The Department of Nuclear Engineering has established the Robert G. Cochran Memorial Scholarship in Nuclear Engineering to honor the memory of founding department head, Dr. Bob Cochran.
For 22 years Dr. Cochran served as inaugural department head of Texas A&M’s nuclear engineering department, destined to become the nation’s largest. Under his leadership, the discipline's first undergraduate program emerged as did Texas A&M's signature specialties in reactor physics and analysis, reactor safety and thermal hydraulics, health physics and computational methods.
He was instrumental in setting up the AGN-201 teaching reactor, currently in Zachry Engineering Center, and in constructing the Nuclear Science Center with the TRIGA-Mark II reactor. He co-authored The Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Analysis and Management, the textbook used today, and was a mentor to students who entered every aspect of the nuclear industry, including many in top leadership positions. He was a founder and charter member of the American Nuclear Society, and in great demand as a consultant to the Atomic Energy Commission, Air Force, Navy, national energy laboratories, numerous universities and private industry. The National Academy of Sciences named him chair of its Research Reactor Subcommittee. Bob Cochran dedicated his life to the development of nuclear energy and to Texas A&M nuclear engineering. This endowment is a lasting tribute to his legacy.
