Student Spotlight: Vincent "Vinnie" Paglioni

Name

Vincent Paglioni, but everyone calls me Vinnie

Year in Program

2nd Year

Advisor

Dr. Katrina Groth

Research Interests

Human Reliability Analysis, Reactor Safety, Risk Theory, Engineering Ethics

Dissertation Topic

I am studying the conception, modeling and quantification of dependency in
HRA. Currently, HRA models situational factors as independent, and takes a very simplistic
view of dependency between functions. I want to change that!

What drew you to engineering?

There is a home video of me building LEGOs as a toddler, and my dad asks me if I'm building
a nuclear reactor. So, I was predestined from an early age to become a nuclear engineer.
In college, I wanted to pursue the most practical application of physics that I could find,
and to me that was nuclear engineering. I became interested in the human reliability aspects of engineering
when I was working as a nuclear engineer with the Department of Navy.

What made you decide to come to UMD and the ENRE Program?

I was really drawn to the location and environment of UMD itself, but what really piqued my interest
was the breadth of research going on in the CRR and in the SyRRA lab.
I really wanted to maintain a connection to the nuclear power industry, and the SyRRA lab was my
opportunity to do that within the context of reliability engineering.

What do you want people to know about Reliability Engineering that they may not know?

People should know that it exists as a discipline. Most people that I talk to have no idea what
reliability engineering entails, and even a lot of engineers tend to take system reliability for granted.

What is a fun fact about yourself?

My two favorite genres of music are bluegrass/folk and classical. My two favorite songs (right now) are Long Violent History by Tyler Childers and Bach’s Cello Suite No.1 in G Major.

Published November 30, 2020