FPN09-62

Fusion Scientist Bill Dorland Wins DOE Lawrence Award

December 21, 2009

University of Maryland fusion scientist William Dorland is one of six persons chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy to receive its 2009 E. O. Lawrence Award "for their ourstanding contributions in research and development supporting the Department of Energy and its missions." Dorland is cited "for his scientific leadership in the development of comprehensive computer simulations of plasma turbulence, and his specific predictions, insights, and improved understanding of turbulent transport in magnetically-confined plasma experiments."

The Lawrence Award was established in 1959 to honor the memory of Dr. Ernest O. Lawrence who invented the cyclotron and after whom two major Energy Department laboratories (in Berkeley and Livermore, CA) are named. The award winners will each receive a gold medal, a citation and $50,000.

Work by Dorland and co-workers Mike Kotschenreuther and Greg Hammett in the mid-1990s led to improvements in the confinement physics scaling models that are currently used to predict the performance of ITER, the first fusion engineering test reactor, now under construction in France as an international venture.

Dorland can be reaced at BDorland@ipr.umd.edu