From Greece, born in Ukraine, Elina Charatsidou studied Physics (BSc) at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, specializing in Nuclear Physics. She acquired her master's degree in Nuclear Energy Engineering (MSc) in June 2020 from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
Having recently completed her studies at KTH, she aspired to pursue an academic career (Ph.D.) following research studies in Nuclear Physics and Engineering, mainly regarding nuclear fuel development. The reason for that is she believes that there is substantial research still to be conducted on new types of reactors, especially Generation IV reactor types before they are ready to be constructed, commissioned, and rendered commercially available.
Therefore she has been working as a Ph.D. researcher at KTH and as a part of the SUNRISE project since January 2021.
Her academic interests cover a wide range of subjects, mainly researching and developing new nuclear fuels and enhancing the properties and potentials of existing nuclear fuels and fuel fabrication processes for better fuel utilization and a more efficient fuel manufacturing process. Another academic interest of hers is data analysis and machine learning, and incorporating these two into the nuclear field to promote efficiency, automation, and minimization of the human error factor. She believes that the nuclear industry's future lies on Generation IV technologies.
During the first half of 2020, she conducted her master thesis at Westinghouse Electric Company in Västerås, Sweden, in the fuel fabrication factory, under an innovative and promising project, introducing deep machine learning (neural networks) applications to render the fabrication process more efficient and less time-consuming (thesis). The data analysis and machine learning were performed using Python and TensorFlow. The work can be extended for any reactor type or fuel material and under any conditions; therefore, its versatility makes it attractive for research and industrial applications. Being the first to create and apply such algorithms in Westinghouse Electric Company AB in Sweden motivated me to keep working on data analysis for nuclear fuel-related research.
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