Professor Erez Gilad
Reactor Physics and Neutron Transport Group
Department of Nuclear Engineering, Chair
Klein Institute for Nuclear Science and Engineering (KINS&E), Director
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

I am a professor of Reactor Physics in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the founding director of the Klein Institute for Nuclear Science and Engineering (KINS&E), an interdisciplinary research institute dedicated to advanced nuclear science. I also lead the Reactor Physics and Neutron Transport research group at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

My research focuses on fundamental reactor core physics, including experimental core physics, neutron transport theory and numerical methods, reactor kinetics, and in-core fuel management. I am particularly interested in developing rigorous theoretical frameworks and efficient computational tools for modeling, analysis, and optimization of advanced nuclear systems.

I currently serve as an Executive Editor on the editorial board of Annals of Nuclear Energy (Elsevier) and as a member of the High Scientific Council of the European Nuclear Society.

My work aims to advance next-generation nuclear energy systems and the computational methodologies required to design and analyze them. I lead research programs in reactor physics, neutron transport, advanced numerical methods, and AI-accelerated reactor design, with applications to Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), microreactors, Molten-Salt Reactors (MSRs), TRISO-based systems, and energy-resilient nuclear technologies. My group develops high-fidelity physics models, HPC-enabled optimization frameworks, and hybrid deterministic-stochastic approaches for neutronic simulations.

I supervise a group of Ph.D. and M.Sc. students working on topics such as microreactor control and core optimization, generalized and quasi-static neutron transport methods, genetic-algorithm-based reactor design, physics-informed neural networks for neutron field reconstruction, and reactor physics of emerging nuclear systems. Our research integrates theory, simulation, optimization, and experimental validation, often in collaboration with leading academic and national laboratories in the U.S. and Europe.

Prospective students, researchers, and collaborators are welcome to explore our work and contact me regarding potential research opportunities.