When Lora Vassiliadis first started at Trent University, nuclear energy wasn’t on her radar as a subject of interest.   

“It was very frustrating for me to encounter something that I had never seen before,” said the fourth-year Chemical Physics student of her first high-school physics class. “At that point, I thought, ‘oh, I don't know if I like this’.”  

Fast forward a few years later, Lora is not only embracing physics and nuclear power, but helping evolve it, as the new co-chair of the Organization of Canadian Nuclear Industries (OCNI) Youth Shadow Council. Lora is one of only 10 students chosen from across Canada for the council and will help OCNI in their mandate to foster leadership and engage young Canadians in key issues within the nuclear energy sector. 

Aside from the usual chair duties of organizing and providing leadership at regular monthly meetings of the youth council, Lora is currently involved in planning and hosting webinars with nuclear industry representatives that showcase the career possibilities in nuclear power to Canadian youth. Lora also recently attended the OCNI AGM where she had the opportunity to watch the organization in action and meet senior leadership from Canada’s nuclear industry sector. 

She credits her passion for a nuclear future, and her new prestigious posting, to one particular Trent experience.  

“I did NSERC funded environmental remediation research in Dr. Andrew Vreugdenhil’s Inorganic Materials Research lab at Trent,” she said. “That gave me a totally different perspective, and then I decided that clean energy is a career path that I want to pursue.”   

Successfully Fusing Academics and Athletics   

Earning a spot on the OCNI Youth Shadow Council is Lora’s latest in a long list of accomplishments at Trent. She won the Graham Hartley Chemistry Prize and the Physical Science Student of Excellence Award, and is an OUA Academic All-Star varsity athlete on the Excalibur women’s lacrosse team which has earned OUA silver and bronze medals.   

“The professors at Trent set us up for success,” she said. “[They’re] aware that I’m playing on the women’s lacrosse team and know about the council, so they help me and make accommodations if needed so that I can complete assignments.”    

With that support of faculty and lacrosse coaches and teammates behind her, Lora is eager to jump into her role as co-chair, to help the Youth Council make a difference, and to help Canada reach net zero by 2050. “The council is trying to foster youth leadership in the nuclear sector,” she says. “I really like the idea of clean energy. I think that it will take us a long way and as a society we need to turn towards clean energy to help combat climate change.”