Nic Cicchetti
Nic Cicchetti is a Cohort 3 NextGen Nonproliferation Stewardship fellow and Darleane C. Hoffman Postdoctoral Fellow, working on the project “Chemically Modified Electrodes for Enhanced Sensing of Trace Transuranics.” He holds a Ph.D. in Radiochemistry and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, and his research integrates electrochemical engineering, materials science, and radioanalytical chemistry to develop new analytical tools for nuclear nonproliferation. His fellowship project addresses a meaningful gap in the field: while electrochemical sensors have been developed for trace uranium detection, very little work has targeted plutonium and other transuranics. By attaching selective binding groups to electrode surfaces, Nic’s chemically modified electrodes concentrate target ions to improve sensitivity and selectivity in complex environmental samples, with the goal of demonstrating sensors capable of field-based nuclear forensic investigations and supporting monitoring and verification efforts.
