Allen, who will assume the Glenn F. and Gladys H. Knoll Department Chair of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences in January, currently is a professor at the University of Wisconsin and a senior fellow at Third Way, supporting the think tank’s clean energy portfolio. He has served as deputy director for science and technology at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) as well as scientific director of the Advanced Test Reactor National Scientific User Facility at INL. Program.

At Michigan, Allen’s research portfolio will include policy studies to best understand how nuclear energy can contribute to a clean 21st-century power system as well as understanding materials performance in advanced nuclear systems.