Dr. Alireza Haghighat is the Robert E. Hord, Jr. Endowed Professor and Director of the Nuclear Engineering Program at Virginia Tech. He is a Fellow of ANS and a recognized leader in particle transport theory, computational nuclear engineering, and modeling and simulation. Before joining Virginia Tech, he served as Chair of the Nuclear & Radiological Engineering Department and Director of the University of Florida Training Reactor after 15 years on the faculty at Pennsylvania State University.

Over nearly four decades, Dr. Haghighat has pioneered computational methods and software for nuclear reactor analysis, radiation transport, security, safeguards, and medical applications. He currently leads the POLARIS reactor design initiative, developing a novel reactor concept enabled by physics-based, AI-assisted neutronics models integrated with high-fidelity measurements and immersive virtual reality visualization for real-time reactor monitoring, decision support, and operator training. He has authored more than 280 technical publications and the widely adopted textbook Monte Carlo Methods for Particle Transport. His honors include the 2023 Gerard C. Pomraning Memorial Award from the American Nuclear Society. He is also the founding Chair of VNEC and spearheaded the formation of the VIN Hub to advance innovation, workforce development, and collaboration across the nuclear enterprise.