PhDs in Nuclear Engineering were presented. In 1955, Dr. Raymond L. Murray, another recruit from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, joined the faculty, who later became the longest serving department head. R-3 In 1956 work to build a heterogeneous reactor called R-3 began. This design was to use Materials Test Reactor plate-type fuel in Burlington Nuclear Labs. This reactor operated at a maximum power of 100 kW. In the late 1950s, Dr. Raymond L. Murray became head of the Applied Physics department where he also provided leadership to the beginning of a nuclear engineering educational program. The decision was made to offer the first B.S. degree in Nuclear Engineering in the nation. In 1956 Clifford Beck departed the program to accept a position with the Atomic Energy Commission in Washington. Raymond Murray and Professor Harold Lammonds assumed supervision of the nuclear program. Between 1962 and 1964, the shielding of the R-3 reactor was extended to allow operation at higher power levels and this improved reactor began operation in 1963, operating at a steady-state power level of 250 kW. This reactor became a major part of the nuclear engineering instructional program and also began to provide some services in radioisotope production and neutron activation analysis. In 1963 Raymond Murray resigned his position as head of Applied Physics to become Department Head of Nuclear Engineering. Simultaneous with this decision, the Nuclear Engineering Department was transferred from Applied Physics into the School of Engineering, then headed by Dr. Ralph E. Fadum, Dean. Through the late 1960s and early 1970s the Air Force and Army began to send qualified students to the program to obtain M.S. degrees and later staff the nuclear programs in their own organizations. In the 70's, the NESEP program (Naval Enlisted Scientific Education Program) brought a number of well qualified enlisted men into the nuclear program to earn undergraduate degrees and a number of foreign countries contributed students to earn BS, MS or PhD degrees and then return to their respective countries. By the time of shutdown, the reactor had achieved a total of 2 Megawatt-days of operation. History after construction of the PULSTAR Internal discussions within Nuclear Engineering addressed the choices of upgrading the R-3 reactor for both teaching and research or shutting it down to replace it with an entirely new reactor. Dr. Martin Welt championed the latter point of view, and this position was adopted by the department.