Matt M. Kurley III

Dr. J. Matthew Kurley received his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Chicago in 2016. He specialized in developing functionalized nano-based inks for scalable printing of light absorbers for solar applications. Following his defense, he was hired as a postdoc at Oak Ridge National Lab to work on molten salt chemistry, thermophysical properties, and corrosion. Dr. Kurley was hired to the Fuel Development Section at Oak Ridge as R&D Staff in 2020. He started working on materials synthesis and fabrication for nuclear applications. In particular, he utilizes sol-gel chemistry to produce U-bearing fuel kernel ceramics for the development of tristructural isotropic (TRISO) particle fuel forms. These fuels can be used in both terrestrial and space applications in a variety of architectures.