Nuclear Engineering — Left Brain — Mareena Robinson Snowden

Project on Managing the Atom holds panel discussion on racial injustice in the nuclear field

The recent killings of unarmed Black Americans and the ensuing protests have yet again highlighted the racial injustices and structural inequalities that remain a major part of life in the United States. Institutions across the U.S. nuclear community—including the Project on Managing the Atom—have issued statements condemning systemic racism and recognizing the need to counter racial injustices. To further these discussions, this panel focused on often-overlooked issues of racial inequalities in the nuclear field. Contributors to the panel discussed race in the context of global nuclear governance, the nuclear disarmament movement, and nuclear weapons testing.

PanelMareena RobinsonOctober 29, 2020Nuclear Security, Harvard, Racism, STEM, Nuclear Engineering

RESPONSIBLE DISRUPTION: Women’s Participation, Perspectives and Power

The Ploughshares Fund Women’s Initiative held an energizing conversation via Zoom, Responsible Disruption: Women’s Participation, Perspectives and Power, Tuesday, October 20. Guest speakers were: Ambassador Laura Holgate, Mareena Robinson Snowden and Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, and the event was moderated by Ploughshares Fund president, Emma Belcher. We explored how responsible disruption leads to changing the world for the better – and how to do so in a way that is fair, responsible, safe and trustworthy.

PanelMareena RobinsonOctober 21, 2020Nuclear Engineering, Advocacy, Nuclear Security, Women in STEM, STEM, Nuclear Weapons

EP. 88: FREE GAME WITH MAREENA ROBINSON SNOWDEN, PH.D.

On this week's episode she talks about her life and career after that level of notoriety, especially when the ink had barely dried on her doctoral degree and she was entering the workforce. Mareena shares how she is charting her career path by gaining experience while exploring her interests, which she calls her 'unconventional post-doc'. She puts us on game (hence the episode name), sharing sage advice and insight on life post-grad.

Probabilistic Verification: A New Concept for Verifying the Denuclearization of North Korea

Although U.S.-North Korean talks have stalled, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has abided by an apparent moratorium on nuclear testing, keeping alive hopes that an agreement can be reached to denuclearize North Korea. Implementing such an agreement with North Korea, if one can be negotiated, would constitute an unprecedented challenge for the international community.

Verifying such an agreement would require building a monitoring regime that goes well beyond traditional international safeguards and bilateral arms control approaches while accommodating legitimate North Korean concerns over intrusiveness, which would practically preclude “anytime, anywhere” inspections. Creativity will be needed to design a verification scheme to which the United States and North Korea could agree and that could be implemented in affordable and practical ways and that politicians would deem credible.

Beyond Convention - Alternative Career Paths in Nuclear Security

This summer I had the opportunity to speak to current SSGF fellows about my experience post graduate school. My goal was to share with them my thought process, missteps and strategies to defining my career path during the critical first few years after the PhD. Thank you to the DOE NNSA SSGF for not only inviting me to speak, but for generously supporting my PhD work.

PresentationMareena RobinsonJune 27, 2019NNSA, SSGF, Postdoc, STEM, Nuclear Engineering, My Story

"White, Male, and Yale?" How Women of Color are Changing National Security

As women of color take the lead in national security, how are they changing the conversation and the culture of the foreign policy community? Jen Psaki of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace talks to Mareena Robinson Snowden and Bonnie Jenkins about their careers in nuclear policy, how more diverse voices lead to better policy outcomes, and how the culture of the national security community must grow to better foster inclusion and representation.

Plotting new paths to a nuclear “yes”

Nuclear science and engineering alumna Mareena Robinson Snowden PhD '17 devises new solutions for problems of arms control and proliferation.

How to Avoid the Nuclear Apocalypse - 2019 SXSW Panel hosted by Women’s Actions for New Directions

Last month, I had the honor of participating on a panel about the history and future of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons policy, hosted by the Women’s Action for New Directions. Alongside my fellow participants - Beatrice Fihn, Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons & Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, former coordinator for threat reduction programs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation - we discussed the changing geopolitical landscape, the decline of international cooperation on arms reduction and other tools of strategic stability, and our views on the best paths forward with respect to US and international nuclear weapons policy.

PanelMareena RobinsonMarch 8, 2019Nuclear, STEM, Nuclear Security, Panel, SXSW, Austin, Nuclear Engineering, Policy

Black American National Security & Foreign Policy Next Generation Leaders

The Diversity in National Security Network and New America are pleased to honor the contributions of 35 Black American experts in U.S. national security and foreign policy. The list features experts currently serving in government, think tanks, academia, non-governmental organizations, and the media. Selection is based on excellence and leadership; their current work in national security or foreign policy; and their contributions to their issues of expertise through thought leadership.

Dr. Mareena Robinson Snowden Empowers Black Girls To Be Unstoppable | Black Girls Rock 2018

AwardMareena RobinsonSeptember 28, 2018Award, Black Girls Rock, Nuclear Engineering, STEM, Girls Rock Tech, BET

The Highest Honor on the Highest of Seven Hills

I am so fortunate to have been given the opportunity to thank the university that has given me so much. On August 3rd, I returned to the highest of seven hills to acknowledge the role FAMU played in my own journey and let the graduates know how uniquely prepared they are to excel in this new stage. As the keynote speaker for the 2018 Florida A&M University Commencement, I came to affirm the best that FAMU has given them - a strong identity based in the facts of black excellence, training that qualifies them to solve the world’s biggest problems, and critical thinking skills that will allow them to prioritize the future in a culture that increasingly is preoccupied with the now.

SpeechMareena RobinsonAugust 28, 2018FAMU, Commencement, MIT, STEM, Nuclear Engineering, HBCU, Graduation

NNSA Graduate Fellow Feature - NNSA Blog

Discussing my experience as an NNSA Fellow working on issues surrounding nuclear weapon modernization and deterrence

MediaMareena RobinsonJanuary 17, 2018Policy, Nuclear Engineering, NGFP, NNSA, DOE, Nuclear Weapons, Interview

Young Phenom Feature - ESSENCE Magazine Feature!

Discussing my path to STEM and my experiences as a black woman in nuclear security with ESSENCE Magazine

MediaMareena RobinsonNovember 30, 2017Interview, Nuclear Engineering, Advocacy, Black in STEM, Essence Magazine

MARVEL Feature: The Unstoppable Wasp #6!

MediaMareena RobinsonJune 8, 2017Advocacy, Interview, Marvel Comics, Nuclear Engineering, Nuclear Security, STEM, Black in STEM

A Year of Completion: Introducing Dr. Robinson Snowden!

At the beginning of 2017, my dear friend Joy Johnson gave me a daily planner. In the introduction pages of this planner, it said 2017 would be a year of completion. In the middle of a uniquely challenging time for me in my PhD career, I didn't know how true those words would ring, only five months later.

PresentationMareena RobinsonMay 31, 2017Nuclear Engineering, PhD, MIT, PhD Defense

MIT Nuclear Engineering Graduate Research Expo

My poster, entitled Nuclear Warhead Monitoring: A Study into Passive Detectability, explained my work to understand the accessibility and usefulness of high energy gamma emissions that are generated naturally inside plutonium based warheads.

2016 Stockpile Stewardship Essay Slam Winner

My essay entitled "Dark Room, Bright Ideas" was published in the Stewardship Science, the annual DOE NNSA SSGF magazine. In it, I wrote about my best and worst day in science.

PublicationMareena RobinsonJune 30, 2016NNSA SSGF, NNSA, Nuclear Engineering, Publication, Essay

Presented Research at the 2016 Stockpile Stewardship Graduate Fellowship Program Review

This past summer I presented my research at the 2016 DOE NNSA SSGF Program Review. This fellowship has generously supported my graduate research since 2012, and provided me with a supportive network inside academia and the national labs.

Summer Symposium on Science and World Affairs

ConferenceMareena RobinsonJuly 24, 2015Nuclear Engineering, Nuclear Security, Union of Concerned Scientists

MIT community engages in dialogue on race

Reif said the ongoing pursuit of racial equality and social justice “is one of the world’s great challenges. … Recent events have shown us, again, that terrible fault lines of race are still a major issue in our society. It would be naïve to think that we at MIT are somehow immune to these problems: MIT is a microcosm of our broader society. It shares many of its flaws, as well as its virtues.”

Reif noted that the protesters “are asking us to listen, to collaborate, and to act.”

PanelMareena RobinsonDecember 11, 2014Black Lives Matter, STEM, MIT, Panel, Protest, Nuclear Engineering, Black in STEM