Auburn engineers abroad: Chemical engineering alumnae takes nuclear expertise to London

Auburn chemical engineering alumnae Lauren Lathem served as a panelist at CORE POWER’s fifth New Nuclear for Maritime Summit, held at the Royal College of Surgeons in London on June 13. Lathem, the Advanced Nuclear Research and Development (R&D) manager at Southern Company, challenged various attendees to engage a sense of personal responsibility in the growth of nuclear power technology development.

CORE POWER is a global frontrunner in the development of new nuclear technologies for the maritime sector and has collaborated with Southern Company on a project that aims to place nuclear reactors on floating nuclear power plants. 

The summit featured more than 40 speakers and panelists from around the world and across the nuclear and maritime sectors. Finance professionals, energy law and insurance specialists, scientists, regulators and ship operators engaged in a full day of discussions on energy security, decarbonization, regulations, standards, markets, technology and economics.

 Lathem spoke on the opening panel of the conference, “Powering A Second Industrial Revolution,” along with five other industry professionals.

“The theme of the panel was how we think about nuclear-powered ships as a second industrial revolution and what that means for a global economy,” said Lathem, ‘13. “It was a broad opening panel to give perspectives from across the industry. This was meant to set the stage by showing how big of an opportunity this is, but also how serious we need to take this work to enable this to happen.”

Born, raised and living in Birmingham, Lathem enjoyed the opportunity to play a role in this global event due to the global nature of her work.

“The event was set up well to balance information from panels as well as provide a conducive environment for networking,” she said. “In a lot of these conversations we tend to have a global audience, but that is especially true if you’re participating in an event in Europe.”

Lathem always knew she would attend Auburn University, but originally planned to pursue medical school following her graduation. After making several friends in the chemical engineering program, she made the switch, hoping it would be a good ‘backup’ if her plans for professional school changed. After receiving several chemical engineering job offers at a career fair her senior year, it became more than a backup. 

“An openness to saying ‘yes’ in my career has helped me a lot,” she said “Sometimes you have to be willing to learn new things, even if it’s not where you saw your life going. I don’t think you should constrain yourself to preconceived ideas about where your career should go. I think the best thing you can do for yourself is stay curious.”

That open-mindedness took Lathem to her first stop in Houston at an engineering procurement construction firm where she began her career in energy. She returned to the Iron City in 2015 and joined Southern Company where she became part of the nuclear R&D program in 2018.

“When I think about new technology development in energy, it’s not important because it’s cool and interesting,” Lathem said. “It’s important because of how we can bring the world along in an affordable and sustainable way.”

On the CORE POWER summit panel, Lathem emphasized how maritime deployment offers the best opportunity for nuclear to establish a track record for on-time and on-budget deliveries, which is crucial for gaining broader acceptance.

“I discussed why Southern Company is managing this nuclear power R&D program and challenged everyone to take an additional level of personal responsibility to enabling this type of transition to happen in a meaningful and timely manner,” she said.

Lathem had the opportunity to interact with industry professionals from around the world, broadening her understanding of the global nature of these advancements. 

“I found it interesting to hear perspectives both from other large countries and small countries,” she said. “While we see this as an opportunity to solve some of our climate-change challenges, having energy-dense solutions is a necessity for some countries because of their lack of natural resources. Everyone has an eye on how we make an energy transition for sustainability purposes to meet the needs of modern society.”

Lathem also shares her nuclear expertise on Auburn’s campus, which she visits biannually to guest lecture in the nuclear power generation systems lab. She also serves as a member of the Auburn Engineering Young Alumni Council, helping engage other young alumni to the college.

“The reason I decided to get involved with Auburn again is because I understand how significant my experience there was and how much my foundation has meant to me, both in my career and in my development as a person,” she said. “As much as I can give back, I want to be able to do that and continue to grow the programs at Auburn.”