Steven Shannon has been named the next head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering (NE) in the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University. His appointment begins July 1, 2026.

Shannon is a professor of nuclear engineering and has served as interim department head since 2024. He joined NC State University’s faculty in 2008. Prior to coming to NC State, he was on the faculty at San Jose State University, while spending eight years in industry at Applied Materials, Inc. He earned his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan.

“I am honored to be the next department head for NC State’s Department of Nuclear Engineering,” said Shannon. “This program has been an amazing part of my life, and I am excited to lead the department in making a greater impact for the students, faculty, staff, the broader scientific community and the people of North Carolina.”

Since joining NC State nearly two decades ago as an associate professor, Shannon has taken on critical administrative roles, including serving as the director of graduate programs for the NE department from 2020 to 2024 and contributing to various university research and curriculum committees.

Shannon specializes in the industrial applications of plasma discharges, specifically in enhancing current plasma applications and developing new plasma applications for next-generation material and device fabrication. His research group, the Fourth State Applications Research Laboratory (4-STAR), studies the controlled formation of plasma using electromagnetic energy, as well as plasma as a contributor to advanced manufacturing in everything from medicine to agriculture.

He has graduated over a dozen Ph.D. scholars, authored or co-authored over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles, and holds over 30 U.S. patents in manufacturing technology. In 2025, he was awarded the Plasma Prize by the American Vacuum Society for his contributions in the area of plasma source development for semiconductor manufacturing.

Shannon’s professional society membership includes the American Nuclear Society, the  Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Vacuum Society, among others.  

“Dr. Shannon has provided steady leadership of the Department of Nuclear Engineering since his appointment as interim department head in 2024,” said Veena Misra, interim dean of the College of Engineering. “His dedication to building on this department’s historic strengths and his vision for advancing emerging research areas will carry the department to new heights.”

NC State has been a leader in the nuclear engineering field since 1950, housing the nation’s first university nuclear reactor and establishing the first university nuclear engineering educational curriculum. NC State continues to lead the advancement of nuclear science and is one of the premier graduate and undergraduate nuclear engineering programs in the world engaged in teaching, research and service activities.

NC State’s focus in power, security and the high-tech economy, combining theory, computation and experimental approaches, will play a key role in advancing the infrastructure and economy of the United States in the coming decades.

“This department is an amazing place with amazing people. I am humbled by the opportunity to lead it into transformative times for our field,” Shannon said. “As we enter a period of accelerated technical advancement and commercial deployment in fission, fusion, security and industrial applications of nuclear science, the department’s core mission of mentoring our future workforce and advancing critical science and engineering breakthroughs has never been more essential.”