Wes Hines

Board Advisor

Dr. J. Wesley Hines is a Professor in the Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of Tennessee, is the Distinguished Postelle Professor and a UT Chancellor’s Professor.  He recently served as co-chair of the Education and Workforce Committee of the Tennessee Nuclear Energy Advisory Council.  He has also served 13 years as Nuclear Engineering Department Head, as Interim Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering and as Interim Vice Chancellor for Research for the Campus.  Dr. Hines received the BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Ohio University in 1985, and then served as a nuclear qualified submarine officer in the US Navy.  He later received both an MBA and an MS in Nuclear Engineering from The Ohio State University in 1992, and a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from The Ohio State University in 1994. He has served the University of Tennessee for 30 years. Under Dr. Hines’ leadership, his department has grown to the largest Nuclear Engineering PhD program in the US and has been ranked as high as 4th ranked by US News and World Reports.

Dr. Hines has authored over 350 technical papers and is invited to speak around the world on topics ranging from his research activities in artificial intelligence, nuclear engineering education, reliability and maintainability education, and national nuclear strategy. His notable academic and scholarly accomplishments have been recognized by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Nuclear Engineering Division, through their Glenn Murphy Distinguished Nuclear Engineering Educator Award in 2014, he was selected as an American Nuclear Society Fellow in 2015, and was the recipient of the American Nuclear Society, Arthur Holly Compton Award in Education in 2019, and the Robert Long Training Excellence award in 2020.  He is the current University of Tennessee Macebearer, the highest faculty honor which recognizes a distinguished career and commitment of service to students, scholarship and society.