Diving into nuclear policy
If you ask MIT students where they see themselves in a few years, you’ll get a wide range of answers — but almost all will be on dry land. MIT senior Cameron McCord feels a different calling: the ocean deep.A physics and nuclear science and engineering major from Springfield, Va., who is part of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) at MIT, McCord will spend at least five years as an officer in the U.S. Navy after graduating. A commitment to service is typical for NROTC students, but McCord is taking the road less traveled by being selected for submarine service.“A submarine is basically an engineer’s dream, because it’s a completely isolated nuclear powerplant that’s on its own underwater,” explains McCord, a 2012 Truman Scholar. “Submarines are awesome; I always sort of geek out when I’m talking about them.”As a boy, McCord loved the idea of serving in the...