Paul Wilson is a Professor of Nuclear Engineering in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Engineering Physics and serves as the Faculty Director of the Advanced Computing Initiative. His research interests are based in the development of robust software the real-world analysis of complex nuclear energy systems, including radiation transport on complex CAD-based geometries and agent-based modeling at the interface of technical and sociopolitical issues in the future of nuclear energy. Paul joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an assistant professor in August 2001 as part of the Energy Systems and Policy Hiring Initiative. He also serves on the executive committee of the Wisconsin Energy Institute, the steering committee of the Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, and the program committee of the Enery Analysis and Policy graduate certificate of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and raised in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada, Paul specialized in the Nuclear Power option of the Engineering Science program at the University of Toronto. After receiving his Bachelor of Applied Science in Engineering Science, he began his graduate schooling in nuclear engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After three years, he moved to Karlsruhe, Germany, where he studied in the Institute for Neutron Physics and Reactor Engineering, earning his Dr.-Ing. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1998. Returning to Madison, Paul completed his Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering in 1999.
Paul was the founding President of the North American Young Generation in Nuclear [NA-YGN], an organization created to provide unique opportunities to young professionals in all fields of nuclear science and technology. Paul has been active in the American Nuclear Society since 1992, including membership in various committees and chairing the Student Sections Committee and the Special Committee on Electronic Communications and Publications. Paul also represented the ANS and NA-YGN at the international climate change negotiations in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1998), and Bonn, Germany (1999). He is a member of the American and Canadian Nuclear Societies, the American Society for Engineering Education and the NA-YGN.