Owen Webster is a Ph.D. candidate in nuclear engineering at North Carolina State University, where he has completed the graduate certificate in Nuclear Nonproliferation Science and Policy. In addition, he holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, B.S. in Economics, and B.A. in Chinese Studies from the same insitution, supplemented by a year as a Boren Scholar at Tsinghua University, where he studied Chinese language and culture. Owen’s doctoral research involves next-generation semiconductor detector materials for nuclear nonproliferation and international safeguards applications supported by a Nuclear Nonproliferation and International Safeguards (NNIS) Fellowship through the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). His current focus is wide bandgap oxide oxide semiconductors for deep UV radiation detection, emphasizing nonproliferation applications such as Cherenkov verification of spent fuel.

Previously, Owen has worked for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) exploring verification of tritium control regimes and the nonproliferation implications of emerging fusion energy technologies. During his fellowship with the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction, he had the opportunity to explore the implications of AUKUS on the international safeguards regime and to serve as a resource for congresspeople making decisions on various nonproliferation issues. As a past fellow of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Education and Research Center (NEREC), Owen spent time at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) conducting research on light-water reactor technodiplomacy on the Korean peninsula. Since becoming professionally interested in nuclear weapons policy, Owen has collaborated extensively with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), participating in the Hiroshima ICAN Academy, Hiroshima G7 Youth Summit, and the 2nd Meeting of States Parties (MSP) of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).