Rachel Slaybaugh is an Assistant Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Prof. Slaybaugh researches computational methods applied to nuclear reactors, nuclear non-proliferation and security, and shielding. Slaybaugh is currently serving as a Program Director at ARPA-E. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Breakthrough Institute and at the Berkeley Institute of Data Science.

Slaybaugh received a BS in Nuclear Engineering from Penn State, where she served as a licensed nuclear reactor operator, and a PhD from University of Wisconsin–Madison in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics with a certificate in Energy Analysis and Policy. Slaybaugh’s Rickover Fellowship took her to Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory prior to joining Berkeley.