Newswise — Richard Hawryluk, a distinguished physicist who heads the ITER and Tokamaks department at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), has been named chair of the board of editors of Nuclear Fusion, the leading monthly journal in the field of controlled fusion energy. Announcement of the appointment came during the 2016 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Fusion Energy Conference in Kyoto, Japan.

Hawryluk succeeds Mitsuru Kikuchi in the five-year position, which provides policy oversight and support to editor Ambrogio Fasoli. The IAEA and Britain’s IOP Publishing co-publish and edit the journal.

“Dr. Kikuchi has done an outstanding job,” Hawryluk said. “He has succeeded in increasing the journal’s impact factor by getting excellent research papers. He has been a driving force for the journal for the past decade. I want to see a continuation of that trend and increased participation by our colleagues in Asia and in inertial confinement fusion.”

Hawryluk joined PPPL in 1974 with a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1991 to 1997 he headed the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) project, the largest magnetic confinement fusion facility in the United States and the only one to operate on a high-power mix of the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium. His leadership in preparing and coordinating TFTR experiments fueled by the mix earned him honors that included a Department of Energy Distinguished Associate Award; a Kaul Foundation Prize for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research and Technology; and a Fusion Power Associates Leadership Award. He has been a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) since 2008.

Hawryluk became deputy director of PPPL from 1997 to 2009, with responsibility for all research and technical operations. He then served as head of the ITER and Tokamaks department from 2009 to 2011. In 2011 he began a two-year term as deputy director general for the Administration Department of ITER, the international fusion experiment under construction in France to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion power. In 2013 he resumed his role as head of the ITER and Tokamaks department at PPPL.

Hawryluk’s numerous professional activities include membership in the Nuclear Fusion editorial board since 2009. His transition to chair of the editorial board took effect on November 1.

PPPL, on Princeton University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro, N.J., is devoted to creating new knowledge about the physics of plasmas — ultra-hot, charged gases — and to developing practical solutions for the creation of fusion energy. The Laboratory is managed by the University for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which is the largest single supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.