CSC Administrative Committee | IEEE Council on Superconductivity

President

John Przybysz

Northrop Grumman Corporation

2 (Eastern U.S.)

President-Elect

Luisa Chiesa

Tufts University

United States

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Luisa Chiesa

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Biography

Luisa Chiesa is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tufts School of Engineering. Her teaching interests include sustainable energy, thermodynamics and applied thermodynamics, cryogenic and superconductivity, strength of materials, mechanics of materials, and material science. Her primary research interest is superconducting materials for large powerful magnets to be used in particle accelerators, medical devices, and fusion energy machines. Her current research focus is the electro-mechanical behavior of superconducting materials for large magnets used in fusion power devices. Fusion reactors could play a key role in the power production of future generations. Powerful superconducting magnets are used to confine the plasma created in the fusion vessel. During operations, these magnets are subjected to extremely large forces that could reduce the overall performance of the superconducting material they are made of, jeopardizing the overall performance of the machine. To succeed in building such systems, it is critical to investigate the electro-mechanical properties of superconducting materials. Experimental and numerical work in this subject is performed at Tufts University, in collaboration with several national laboratories. This research is also of interest for other energy applications, such as superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) and superconducting transmission lines. These technologies could play a significant role in power storage and delivery, which are the backbone for the successful implementation of renewable energy sources. The measurements performed in Chiesa's laboratory are unique and focus mainly on superconductors, but the equipment available can be used to test different categories of materials.

Affiliation(s)

Tufts University

United States

Immediate Past President

Bruce Strauss

United States Department of Energy (retired)

2 (Eastern U.S.)

Treasurer

Elie Track

nVizix LLC

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Elie Track

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Biography

Elie Track is founder and CEO of nVizix LLC, a company that focuses on developing and commercializing a new high-efficiency vacuum solar cell. He also continues his lifelong work in superconducting electronics with a focus on commercialization. This included technology transfer of the Primary Voltage Standard designs from NIST to Hypres, Inc., where he was President and CEO (1994-2000) and remained Sr. Partner until recently.

He was a Visiting Professor of Physics at Fairfield University (2003-2005). He is an IEEE Fellow (2014). Since 1998, he has been Chair and Program Chair of major conferences/workshops in superconductivity, including the 2014 Applied Superconductivity Conference.

He was President of the Yale Science and Engineering Association (YSEA, 2007-2010) and chaired the Coalition for the Commercial Applications of Superconductors (CCAS, 2008- 2010). He holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Yale University and has authored/co-authored 45+ publications in the field.

IEEE ACTIVITIES

COMMITTEES/BOARD:

Member of the TAB Future Directions Committee 2011-2016
Co-founder and co-Chair of the IEEE Rebooting Computing initiative (started as a TAB initiative and currently a NIC initiative) 2012-present
Member of the Advisory board for transitioning the Biometrics Council from provisional to permanent status
Member of the Advisory board for the successful creation and commissioning by TAB of the Council on RFID 2015-present
Member of the Advisory board for the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society (TEMS) 2016-present

SOCIETY: Council on Superconductivity
VP-Pubs: 2006-2010;
VP (President-Elect): 2006-2010;
President: 2011-2014;
Treasurer (2015-present)

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Co-founded in 2013 the IEEE Rebooting Computing initiative which established, in 2016, the International Roadmap of Devices and Systems (IRDS), the successor to the ITRS roadmap to carry the technology beyond the end of Moore’s Law and ensure a central role for IEEE.
Successfully demonstrated interdisciplinary success within IEEE which brought twelve IEEE Organizational Units together.
Initiated and shepherded the system for IEEE members to indicate interest in a particular Council. This is now data that is recorded and allows Societies to determine how many of their members are interested in a given Council (leading to maintaining, adding, or discontinuing their sponsorship).
Combining his industry and academic experience and knowledge of IEEE, advised (and continues to advise) two Councils and one Society on efficient and relevant operations.

Affiliation(s)

nVizix LLC

Deputy Treasurer

Anna E. Fox

National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST)

United States

5 (Southwestern U.S.)

Secretary

Sasha Ishmael

Lupine Materials & Technology, Inc.

3 (Southeastern U.S.)

Vice-President for Conferences

John Spargo

Northrop Grumman Space Technology

6 (Western U.S.)

Vice-President for Finance

Bruce Strauss

United States Department of Energy (retired)

2 (Eastern U.S.)

Vice-President for Publications

Lance Cooley

Florida State University

3 (Southeastern U.S.)

Lance Cooley

3 (Southeastern U.S.)

Biography

Lance Cooley is a Florida State University professor in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, in addition to his MagLab roles as director of the Applied Superconductivity Center (ASC) and an associate lab director.

Cooley began his career in superconducting materials in 1986 at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, in the Applied Superconductivity Center under the direction of Prof. David Larbalestier. Lance’s early career, starting with his Ph.D. thesis, explored the ultimate limits of electric current in superconducting wires used for magnets. His thesis was awarded the Materials Research Society Graduate Award for the construction of periodic arrangements of flux-pinning centers at nanometer scale in superconducting wires. He earned a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, and later returned to Madison, Wisconsin, as a member of the research faculty to further investigate limits of superconductors.

The discovery of superconductivity in magnesium diboride in 2001 prompted Cooley to move to Brookhaven National Laboratory, where he eventually became head of the Superconducting Materials Group. He moved to Fermilab in 2007 to lead the SRF Materials Group, and later the Superconducting Materials Department. During this time, he coordinated external programs at multiple universities, laboratories and industry to improve performance of superconducting radio-frequency cavities and superconducting wires. This led to specifications and international standards related to niobium commerce, for which he received the International Electrotechnical Commission 1906 Award. He joined Florida State University and MagLab in 2017. He is also the manager of conductor acquisition for the Large Hadron Collider High-Luminosity Accelerator Upgrade Project as well as the head of Conductor Procurement and R&D for the National Magnet Development Program, both in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of High-Energy Physics.

Cooley serves as vice-president for publications for the IEEE Council on Superconductivity, which publishes the IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity. He has served on many review panels of the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. He is a fellow of the Institute of Physics and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). He has over 120 refereed publications, and has given more than 30 colloquia, plenary or public lectures.

Affiliation(s)

Florida State University

Vice President for Awards & Recognitions

Joseph Minervini

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (retired)

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Vice-President for Global Relations

Antonio della Corte

Ente per le Nuove Tecnologie l'Energia e l'Ambiente (ENEA)

8 (Africa, Europe, Middle East)

Fellow Evaluation Committee Chair

Samuel Benz

National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST)

5 (Southwestern U.S.)

Fellows Nominations Chair

Daniel Oates

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Daniel Oates

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Biography

Dr. Daniel E. Oates is a staff member in the Quantum Information and Integrated Nanosystems Group. His current research interests are microwave-frequency superconducting electronics, specifically applications in receiver front ends to reduce noise figure and interference. He is also active in characterization of superconducting materials for microwave applications using resonator techniques he pioneered that have been used to understand the basic physics of high-temperature superconductors.

Prior to joining Lincoln Laboratory, Dr. Oates was an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the University of Bonn, Germany. He was also employed at Bell Laboratories for several years. Research during his first 11 years at Lincoln Laboratory was in the field of microwave acoustics. He invented and developed temperature-stable surface-acoustic-wave dispersive-delay lines. He also developed surface-acoustic-wave programmable transversal filters in which surface-wave devices were coupled with silicon integrated circuits.

Dr. Oates has published as author or coauthor 86 papers in the field of superconductivity and related areas. He holds seven patents and has written three book chapters. He has given numerous invited talks at the international conferences on superconductivity and has served on the organizing committees for several important conferences. He organized two Materials Research Society Symposia and was the general chair for the 2002 Symposium on High Temperature Superconductors in High Frequency Fields. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE, serves on the Administrative Committee of the IEEE Council on Superconductivity, and is an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity.

Dr. Oates received his PhD degree in atomic physics from MIT and his BA degree in physics, with honors, from Yale University.

Affiliation(s)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity Editor-in-Chief

Alexander Polasek

Electrical Energy Research Center

Brazil

9 (Latin America)

Superconductivity News Forum Editor-in-Chief

Xavier Obradors

Institut of Materials Science of Barcelona

Spain

8 (Africa, Europe, Middle East)

Transactions on Quantum Engineering Editor-in-Chief

Rodney Van Meter

Professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies

Keio University, Japan

10 (Asia and Pacific)

Communications Representative

Stuart J. Berkowitz

Out of the Fog Research

6 (Western U.S.)

Computer Representative

Ilkay Altintas

Computers Representative 2

KC Santosh

Dielectrics & Electrical Insulation Representative

Sastry Pamidi

Florida State University

3 (Southeastern U.S.)

Electron Devices Representative

Deepnarayan Gupta

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Deepnarayan Gupta

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Biography

Dr. Gupta is responsible for the Digital-RF Circuits and Systems Business Division that includes the entire digital-RF technology program. Dr. Gupta was instrumental in changing HYPRES’ business direction in 2000-2001 to focus on RF applications and small-scale digital-RF systems and creating a multi-faceted program consisting of synergistic research and development (R&D) projects funded by a variety of government agencies and other sources. This branch of business has attracted more than $85M in revenue and encompasses analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters (ADCs and DACs), digital signal processors (DSP), multi-chip modules (MCMs), cryogenic analog RF modules (CARM), and complete cryocooled digital systems. Dr. Gupta has led the development of three generations of digital-RF receiver systems, the latest of which are modular, multi-function systems operating in customer facilities. Dr. Gupta served in various capacities, including VP R&D (2003-2012), since joining HYPRES in 1997. Prior to joining HYPRES, Dr. Gupta was a post-doctoral research affiliate at Stanford University (1995-1997), working on hybrid superconductor-semiconductor electronics, a theme that he has continued to develop into the hybrid-temperature heterogeneous-technology (HTHT) systems concept that combines the strengths of various warm and cold electronic and photonic technologies to solve difficult technical problems. His doctoral research (1990-1995) at the University of Rochester involved the invention of an inductive opening switch built with high-temperature superconductor (HTS) thin films and triggered by short laser pulses. He earned B. Tech. in Electronics and Electrical Communications Engineering (1990) from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, India. Dr. Gupta, a Fellow of the IEEE, is a co-author of more than 60 articles and holds 45 U.S. patents. He serves on the boards of the Applied Superconductivity Conference (ASC) and the United States Committee for Superconductor Electronics. Dr. Gupta has been serving as the IEEE Electron Device Society (EDS) representative on the IEEE Council on Superconductivity since 2009.

Electronics Packaging Representative

Masahiro Aoyagi

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST)

Japan

10 (Asia and Pacific)

Electronics Packaging Representative 2

Michael Hamilton

Auburn University

3 (Southeastern U.S.)

Instrumentation & Measurement Representative

Peter Hopkins

5 (Southwestern U.S.)

Instrumentation & Measurement Representative 2

Samuel Benz

National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST)

5 (Southwestern U.S.)

Magnetics Representative

Ron B. Goldfarb

National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST)

5 (Southwestern U.S.)

Magnetics Representative 2

Al Zeller

Florida State University

United States

4 (Central U.S.)

Microwave Theory & Techniques Representative

Daniel Oates

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Daniel Oates

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Biography

Dr. Oates received his PhD degree in atomic physics from MIT and his BA degree in physics, with honors, from Yale University.

Affiliation(s)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Microwave Theory & Techniques Representative 2

Raafat Mansour

University of Waterloo

7 (Canada)

Raafat Mansour

7 (Canada)

Biography

Dr. Raafat R. Mansour received the BSc and MSc degrees from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt in 1977 and 1981, respectively, and the PhD degree from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in 1986 — all in electrical engineering.

Dr. Mansour is a Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo and holds a Tier 1-Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Micro-Nano Integrated RF Systems. He held an NSERC Industrial Research Chair (IRC) for two terms (2001-2005) and (2006-2010). Prior to joining the University of Waterloo in January 2000, Dr. Mansour was with COM DEV Cambridge, Ontario, over the period 1986-1999, where he held various technical and management positions in COM DEV’s Corporate R&D Department. Dr. Mansour holds 37 US and Canadian patents (35 awarded, 2 pending) and more than 350 refereed publications to his credit. He is a co-author of the most comprehensive 20-chapter Microwave Filters book published by Wiley and also contributed 6 chapters to four other books. He was the recipient of COM DEV’s Outstanding Achievement Award in 1991 and COM DEV’s CEO Special Award in 1994. He also received several Best Paper Awards and outstanding research performance awards from the University of Waterloo.

Dr. Mansour is the Founding Director of the Center for Integrated RF Engineering (CIRFE) facility at the University of Waterloo cirfe.uwaterloo.ca, which houses a state-of-the-art clean room and RF-MEMS test/characterization laboratory. CIRFE launched the UW-MEMS process, a research-oriented multi-user MEMS fabrication process, and, through the Canadian Microelectronics Corporation (CMC), it has been offering the UW-MEMS as a multi-project wafer university-based fabrication process to researchers across Canada. Dr. Mansour’s research group has made seminal contributions to the field of nano-instrumentation by introducing a new class of scanning probe microscopes (SPM) capable of imaging surfaces at the nano-scale. Dr. Mansour and his graduate students co-founded Integrated Circuit Scanning Probe Instruments (ICSPI-Corp; www.icspicorp.com), a start-up company that commercializes CMOS-MEMS SPM technologies.

Dr. Mansour served as the Chair of the Technical Program Committee of the IEEE International Microwave Symposium IMS2012. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE). Dr. Mansour was the recipient of the 2014 Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) Engineering Medal for Research and Development.

Affiliation(s)

University of Waterloo

Power & Energy Representative

P. J. Costa Branco

Universidade de Lisboa

Portugal

8 (Africa, Europe, Middle East)

Power & Energy Representative 2

Kiruba Sivasubramaniam Haran

University of Illinois

4 (Central U.S.)

Reliability Representative

Charles H. Recchia

Reliability Representative 2

Angelos Stavrou

Virginia Tech

3 (Southeastern U.S.)

Angelos Stavrou

3 (Southeastern U.S.)

Biography

Dr. Angelos Stavrou is a Professor at the Bradley Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. Stavrou has served as principal investigator on research awards from NSF, DARPA, IARPA, DHS, AFOSR, ARO, ONR. He is an active member of NIST's Mobile Security team and has written more than 130 peer-reviewed conference and journal articles. Stavrou received his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, M.Phil. and Ph.D. (with distinction) in Computer Science all from Columbia University. He also holds an M.Sc. in theoretical Computer Science from the University of Athens and a B.Sc. in Physics with distinction from the University of Patras, Greece. Stavrou is an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Computers, IEEE Security & Privacy, and IEEE Internet Computing magazines and a previous co-chair of the IEEE Blockchain initiative. His current research interests include security and reliability for distributed systems, security principles for virtualization, and anonymity, focusing on building and deploying large-scale systems. Stavrou received the GMU Department of Computer Science Outstanding Research Award in 2010, 2016 and 2018 and was awarded the 2012 George Mason Emerging Researcher, Scholar, Creator Award, a university-wide award. In 2013, he received the IEEE Reliability Society Engineer of the Year award. He is a NIST guest researcher, a member of the ACM and USENIX, and a senior IEEE member. Under DHS funding, Kryptowire designed and implemented novel MDM and analysis software. His team was awarded the DHS Cyber Security Division's "Significant Government Impact Award" in 2017 and "Bang for the Buck Award" in 2019.

Affiliation(s)

Virginia Tech

Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, & Frequency Control Representative

Siddhartha Ghosh

Northeastern University

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Cryogenics & Superconductivity Society of Japan Representative

Takanobu Kiss

Kyushu University

Japan

10 (Asia and Pacific)

European Society for Applied Superconductivity Representative

Luca Bottura

CERN

Switzerland

8 (Africa, Europe, Middle East)

European Technical Committee Chair

Giovanni Piero (Giampiero) Pepe

Università di Napoli Federico II

Italy

8 (Africa, Europe, Middle East)

Giovanni Piero (Giampiero) Pepe

8 (Africa, Europe, Middle East)

Biography

Giovanni Piero Pepe (Giampiero) is Full professor for Experimental Physics and Nanomaterials for Electronics and Energetics at the University of Napoli Federico II, while from 2011 to 2019 he has been Deputy Director of the Naples Unit of the Institute for Superconducting, Innovative Materials and Devices (SPIN), National Council of Research (CNR), Italy. GPP has more than 25 years experience in superconducting electronics covering mainly topics regarding Josephson effects and tunneling in superconducting devices, unconventional superconducting devices for quantum applications, advanced superconducting detectors and non-equilibrium superconductivity, cryogenics, and material science at low temperatures. During the last years GPP and his group were involved in a number of national and European projects concentrating on the development of superconducting (nano)devices for quantum communications. He has authored more than 160 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He worked in advisory boards of international conferences and workshops like ASC, ISEC, EUCAS, ICSM. From 2019 he is Chair of the European Society of Applied Superconductivity, and chairman and organizer of ISEC 2017 Conference in Sorrento, of WOLTE13 2018 Conference in Sorrento, and of WOLTE14 to be held in Matera, Italy. He was Chair of ESAS International Summer School on “New Trends with Superconducting Quantum Detectors” (Genova, 2013), of the Winter ESAS School on “Novel frontiers in superconducting electronics: from fundamental concepts and advanced materials towards future applications” (Naples, 2016), and co-chair of the National CNR Workshop on Single Photon Devices: the Italian perspectives (Roma, 2016). From 2019 he is Senior IEEE Member.

Affiliation(s)

Università di Napoli Federico II

Italy

Japan Technical Committee Representative

Naoyuki Amemiya

Kyoto University

Japan

10 (Asia and Pacific)

Technical Committee on Quantum Chair

Anthony Przybysz

China Council Chapter Chair

Jianxun Jin

Tianjin University

China

10 (Asia and Pacific)

Italy Chapter Chair

Enrico Silva

University Roma Tre

Italy

8 (Africa, Europe, Middle East)

Switzerland Section Joint Chapter Chair

Carmine Senatore

Université de Genève

Switzerland

8 (Africa, Europe, Middle East)

Chicago Chapter Chair

Val Novosad

Argonne National Laboratory, Materials Science Division

4 (Central U.S.)

Universidad Tecnológica De Pereira Chapter Chair

Yineth Martinez Armero

Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira

Colombia

9 (Latin America)

Archives and History Chair

Peter J. Lee

Florida State University

3 (Southeastern U.S.)

Constitution & Bylaws Chair

Sasha Ishmael

Lupine Materials & Technology, Inc.

3 (Southeastern U.S.)

Distinguished Lecturer Program Chair

Shane Cybart

6 (Western U.S.)

Diversity & Inclusion Co-Chairs

Kathleen Amm

Director

National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

United States

Temidayo Abiola Oloye

Lead Magnet Design Engineer

GE Healthcare

Sasha Ishmael

Lupine Materials & Technology, Inc.

3 (Southeastern U.S.)

Women in Engineering Co-Chairs

Kathleen Amm

Director

National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

United States

Sasha Ishmael

Lupine Materials & Technology, Inc.

3 (Southeastern U.S.)

Temidayo Abiola Oloye

Lead Magnet Design Engineer

GE Healthcare

Young Professionals Co-Chairs

Sukanya S Meher

Member of Technical Staff

Hypres Inc

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Sukanya S Meher

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Biography

Sukanya S. Meher is a Member of Technical Staff at Hypres Inc, NY. In her role, she focuses on the design and development of energy efficient superconductor electronic circuits with diverse applications in digital signal processing, sensors, computing, and communication systems. She earned her Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, NY, in 2016 and her Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication from Manipal University, India in 2014. Sukanya’s proficiency spans circuit design, modeling, simulation, tool development, and testing of superconductor chips under cryogenic conditions. Sukanya's passion lies in contributing to sustainable and energy-efficient computing solutions.
Beyond her technical role, Sukanya maintains an active involvement with IEEE. Sukanya serves as a committee member of the IEEE Young Professionals Council on Superconductivity. In this capacity, she collaborates with fellow experts to shape initiatives and strategies that advance the interests of young professionals in the realm of superconductivity. Additionally, she plays a pivotal role in the IEEE Young Professionals Climate and Sustainability Taskforce, supporting the team in various events. Her proactive involvement underscored her commitment to addressing climate challenges and fostering meaningful discussions among young professionals in the field. She is also an active volunteer for the AnitaB.org and Grace Hopper Celebration, advocating and contributing to projects on the empowerment of women in technology.
Outside her professional and volunteer commitments, Sukanya pursues her passion for dancing, hiking, blogging, and traveling.

Affiliation(s)

Member of Technical Staff

Hypres Inc

Simon Chislett-McDonald

Senior Equipment Scientist

United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority

8 (Africa, Europe, Middle East)

Educational Grants Chair

Eric Hellstrom

Florida State University

3 (Southeastern U.S.)

Electronics Publishing Chair

Michael A. Green

Retired

6 (Western U.S.)

Nominations Committee Chair

Bruce Strauss

United States Department of Energy (retired)

2 (Eastern U.S.)

Outreach Chair

Susan Butler

University of Houston

5 (Southwestern U.S.)

Cryogenic Computing/Engineering Chair

Scott Holmes

DARPA

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Rosner Award Chair

Robert Fagaly

Retired

6 (Western U.S.)

Standards Chair

Robert Fagaly

Retired

6 (Western U.S.)

Student Support Chair

Sasha Ishmael

Lupine Materials & Technology, Inc.

3 (Southeastern U.S.)

Superconductivity/Helium Wiki

Michael Osofsky

Towson University

2 (Eastern U.S.)

Technical Operations Chair

Matthew Jewell

University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire

4 (Central U.S.)

AdCom Emeritus

Michael A. Green

Retired

6 (Western U.S.)

ASC General Chair

Luisa Chiesa

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Luisa Chiesa

1 (Northeastern U.S.)

Biography

Luisa Chiesa's primary research area is superconducting materials for energy application. Her current research focus is the electro-mechanical behavior of superconducting materials for large magnets used in fusion power devices. Fusion reactors could play a key role in the power production of future generations. Powerful superconducting magnets are used to confine the plasma created in the fusion vessel. During operations, these magnets are subjected to extremely large forces that could reduce the overall performance of the superconducting material they are made of, jeopardizing the overall performance of the machine. To succeed in building such systems, it is critical to investigate the electro-mechanical properties of superconducting materials. Experimental work in this subject is performed at Tufts University, in collaboration with several national laboratories.

Affiliation(s)

MT General Chair

Neil Mitchell

ITER Organization

France

Neil Mitchell

Biography

After completing his PhD at Cambridge University on the fluid mechanics of turbomachinery, Neil Mitchell entered the nuclear fusion world in 1981 during the completion of the JET tokamak, and participated extensively in the early superconducting strand and conductor development program of the EU in the 1980s, as well as in the design/manufacturing of several small copper-magnet-based magnetic fusion devices, including COMPASS at UKAEA. He was involved in the prototype manufacturing and testing of the superconductors that eventually became the main building blocks of the ITER magnets, and participated in the development and first tests of facilities such as Fenix at LLNL and Sultan at PSI. He has filled several positions within the ITER project after joining as one of the founder members in 1988, in particular as the section leader for the ITER conductor in the 1990s with the highly successful construction and test of the CSMC in Japan and TFMC in Europe, and then after as division head responsible for the magnet procurement. He was responsible for finalising the magnet design, negotiating the magnet in-kind procurement agreements with the ITER Home Institutes and direct contracts, following and assisting the industrial production qualification and ramp up in multiple suppliers in EU, Japan, Korea, China, US and Russia. The ITER conductor production was completed in 2016 and now with the completion of the first-of-kind magnets, the delivery to the site of several coils and the placement of the first PF coil in the cryostat, he is working as an advisor to the ITER director. He is deeply involved in problem solving in the interfaces to the ITER on-site construction as the ITER magnets are delivered, contributing to the magnet control and commissioning plans and advising the EU on the design of a next generation fusion reactor.

Affiliation(s)

ITER Organization

France

MT Liaison

Bruce Strauss

United States Department of Energy (retired)

2 (Eastern U.S.)

Council Operations Manager

Emilee Kramer

Operations Manager

Conference Catalysts LLC

5 (Southwestern U.S.)