Lorenzo Vergari

Lorenzo Vergari is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma & Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois. His research focuses on nuclear materials, particularly graphite in high-temperature environments, molten salts, and tritium management. He holds a B.S. from Politecnico di Milano (2016), M.S. degrees from Politecnico di Milano (2018) and Politecnico di Torino (2019), and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (2023). He is affiliated with the Advanced Blankets & Coolants Laboratory.

His professional roles include membership in the ANS (2020–2024), ASME Task Group on Graphite Issues in MSRs (2022–present), and IAEA Working Party on Raman Characterization of Graphite (2023–present). He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Italy (2020).

Research interests emphasize corrosion mechanisms, hydrogen behavior in graphite, and computational modeling for nuclear systems. His work addresses challenges in molten salt reactors, waste disposal, and fusion-relevant materials. Recent studies investigate surface fluorination effects, neutron activation impacts, and tritium desorption dynamics.

Key achievements include the Young Researcher Award (2020), Berkeley Graduate Fellowship (2019), and recognition as an excellent teacher at UIUC (2024–2025). He teaches NPRE 330 and NPRE 498 NC3/NC4 courses, focusing on materials in nuclear engineering and nuclear chemical engineering.