Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS-2023) Plenary SPeaker

Dr. Rita Baranwal

Chief Technology Officer

Westinghouse Electric Company

As Chief Technology Officer at Westinghouse, Dr. Rita Baranwal leads the company’s global research and development investments and spearheads a technology strategy to advance the company’s innovative nuclear solutions. She brings more than 24 years of nuclear industry experience to this role, which she has held since January 2022.

Previously, Dr. Baranwal served as Chief Nuclear Officer and Vice President of Nuclear at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). She had overall management and technical responsibility for the research and development (R&D) activities conducted by EPRI with its global membership related to nuclear generation, providing support to more than 80 percent of the world’s existing and advanced commercial nuclear fleet.

Before joining EPRI, Baranwal served as Assistant Secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in a U.S. President-appointed and Senate-confirmed role. She led efforts to promote R&D on existing and advanced nuclear technologies that sustain the U.S. fleet of nuclear reactors and enable the deployment of advanced nuclear energy systems.

Prior to the DOE, Dr. Baranwal directed the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative at Idaho National Laboratory. She was responsible for providing the nuclear industry and other stakeholders access to DOE's state-of-the-art R&D expertise, capabilities, and infrastructure to achieve faster and cost-effective development, demonstration, and ultimate deployment of innovative nuclear energy technologies. Under her leadership, GAIN positively impacted over 120 organizations.

Before joining the Idaho National Laboratory, Dr. Baranwal served as Director of Technology Development & Application at Westinghouse. There, she led the creation and development of game-changing technologies and managed characterization and hot cell laboratories. Her previous positions at Westinghouse included director of Core Engineering and manager of Materials and Fuel Rod Design. Prior to joining Westinghouse, she was a manager in Materials Technology at Bechtel Bettis, Inc. where she led and conducted R&D in advanced nuclear fuel materials for U.S. Naval Reactors.

Dr. Baranwal is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society (ANS). She serves on the Atlantic Council’s Nuclear Energy and National Security Coalition, the Board of Scholars at American Council for Capital Formation (and is the first non-economist selected to serve on this Board), the ANS’s International Council, and Advisory Boards for the US Nuclear Industry Council (US NIC) and the Nuclear Engineering departments of the University of Michigan and North Carolina State University.

She has previously served on Advisory Boards for MIT’s Materials Research Laboratory and UC Berkeley’s Nuclear Engineering Department, and also was adjunct faculty at University of South Carolina's nuclear engineering graduate program. Dr. Baranwal is a past Chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Nuclear Society's (ANS) Materials Science and Technology Division. She has also served on the Boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters-Pittsburgh and North Hills Community Outreach.

Dr. Baranwal has a bachelor’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in materials science and engineering and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in the same discipline from the University of Michigan.