The California-based nuclear technology company behind the Pike County power campus built to support Meta data centers is now partnering with the state's flagship university.
Oklo Inc. and its executives are gifting Ohio State University $3 million – supplemented by an additional $1.5 million in university matched funds – to launch an undergraduate nuclear engineering major, renovate campus facilities, create an endowed professorship and support student scholarships, as announced by the university at an Oct. 9 campus event.
The university already offers an undergraduate minor and graduate program in nuclear engineering, both of which have attracted strong student interest, according to Robert Siston, chair of OSU's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering. University leaders have long sought to add a full undergraduate major, and with the nation in the midst of what Oklo chief of staff John Hanson called "a nuclear renaissance," they say the timing is now right.
"There's not many of those nuclear engineering majors across the country, actually," Siston told reporters at the Oct. 9 event. "If you map out where these other majors are, we're geographically filling a need."
The new major is not official yet, pending approval from the Ohio State Board of Trustees. But Siston said he's optimistic that will occur, and the goal is to open the major to students in fall 2027, according to a university press release.
The investment will also expand research capabilities at the university's Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, to be renamed the Oklo Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, and allow for a new space within Scott Laboratory called the Oklo Experiential Engineering Education Lab.
The Dispatch first reported in January on Oklo's plans to develop a 1.2-gigawatt power campus with small nuclear reactors in Piketon to support New Albany data centers by Meta Platforms, Inc., the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other social media sites. The project could reach full capacity, with 16 advanced nuclear reactors, by 2034.
Hanson said the southern Ohio project, combined with his own ties to Ohio State as an alum, made the university a natural partner. Though the $3 million investment – $500,000 of which is coming directly from Hanson and his wife, as well as Oklo CEO Jacob DeWitte and his wife, for two endowed scholarship funds – is a gift, Hanson said the company stands to benefit, too. The more Ohioans learning about nuclear energy, the better for Oklo, he said.
Hanson said the company's thesis is that nuclear should be the cheapest source of energy, and the company's nuclear power plants hope to "bring that dream to reality." To do that, he added, the state needs an educated, growing workforce.
"The nuclear renaissance is growing," Hanson, who also characterized Ohio as "a nuclear state," told attendees at the Oct. 9 event. "It's very cool to be a part of that and kind of help push Ohio State forward into that moment. I think the real key with that nuclear renaissance and the growth there is that the people who are going to really impact that are in classrooms like this."
Siston agreed. Referencing Ohio State's "education for citizenship" motto, he said Oklo's investment demonstrates how industry can support both economic growth and educational opportunities.
"I think if we overall want lower energy costs and a well-educated citizenry with good-paying jobs available," Siston said, "we need more companies like Oklo who see that whole approach to contributing positively here in the state."
Reporter Emma Wozniak can be reached at ewozniak@dispatch.com or @emma_wozniak_ on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Firm behind Piketon nuclear campus gifts OSU millions for new major, lab space
