Biography

Kgashane L. Malatji has joined the Nuclear Engineering Department at UCB, and the Nuclear Data Program at LBNL as a Postdoctoral employee and Nuclear Data Evaluator Trainee. His work focuses on the statistical properties of nuclei, specifically photon strength functions (PSFs) and nuclear level densities (NLDs), which are vital for nuclear structure studies, nuclear reactions, astrophysics, and related applications. As part of his traineeship in nuclear data compilation, evaluation, and dissemination, Kgashane is working with a team of experts to develop and update nuclear databases related to these properties, in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Before joining UC Berkeley and LBNL, he held postdoctoral researcher and instrumentation scientist roles at the National Research Foundation’s iThemba LABS in South Africa. There, he led the development and commissioning of a low-energy nuclear physics beamline and gamma-ray array, using high-intensity proton and alpha beams from a 3 MV Tandetron accelerator to study neutron-deficient isotopes.

Kgashane earned his M.Sc at the University of the Western Cape and Ph.D. in experimental nuclear physics from Stellenbosch University, in South Africa. His research included systematic studies of samarium isotopes and the statistical properties of tantalum isotopes to investigate nuclear structure evolution and nucleosynthesis mechanisms.