Hunter Belanger

Dr. Hunter Belanger is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). He holds a B.S. (2018) and M.S. (2019) in Physics from RPI, followed by a Ph.D. (2022) in Nuclear Energy from Université Paris-Saclay. His research focuses on Monte Carlo particle transport methods, reactor physics, and high-performance computing, with active contributions to open-source tools like the Papillon Nuclear Data Library and codes such as ABEILLE and SCARABEE.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Nuclear Energy, Université Paris-Saclay, France (2022)
• M.S. in Physics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2019)
• B.S. in Physics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2018)

Research Interests:

Dr. Belanger specializes in advancing Monte Carlo methods for nuclear reactor physics, including development of open-source computational tools for continuous-energy neutron transport, spatially continuous material properties, and high-performance computing. His work addresses challenges such as neutron clustering, transient simulations, and coupled multi-physics problems in reactor cores.

Articles Trends:

Recent publications emphasize variance reduction techniques, weight cancellation algorithms, and branchless collision methods to improve Monte Carlo efficiency in reactor simulations. Key areas include anisotropic scattering treatment, neutron noise induced by mechanical vibrations, and optimization of particle tracking in stochastic media.

Awards:

• No specific awards listed in provided materials.

Advising & Grants:

No advisees or grants explicitly mentioned. Contributions focus on open-source software development and computational method advancements.

Labs & Teams:

Part of RPI's Nuclear Engineering group, collaborating on projects involving continuous-energy simulations and reactor physics. Leads development of the Papillon Nuclear Data Library and related Monte Carlo codes.