Brian A. Powell will continue serving as faculty representative to the Board of Trustees after completing a three-year term in this role.
Powell holds the Fjeld Professorship in Nuclear Environmental Engineering and Science and is jointly appointed in the Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences and the Department of Chemistry. He is also a joint appointee at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to build research collaborations between Clemson and SRNL.
The strong, transparent and respectful relationship between faculty and administration at Clemson is a treasure to celebrate and a joy to uphold,” said Powell. “I thank President Clements, Provost Jones and the administrative staff for the engagement I have enjoyed over the past three years and look forward to continuing to communicate the faculty experience to the Board of Trustees.”
His research focuses on treating and storing radioactive waste and the migration of heavy metals and radionuclides in the environment from natural or engineered systems. These research projects have received over $22M in funding from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Nuclear Security Agency.
He has a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Montevallo and Master of Science and doctorate in environmental engineering and science from Clemson.
Powell has received multiple awards during his distinguished career, including the 2022 Clemson University Class of ’39 Award Recipient, 2022 Clemson University Senior Researcher of the Year, 2021 College of Engineering, Computing, and Applied Sciences (CECAS) Researcher of the Year, 2018 Inaugural Clemson University Research, Scholarship, and Academic Achievement Award, 2018 McQueen Quattlebaum Award in CECAS, the Governor’s Young Researcher Award for Excellence in Scientific Research and Department of Energy Early Career Research Award.