NAYGN Announces the Winner of the 2014 Innovation Competition

North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NAYGN) is pleased to announce the winner of its inaugural Innovation Competition: Ms. Shonique Miller and her team from Entergy’s River Bend Chapter. Ms. Miller won the competition with a proposed virtual knowledge transfer platform, The Hub. The Hub is intended to be an industry-wide website that would provide video tutorials, message forums, interactive OE, and storytelling to fill the knowledge, skill, and experience gap. The potential impact of this innovative idea would be to improve the availability of tacit knowledge and training information to current and future nuclear workers.

[caption id="attachment_3054" align="alignnone" width="651"] Shonique Miller of Entergy Operations, Inc. Pitches Her Idea for The Hub[/caption]

“The theme of the 2014 Conference was innovation and the planning committee introduced the Innovation Competition as a means of sharing potentially innovative ideas amongst conference attendees,” said Robert Ashworth, Professional Development Chair of NAYGN. “As the future leaders of nuclear science and technology, NAYGN members are thinking of new ways to further improve our great industry. The Competition was very successful by bringing NAYGN members together to think outside the box for answers to some important topics. It was amazing to see the talent and enthusiasm of NAYGN members in action. I am extremely thankful for everyone that had a part in making the Innovation Competition a success.”

As part of the 2014 Conference, more than 300 attendees participated in various small-group sessions to pitch and discuss their innovative ideas. Four finalists were selected from these small group sessions to present their idea to the entire conference and a guest panel of executives.  In addition to Ms. Miller, the other three finalists of the 2014 Innovation Competition were Ms. Jacqueline Generotti (Altran) for creating a subject matter expert team, Mr. Matthew Bowen (AREVA TN) for an online children’s program, and Ms. Wendy Brost (STP Nuclear Operating Co.) for a rotational program across different companies. All conference attendees voted to select Ms. Miller’s proposal for a knowledge transfer platform as the winning idea. As the winner of the competition, Ms. Miller will pitch her idea to industry executives during the Nuclear Strategic Issues Advisory Council (NSIAC) meeting in August. NAYGN will also provide a conference report that summarizes the other competition submissions.

[caption id="attachment_3053" align="alignnone" width="640"] Robert Ashworth, Professional Development Chair of NAYGN[/caption]

Mr. Ashworth added, “NAYGN is the voice of the young generation and we are very excited for Ms. Miller to present at the NSIAC meeting as our spokeswoman. Engaging with industry decision makers allows the young generation to shape the future of our industry. NAYGN is very grateful to all of our industry sponsors and we are especially grateful to the Nuclear Energy Institute for bringing NAYGN to the NSIAC meeting.”

NAYGN is a professional society with over 10,000 members and 112 local chapters with a vision to Develop Leaders to Energize the Future of Nuclear. NAYGN provides opportunities for a young generation of nuclear enthusiasts to develop leadership and professional skills, create life-long connections, engage and inform the public, and inspire today’s nuclear technology professionals to meet the challenges of the 21st century.