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Engineers Nominated By the US Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program Sara Molnar Molnar later joined the Fuel and Poison Development Group, where she worked to resurrect a fuel system not produced for over 10 years, but that was necessary to the advanced design of the VIRGINIA class submarines. She was awarded a “KAPL Young Engineer/Scientist Award” for 2004 and Special Recognition Award in 2006 for her work. Francisco Rivera-Márquez While conducting research at the University of Puerto Rico, he made significant improvements to machines used in the medical sciences. He led a design project that developed a revolutionary fixture that aids in the manufacturing of a device surgeons use to make stitches, and also used optics principles and pixel comparison of digital images to help design an automated system used in the process that produces pacemakers. Daniel J. Talavera, E.I.T. Talavera is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his research on remote microscopy for polymer crystallization experiments remains part of the chemical engineering curriculum. During his first assignment with the U.S. Navy, he strengthened the Navy’s radiological emergency response posture by expanding real-time atmospheric dispersion modeling capabilities. He also standardized automated data transfer among emergency control centers at national laboratories, shipyards, and naval activities. Lt. Joseph L. Caldwell Caldwell is also directly responsible for the success the ship has had coming out of a five year refueling and overhaul period, through which it received the highest grade recorded for an aircraft carrier on the ship’s first Board of Inspection and Survey. Caldwell was also selected to take on the role of Assistant Reactor Training Officer and has become the driving force behind the training and leading of future watch officers. « BACK |
Sara Molnar is a senior materials engineer with Lockheed Martin’s Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory (KAPL) in Schenectady, New York, where she is sponsoring testing of irradiated fuel system materials in support of design guideline refinements necessary for increasing fleet core performance. She joined KAPL in 1999 as a member of the Engineering Leadership Development Program, and modeled aspects of a complex fuel element manufacturing process, engineered new fuel element processing techniques, and evaluated fuel properties and post irradiated test results to improve understanding of advanced fuels.
Francisco Rivera-Márquez is a main propulsion assistant on the USS Topeka, where he applies his mechanical engineering know-how to lead 15 highly trained mechanics in the maintenance and operation of a complex nuclear-powered propulsion system onboard a fast-track submarine. His work allows this U.S. asset to remain at sea indefinitely. 
Daniel J. Talavera, E.I.T., is a lead engineer for Naval Nuclear Propulsion Prototype Fluid Systems in the Naval Reactors in the Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. He is currently leading a $14 million plant upgrade program requiring innovative structural, material, welding, chemical, radiological, nuclear, and systems engineering approaches, and has successfully driven several multi-million dollar complex maintenance shutdowns and subsequent test programs to verify nuclear safety for the public.
Lt. Joseph L. Caldwell is a Reactor Propulsion Division Officer and Assistant Reactor Training Officer with the U.S. Navy onboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. He is a versatile nuclear propulsion plant engineer who is responsible for propulsion and continuity of shipboard electrical power to provide safe steam plant operation for ship and crew readiness. As the Reactor Propulsion Division Officer, he managed 40 mechanics in their daily operation and maintenance of all Main Machinery Room equipment including main engines, electrical generators, distilling units, and compressed air equipment. 
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National Engineers Week Foundation
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