2027 U.S. IFE Conference

Dr. Holly B. Flynn earned her PhD in Energy, Science, and Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She has over ten years of experience in computational modeling, software development, diagnostics and analytics, and machine learning for fusion energy, tritium science, and additive manufacturing. At SRNL, Dr. Flynn leads the Fusion Energy Sciences modeling and analytical teams and received a 2023 Office of Science Fusion Energy Sciences Early Career Award for her work in tritium monitoring and accountancy. She also supports research developing models, automation software, and AI/ML approaches for the qualification and inspection of additively manufactured parts, with a focus on lattice structures, digital frameworks, and smart printing capabilities.

Roger Falcone is a Professor of Physics at UC Berkeley, and was Department Chair (1995-2000), Director of LBNL’s Advanced Light Source (2006-17), and President of the American Physical Society (2018). He attended Princeton and Stanford Universities, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and OPTICA. Falcone studies dynamics of ultrafast processes, and focuses on understanding the behavior of plasmas under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature, up to a billion atmospheres. He is engaged with several fusion energy companies, and chairs advisory committees for research institutes and facilities in the US and Europe.

Debra (Debbie) Callahan is the Chief Strategy Officer at Focused Energy. She joined Focused Energy after 35 years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a physicist and associate division leader. She was part of the scientific leadership of the team that achieved ignition on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) Laser.  She joined Focused Energy in 2022 to take the results from NIF and work toward developing inertial fusion as a source of clean energy.

Dr Callahan is a Fellow of the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics and has been a co-recipient of the Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics twice (2012 and 2022). She has been recognized for her work on NIF by a Fusion Power Associates leadership award, the Ronald C. Davidson award (AIP), the E. Gail de Planque medal (ANS), and the Plasma Science and Applications Award (IEEE).

Bassem El-Dasher is a member of the Associate Director of Engineering Office, currently leading the development of a program focused on advanced manufacturing for Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE). In his role, he serves as the primary interface of the Engineering Directorate with all IFE stakeholders across the lab.

El-Dasher rejoined the Laboratory in June 2024, after spending 10 years at TerraPower, LLC in Bellevue, WA, where he held a variety of positions both experimental and administrative. At TerraPower he was initially responsible for developing the Innovation Experimental Program, a role that required him to be lead scientist for the material challenges faced by the Innovation Department’s multiple projects as well as Project Manager of TerraPower’s radiological laboratory buildouts. He then had the privilege of managing the Test Engineering Discipline for the company, prior to supporting the Natrium SFR Program, ultimately in the role of Deputy Director, Nuclear Fuel and Equipment Qualification.

El-Dasher started his scientific career at LLNL as a Postdoctoral Researcher in 2003, where he initially worked on a variety of challenging material problems for the Yucca Mountain Project focused on physical metallurgy and material properties. Following his appointment as a Staff Scientist, he worked on a variety of high pressure physics experimental campaigns before being assigned the role of Materials Lead for the Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE) Project, where he worked with the design team to identify and experimentally validate structural materials needs for that project. Prior to his departure to TerraPower in 2014, El-Dasher was a key member of the Advanced Manufacturing team, focusing on high throughput metal additive manufacturing techniques.

Carlo Fiorina is an Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University, where his research focuses primarily on the modeling, design, and analysis of inertial fusion energy systems. His work addresses critical aspects of IFE reactor engineering, including chamber gas dynamics, thick-liquid-wall behavior, first-wall and target survivability, radiation energy deposition, tritium-breeding blankets, and integrated neutronic and thermal-fluid analysis. He leads Texas A&M’s activities within the DOE National IFE STARFIRE Hub and collaborates extensively with national laboratories and private fusion companies to develop advanced modeling and simulation capabilities for IFE chambers and blankets. Professor Fiorina received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees from Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Before joining Texas A&M, he was an R&D Program Manager at EPFL and a postdoctoral researcher at the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland. Since 2015, he has actively promoted open-source nuclear software development, helped establish the IAEA ONCORE initiative, and served as a lead developer of the foamForNuclear platform for the analysis of nuclear energy systems.

Alison Christopherson leads target design at Xcimer Energy, where her work focuses on implosion physics for inertial fusion energy. She earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester and previously worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on inertial confinement fusion.

Dr. Nathan Meezan is an experienced fusion target design physicist and team leader. After joining LLNL in 2002, Dr. Meezan designed dozens of experiments for the National Ignition Facility, including the first laser indirect drive implosions in 2009. He also led or co-led numerous campaign teams, including LLNL’s Magnetic Drive ICF efforts. In 2024, Nathan joined Pacific Fusion to build and lead the company’s target design team.

Jim Gaffney is a physicist with a PhD in atomic and dense plasma physics. He spent 13 years at LLNL working on high energy density physics, modeling and simulation, machine learning, and uncertainty quantification applied to NIF ICF experiments (and other DOE problems) before becoming a group leader at LLNL’s Center for Applied Scientific Computing. Since 2024 Jim has held several positions in private fusion companies; in his current role he is responsible for the conceptual design of Inertia’s fusion pilot plant.

Farhat Beg is a Shao-Chi and Lily Lin Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Engineering Science at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. His expertise is in the field of laser plasma interaction, inertial confinement fusion, inertial fusion energy, pulsed power-driven Z-pinches, and neutron sources. He has published over 300 papers in refereed journals, including Nature, Nature Physics, Nature Photonics and Physical Review Letters, with total citations exceeding 10,000 with and H-index of 55, according to the Web of Science. He is the fellow of the American Physical Society, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been a winner of the Department of Junior Faculty Award (2005) and IEEE Early Career Award (2008). He was the recipient of the Plasma Science and Applications Committee (PSAC) Award by the IEEE in 2021.

Dr. Robbie Scott has 20 years’ experience working as a physicist in Inertial Confinement Fusion and was co-author of the Q > 1 results on the National Ignition Facility. A Senior Plasma Physicist at the Central Laser Facility, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Dr Scott is the Chief Scientist of the UK Programme of Laser Inertial Fusion Technology for Energy (UPLiFT), which is funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.