Dr. Charles Hirst, Steven J. and Teresa M. Zinkle Nuclear Materials Assistant Professor, Department of Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Hirst is an early career researcher with over 10 years’ experience characterizing the effects of irradiation on nuclear materials for both fission and fusion systems. Specifically, he explores the interplay between radiation damage, temperature, and stress to determine how materials behave in nuclear environments. At the Wisconsin Ion Beam Laboratory, he is leading the development of several in situ ion irradiation experiments, including both mechanical testing and differential scanning calorimetry, to explore a wide variety of loading (tensile/creep/fatigue) and annealing (cryogenic to high temperature) scenarios. In his prior role as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Michigan, he led the development of the Michigan Ion Beam Laboratory’s irradiation-creep-fatigue facilities, and the development of a shutter-based system to enable concentration gradients during triple-beam ion irradiations. Dr. Hirst’s primary area of research investigates the interplay between radiation damage and temperature, including the development of calorimetry as a technique to investigate the evolution of radiation damage. In 2022, Dr. Hirst completed his PhD in the Nuclear Science and Engineering department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His thesis research investigated quantifying radiation damage through the stored energy released during defect annealing in metals. Additionally, during his PhD, he was a Communication Lab Fellow and coached over 40 students and postdocs to effectively communicate their work through presentations, posters, and journal articles. To date, Dr. Hirst has published nine journal articles, has been invited to speak at multiple internationally attended conferences, and is active on the Nuclear Materials programming committee within The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society.