The citation states:

"Dr. Ken Young For your role as the leader of diagnostics development for the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR), your subsequent contributions to the breakthrough measurements which are the TFTR legacy, and your very real efforts in behalf of collaborative fusion physics research, both within the U.S. and abroad. Your dedicated efforts have had a major impact on the diagnostics systems that bind theory and experiment together in advancing fusion."

DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences head Anne Davies sent Ken the following letter:

Dear Dr. Young:

I am writing on the occasion of your retirement to express our deepest thanks and to acknowledge the great pleasure that we in the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences have had in working with you over nearly three decades of fusion energy research.I know that I speak for all of my colleagues here in Germantown in recognizing the contributions that you have made to diagnostics efforts, not only at PPPL, but also across the program.

The whole of the TFTR enterprise, from beginning to end, bore fruits from your concerted efforts to measure all the characteristics of that very uncharacteristic D-T plasma. The combination of those exquisite diagnostic measurements and the latest simulation and modeling yielded new understandings that have given us the first predictive capability of transport properties in magnetically confined plasmas. The TFTR research led quite naturally to your involvement in ITER diagnostics preparations where, once again, you labored hard to see that diagnostics requirements were included in the design process.

In addition to many technical contributions, your ability to work with an ever-widening circle of collaborators, both here and abroad, has paid enormous dividends for the fusion program. Terms such as honesty, candor, openness, and respect come easily to mind when describing your interactions in setting up PPPL cooperative research activities with laboratories around the world. Your work has made it substantially easier for us to create a fusion program where the boundaries to collaboration are technical, not social or institutional.

Again, let me say that we have all benefited enormously from your participation in the fusion program. In a world that increasingly rewards commercial endeavors, I am both proud and pleased that you chose to devote your professional efforts to fusion energy science. Even after your retirement, I hope that we may continue to benefit from your wisdom and your example.

Sincerely,
N. Anne Davies
Associate Director for Fusion Energy Sciences, Office of Science