Statistics and Facts
Nuclear Engineering is a relatively young branch of the engineering sciences, and the University of Michigan has participated in its formation from the early days of fission reactor development. The first University of Michigan course in nuclear energy applications was taught in the College of Engineering in 1947--only five years after Enrico Fermi first demonstrated a controlled fission reaction during the Manhattan Project. In 1952 , the country's first graduate program in Nuclear Engineering began as an interdepartmental program at the University of Michigan. The success of this graduate program led to the establishment of the Department of Nuclear Engineering in 1958. The Department granted only graduate degrees until 1965 when the undergraduate program was instituted by the University.
To more accurately reflect the broad research and teaching activities in the Department, the name was changed in July 1995 to the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences (NERS). By August 2006, NERS had awarded 832 bachelor's degrees, 1,002 master's degrees, and 468 doctoral degrees. Current enrollment includes 106 undergraduates in NERS and the Engineering Physics (EP) programs offered through the Department. Approximately eighty graduate students are currently enrolled with more than half pursuing doctorates.
