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Breckling is a 51ÁÔÆæ alum who majored in mathematics and graduated in 2010 into a slumped economy. Faced with seemingly slim career prospects, he enrolled in graduate courses at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, earning his PhD in applied mathematics in 2012. Upon graduating, Breckling left Nevada to build his resume via the well-worn path of post-doctoral academic research appointments. That same path led him back to Nevada.<\/p>\n
Breckling is a senior scientist at the Nevada National Security Site, a federal research facility where scientists are tasked with helping to ensure the safety of the nation\u2019s nuclear weapons, providing data to the Stockpile Stewardship program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Nevada National Security Site has a broad mission. We manage a lot of scientific research facilities,\u201d Breckling said. This work includes \u201csubcritical experiments,\u201d where scientists work with chemical explosives to generate high pressure that they apply to special nuclear materials. These experiments are conducted such that a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, or \u201ccriticality,\u201d is never achieved.<\/p>\n
Developing tools for science<\/h3>\n
One of Breckling\u2019s roles is to support the Cygnus X-ray diagnostic machines. He describes this system \u201csimilar to the microscopes you might have used in any science class.\u201d However, \u201cinstead of back-lighting samples with visible light, this machine uses gamma radiation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do a lot of image and data processing to that end,\u201d Breckling added. \u201cMany of the techniques we employ would be familiar to professional photographers, but since we\u2019re using a radiological light source, we call it radiography.\u201d<\/p>\n
By analyzing the images captured on Cygnus X-ray diagnostic machine, Breckling develops quantitative tools that he and other scientists use to better understand the results of their subcritical experiments.<\/p>\n
The work is everything he could have wanted in a job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always gravitated to the applied sciences,\u201d he said. \u201cI could have wandered into any reasonably technical vocation. I\u2019m more focused on how I work than what I work on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Working on medical imaging too<\/h3>\n
Even so, he\u2019s working on a lot. In addition to his projects at the U1a complex, Breckling is also the principal investigator of a research project \u201chighly relevant\u201d to both his work at the NNSS and medical diagnostic imaging.<\/p>\n
In CT medical imaging, physicians carefully capture multiple images of their patients from several angles, building a 3D reconstruction of the region of interest. For each image, patients are exposed to minute amounts of ionizing radiation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are keenly interested to quantify how much 3D information can be accurately resolved using as few doses (of ionizing radiation) as possible,\u201d Breckling said. \u201cPhysicians call this \u2018dose reduction.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
His project has received site-directed funding, so in addition to exploring the technical aspects of medical imaging and \u201cuncertainty quantification,\u201d or \u201cUQ\u201d, Breckling is also learning to lead a team, coordinate a budget and manage a project. Between the multiple projects in several locations, every day is different.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some days I get to work hands-on with equipment, and some days I sit in my office writing code,\u201d he said. \u201cI like to call this work semi-academic, in that we\u2019re expected to publish. The work tends to be extremely interdisciplinary, which also appeals to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unexpected career<\/h3>\n
The schedule is nice too; Breckling works 10-hour shifts four days a week and enjoys three-day weekends.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the kind of job he set out to do when he graduated, and it\u2019s the kind of job that\u2019s easy to miss if you\u2019re a freshly minted mathematics PhD.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople only look for jobs that they know exist. The problem is \u2026 when people go into the sciences, they tend to put these massive blinders on to A, where their talents would be useful, and B, where they would be happy,\u201d he said. \u201cI would advise anyone to keep an open mind, and to keep their eyes and ears open to possibilities that aren\u2019t directly in their path.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even if those possibilities lead you down a mineshaft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sean Breckling has a career that he didn\u2019t even imagine existed when he graduated from 51ÁÔÆæ. He\u2019s part of a team that works to keep the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile safe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":785,"featured_media":77607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"section":[140,139],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[158],"class_list":["post-77604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","section-science","section-science-technology","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-letters-science"],"yoast_head":"\n