November 8, 2025

Nucleation Portfolio Leaders Named to ANS 40 Under 40


Nucleation Capital extends a hearty congratulations to four founders from Nucleation portfolio companies—Matt Loszak and Yasir Arafat from Aalo Atomics, Jake Jurewicz from Blue Energy, and Jerrold Vincent from Nuclearn—who have been recognized by the America Nuclear Society for inclusion in their NuclearNews' 2025 “40 Under 40” list, which celebrates innovators shaping the future of nuclear energy. All four are doing amazing things with their companies and are extremely deserving of this recognition.

The complete list of 2025 NuclearNews 40 under 40 includes:

September 30, 2025

AI’s growing energy demand + carbon concerns powers momentum for nuclear

Growing Energy demand provided demand pull for both traditional and next-generation reactors throughout Q3 of 2025. Yet further boosting momentum was the announcement by the DOE that they had selected ten ventures for accelerated design review of a test unit. This has lit a fire under those and other ventures already making progress to try to get the DOE to allow them to build something by July 4, 2026.

December 22, 2024

Congratulating Nuclear’s 1st “40 under 40” Class

 

The American Nuclear Society announced its inaugural class of Nuclear 40 Under 40 winners on Dec 13th and we want to congratulate them all. It is rather exciting to see the ANS announce this program, which is not just recognition of the contributions of young people working in the industry. In fact, this reflects a remarkable transformation for the industry overall, which has previously seen decades of decline and the aging of its work force, but which is now seeing growing interest and engagement by young people, reflecting the industry's resurgence.

There are many ways for young professionals to engage with nuclear power, everything from simply studying nuclear engineering or launching a nuclear venture, as did Brad Fox, a founder of Nuclearn (one of our portfolio ventures), all the way to leading the U.S. DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, as is Dr. Katy Hoff, one of the 40 individuals selected. According to the ANS, those selected "represent the exceptional talent, vision, and drive that is transforming the nuclear sector across the community, . . . [with] remarkable commitment, innovation, and leadership in advancing nuclear science and technology, paving the way for a future in which nuclear power and applications will continue to play a vital role in addressing global challenges."

This industry recognition "celebrates the impact these individuals have made in fields as varied as advanced reactor technology research and deployment, radioisotope systems, nuclear policy, waste management, machine learning and artificial intelligence, fusion technology, fuel supply chain development, advanced fuel research, nonproliferation and national security applications, aging management, and many more."

The 2024 Nuclear 40 Under 40 includes:

Abdalla Abou-Jaoude Assel Aitkaliyeva JungHyun Bae Nicholas Brown
Emily Caffrey Danielle Castley Adam Deatherage Harsh Desai
Kevin Field Sarah Finkeldei Carlo Fiorina Shannon Fitzgerald
Bradley Fox Joseph Garguilo Dave Grabaskas Karen Koop Hogue
Benjamin Holtzman Kathryn Huff Bret Kugelmass Florian Laggner
Lauren Lathem Erica Libra-Sharkey Jessie Lilya Ben Lindley
Kevin Lyon Matthew Marzano Kallie Metzger Tommy Morgan
Kristi Nichols April Novak Erik Nygaard Brett Rampal
Benjamin Reinke Paul Romano Koroush Shirvan Grace Stanke
Sarah Stevenson Kurt Terrani Aditi Verma Lizzy Yates

In particular, we congratulate Brad Fox, from Nuclearn, Katy Huff, who heads up the Office of Nuclear Energy, Kurt Terrani of USNC, Harsh Desai of Zeno Power, and Grace Stanke, a former Miss America winner who devoted her year in the spotlight to advocating for nuclear power, and who is now part of Constellation Energy.

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