Leslie Dewan (born November 27, 1984) is an American nuclear engineer. She was the co-founder and chief executive officer of
Transatomic Power. Dewan was a member of the board of
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...
[MIT News Offic]
"MIT Corporation elects new members"
Retrieved 20 March 2016 and was named a Young Global Leader by the
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...
.
Education
Dewan is a 2002 graduate of
The Winsor School
The Winsor School is a 5–12 private, college-preparatory day school for girls in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1886.
It competes in the Eastern Independent League and is featured on the Boston Women's Heritage Tra ...
in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
.
She received S.B. degrees from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
in mechanical engineering and nuclear engineering in 2007.
She received her Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from MIT in 2013.
While at MIT, Dewan was awarded a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship and an MIT Presidential Fellowship.
Entrepreneurship
Dewan co-founded
Transatomic Power in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
in 2011 and was the chief executive officer until the corporation ceased operations.
Transatomic Power was founded to design and develop a
molten salt reactor
A molten salt reactor (MSR) is a class of nuclear fission reactor in which the primary nuclear reactor coolant and/or the fuel is a molten salt mixture. Only two MSRs have ever operated, both research reactors in the United States. The 1950's Ai ...
(
Generation IV reactor
Generation IV reactors (Gen IV) are six nuclear reactor designs recognized by the Generation IV International Forum. The designs target improved safety, sustainability, efficiency, and cost.
The most developed Gen IV reactor design is the sodium ...
) to generate clean and low-cost nuclear power.
In December 2012,
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
magazine selected Dewan for their
30 Under 30 in Energy.
In September 2013,
MIT Technology Review
''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "The" in ...
recognized Dewan as one of “35 Innovators Under 35”.
In December 2013,
TIME
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
magazine selected Dewan as one of "30 People Under 30 Changing the World".
In 2016, errors were discovered in the company's analysis of its reactor design. A corrected reactor design had substantial technical advances over conventional light water reactors. However, it did not meet commercial requirements for rapid growth of the company. By September 25, 2018, Transatomic had ceased operations and placed its design data in the public domain.
Dewan is currently CEO at RadiantNano in Framington, Massachusetts, in partnership with Dr. Matthew Alpert, designing and manufacturing sensors for detecting and imaging radiation. RadiantNano is focused on clean energy, medical diagnostics, and national security.In particular, RadiantNano is developing and deploying technology for preventing the proliferation of nuclear materials via smuggling in shipping containers.
Media appearances
Dewan appeared in the documentary ''
Uranium – Twisting the Dragon's Tail'', and an episode of ''
Nova
A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...
'' entitled "The Nuclear Option" in 2017. In 2019, she hosted
National Geographic Partners
National Geographic Partners, LLC is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns 73% of shares) and the namesake non-profit scientific organization National Geographic Society (which owns 27%). The company oversees all commercial ...
' web-based series ''Electric Earth''. She is expected to appear in the forthcoming documentary ''The Limitless Generation''. Dewan gave speeches at TEDx University of Rochester in 2019. and Tedx Boca Raton in January, 2022
References
External links
Transatomic Power
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dewan, Leslie
Living people
1984 births
American nuclear engineers
MIT School of Engineering alumni
American women engineers
Businesspeople from Cambridge, Massachusetts
People from Newton, Massachusetts
Winsor School alumni
21st-century American women