Syed Bahauddin Alam

Syed Bahauddin Alam is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in the Nuclear, Plasma & Radiological Engineering department. He holds appointments in the Grainger College of Engineering and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). His research focuses on AI-driven digital twins, uncertainty quantification, and cybersecurity for nuclear systems.

Education:

• B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), 2011
• MPhil in Nuclear Energy, University of Cambridge, 2013
• PhD in Nuclear Engineering, University of Cambridge, 2018

Research Interests:

• AI and Digital Twins for Nuclear Energy
• Multiscale Modeling with Uncertainty Quantification
• Cybersecurity for Nuclear Systems
• Sensors and Instrumentation for Reactor Monitoring

His work emphasizes explainable AI (XAI), physics-informed machine learning, and robust design optimization. Key contributions include AI-powered digital twins for nuclear systems, which received global media coverage and top 5% Altmetric scores.

Awards & Honors:

• 2025 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research (UIUC)
• 2024 Illinois Innovation Award Finalist
• 2022-2021 Outstanding Teaching Award (Missouri S&T)
• 2017 Cambridge Philosophical Society Research Studentship Award

Grants & Funding:

• $700,000 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Distinguished Faculty Development Award (2024)
• $2 million DOE grant for nuclear fuel storage solutions (2023)
• $500,000 NRC R&D Grant (2024)

Labs & Teams: Leads the MARTIANS Lab (Machine Learning and ARTificial Intelligence for Advancing Nuclear Systems), focusing on hybrid data-physics-driven AI and explainable machine learning for nuclear engineering challenges.