Krystin Stiefel

Krystin Stiefel

Krystin Stiefel is an experiment safety engineer in the Research Reactors Division at ORNL’s High Flux Isotope Reactor. Before working at ORNL, Krystin obtained a PhD from Michigan State University, where her research project involved measuring fragments and neutrons from heavy-ion collisions produced at a coupled cyclotron facility. In her spare time, Krystin enjoys reading (she’s a big fan of Harry Potter), watching movies (a big fan of Disney, including Star Wars and Marvel), and working on craft projects.

To be successful, it is important to adapt to the situation at hand. If you can adapt to a change, you’ll be better off. I wouldn’t say that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong, but it’s always better to be prepared in case it does. Strive for perfection, but plan for failure. 

What excites me most about my work is that there is so much to do! And I mean that in a positive way. I get to work on so many different projects, from isotope production to irradiation experiments to gamma detection. I love that HFIR has a wide variety of applications, including medical, security, and materials, as well as academic purposes."


–Krystin Stiefel