Extreme Environments, Extreme Insights: From Functional Materials to Nuclear Nonproliferation

Speaker: Sulgiye Park

Program Description
For various important technological applications, materials must be able to function in extreme environments. This talk focuses on the basic and fundamental processes involved in material property change under extreme environments, encompassing high pressure, high temperature, and swift heavy ion irradiation. It explores how utilization of these extreme parameters can help predict and engineer functional materials with specific phases and desirable properties, such as making diamonds with diverse technological applications, or durable nuclear waste forms capable of immobilizing radionuclides, including plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons. Beyond functional and nuclear materials, this presentation also explores the role of science in nuclear nonproliferation. Using a case study of North Korea, it highlights how materials research contributes to detecting and assessing nuclear activities, providing key insights for policy development and strengthening the intersection between scientific expertise and actionable policy strategies.   

Biography
Sulgiye Park is a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, where she specializes in North Korea and China’s nuclear fuel pathway, as well as nuclear weapons testing. She received her Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Stanford University, focusing on materials in extreme environments. She later worked at the Stanford Institute of Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES), fabricating nanodiamonds for technological applications, which granted her a Jamieson Award. As a Stanton and MacArthur Fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Dr. Park focused on the critical nexus between natural resource management, strategic supply chains, and nuclear security. Her work highlighted the foundational role of geological resources in enabling nuclear ambitions. In addition, she also examined regulatory frameworks for U.S. nuclear waste management and studied rare-earth metal production and critical metal supply chain vulnerabilities, emphasizing their strategic importance for national security and technological innovation.