Jasmina Vujic

Jasmina Vujic is an American professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and the first woman to serve as chair of a collegiate nuclear engineering department in the United States.

Background Born in Loznica, Serbia, Vujic grew up in the town of Šabac. She studied at Belgrade University's School of Electrical Engineering, graduating in 1977. From 1977 until 1985, she worked at the Vinča Nuclear Institute near Belgrade. After moving to the United States in 1985, Vujic obtained her Masters in 1987 and her Ph.D. in 1989, both from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Career Since 1992, Vujic has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in nuclear engineering at Berkeley. She is co-director of the Berkeley Nuclear Research Center, which she also co-founded. From 2005 to 2009, she was chair of Berkeley's nuclear engineering school, making her the first American woman to head such a department. Vujic has published over 240 papers, with about one quarter of them appearing in top archival journals. She has given numerous presentations and lectures abroad and in the United States.

Vujic is a member of RadWatch, a Berkeley project that provides data on radiation to the public. She is a leading specialist on nuclear reactors and has been quoted in the news media on such issues.

In July 2020, the Daily Beast ran a story revealing that Vujic is a member of the far-right Dveri party in Serbia, and has served as their vice president. Vujic declined to comment on the story, and an official from the university noted that her activities with the group were "outside the scope of the professor's employment with the university."