PPPL Experts

Ninaad Desai is an electrical engineer who divides her time between the AC power division and PPPL experiments. Her AC power responsibilities include short-circuit analysis and arc flash hazard evaluation. Desai also provides engineering support to the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), the Lithium Tokomak Experiment (LTX) and the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX). She is currently working on MRX and LTX upgrade projects, and is one of two power supply engineers for the NSTX with responsibility for protection settings, configuration, testing and operation.

Ahmed Diallo is deputy boundary group leader for the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX). Diallo has contributed to the upgrade of the Thomson scattering diagnostic system in preparation for the NSTX upgrade, and has participated in the operation of the NSTX and the Thomson scattering system prior to their upgrades. He has   more than 10 years of experience in laser-aided plasma diagnostics, has authored many scientific papers and given more than 10 talks, including four invited talks at international conferences and workshops.

David Gates is a principal research physicist for the advanced projects division of PPPL, and the stellarator physics leader at the Laboratory. In the latter capacity he leads collaborative efforts with the Wendelstein 7-X and Large Helical Device stellarator projects in Germany and Japan, respectively.

Stefan Gerhardt leads the Advanced Scenarios and Control research group in the NSTX organization. He operates numerous diagnostics on NSTX, along with designing plasma control schemes and running physics experiments. He has previously worked on a wide variety of fusion machines, including spherical tokamaks, stellarators, and field reversed configurations.

Goldston is a Professor of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University and an international leader in the fields of plasma physics and magnetic fusion energy. He is the author of 220 papers in journals and conference proceedings, and in 1995 co-authored with Paul Rutherford the textbook "Introduction to Plasma Physics." He is a contributing author to five other books. In 1988 he was awarded the American Physical Society Prize for Excellence in Plasma Physics. Goldston is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. From 1997 to 2009, he served as Director of the U.S.

For more than 20 years, Hantao Ji has been interested in the converging fields of plasma physics and astrophysics, and has dedicated his career to bringing them closer together.

David Johnson is a principal research physicist with broad experience in techniques and instrumentation for measuring the characteristics of magnetic fusion plasmas.  He has specific expertise in laser Thomson scattering systems, and has installed and operated such systems on many fusion devices around the world.  He managed a division of plasma diagnostic experts for the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) and National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) projects, more recently becoming the Work Breakdown Structure Team Leader for US ITER Diagnostics.

Robert (Bob) Kaita is the head of plasma diagnostic operations and acting head of boundary physics operations for the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX). Kaita is also a co-principal investigator of the Lithium Tokamak Experiment (LTX). He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a recipient of the Kaul Foundation Prize for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research. He has supervised the research of many students in the PPPL Program in Plasma Physics in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University. 

Bruce Koel is professor of chemical and biological engineering at Princeton University. He is associated faculty in chemistry at the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM); associated faculty in the Princeton Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and a collaborator on the National Spherical Torus Experiment at PPPL. Koel is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society and the American Vacuum Society, and a member of the governing board of the Council for Chemical Research.

Jerry Levine has more than 35 years experience in managing, coordinating and reviewing licensing, safety and environmental matters for fusion-energy research activities and the nuclear waste program. Levine directs a department of more than 40 professionals responsible for oversight and support of activities ranging from radiation protection and electrical safety to emergency preparedness, environmental protection and security.

George "Hutch" Neilson manages PPPL’s international stellarator and tokamak collaborations. In that context, he is program manager and national point-of-contact for U.S. collaborations with the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator experiment in Germany, and a project manager for coil-design collaborations with the JET tokamak experiment in Oxfordshire, UK.  Neilson also is the responsible manager for PPPL advanced design activities, and for planning for a next-generation experimental fusion facility, or DEMO, that is to precede a commercial fusion reactor.

Charles Neumeyer Jr. is a registered professional engineer with more than 30 years experience in advanced technology research and project management.  His experience covers functions ranging from design to procurement and conditioning. Neumeyer has managerial roles in activities associated with ITER and the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade (NSTX-U). He is responsible for U.S. equipment contributions for the ITER Steady State Electrical Network, which will supply AC power to all ITER plant systems.

Masa Ono is a principal research physicist and project director of the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX). Ono has led a number of PPPL research teams including those involved in the Advanced Concept Torus (ACT-1), the Current Drive Experiment (CDX), the Current Drive Experiment Upgrade (CDX-U) and the NSTX. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the author of more than 250 scientific papers.

William Tang is the Chief Scientist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), the national laboratory for fusion research. He is also the Associate Director for the Princeton Institute for Computational Science and Engineering (PICSciE) which was recently established at Princeton University to stimulate progress in innovative computational science via interdisciplinary alliances involving computer science, applied mathematics, and prominent applications areas in the physical sciences and engineering disciplines.

Kelsey Tresemer has been the primary design engineer and cost account manager for plasma-facing components for the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), and currently serves as cost account manager for the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade (NSTX-U). Apart from this work, she has been employed in the research of refractory first wall materials for experimental fusion facilities, and has participated in the retrofitting and repair of several neutral beam system components.

Michael Williams is the associate laboratory director for engineering and infrastructure for PPPL. He has had broad design, construction and operations experience covering many engineering disciplines related to fusion energy research. Over the years he has held key management positions and has led numerous project teams including the construction of NSTX. His current responsibilities include oversight of all engineering and project management activities at the laboratory.