuclear innovation governance, fusion energy commercialization challenges, participatory design frameworks, and equity-centered engineering education. She advocates for integrating public engagement into nuclear technology development through platforms like the Global Fusion Forum and STEEP metrics for energy transitions.

Awards: Burchard Scholar (MIT), Kelly-Douglas Fellow (MIT), Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow (Harvard Belfer Center).

Grants & Projects: Leads the Fastest Path to Zero Initiative team as a Faculty Associate, focuses on coal-to-nuclear retrofitting analysis, and develops sociotechnical readiness frameworks for advanced nuclear technologies. Active in curriculum reform through design justice pedagogy and antiracist engineering education initiatives.

Labs & Teams: Collaborates with the Harvard Belfer Center's Project on Managing the Atom, MIT's nuclear innovation programs, and the University of Michigan's NERS research groups.