The most daunting tasks don't necessarily require the largest work forces; it's tasks on the paths with most resistance that require the most effort, according to Scott Spychala.

And big government projects tend to be full of people who are really good at transferring you to someone else who can't help you. That may or may not be true at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, where the U.S. plans to store nuclear waste for thousands of years. Spychala thinks he has a way to help the various Yucca Mountain stakeholders work together more efficiently. A senior in nuclear engineering at UMR, Spychala is going to present his team's research June 20 at an international conference in Stockholm, Sweden.