Jim retired September 30 from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) after serving 11 years in the Office of Science, including five years as Associate Director of Science for Fusion Energy Sciences (FES). He also recently received a Special Distinguished Career Award from Fusion Power Associates.

Among his accomplishments as U.S. fusion program director, Jim oversaw a two-year effort by the U.S. fusion community and the DOE Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) that produced a new long-range strategic plan, Powering the Future: Fusion and Plasma (2021), with extensive community engagement and consensus.

He also sponsored several important studies: the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Final Report of the Committee on a Strategic Plan for U.S. Burning Plasma Research (2018); a decadal survey Plasma Science: Enabling Technology, Sustainability, Security, and Exploration (2020); and Bringing Fusion to the U.S. Grid (2021). The last of these inspired a White House Fusion Summit (March 2022) at which DOE launched a bold decadal vision for fusion energy via partnership with the private sector.

Also during his tenure, the LaserNetUS research consortium and the Innovation Network for Fusion Energy public-private voucher program were successfully launched; FES solicitations for artificial intelligence/machine learning, quantum information science, micro-electronics, and advanced fusion technology (with ARPA-E) were initiated; construction of the new Material Plasma Exposure Facility began; international research collaborations were enhanced; and an important FESAC study on transformative enabling technology was carried out.

Earlier in his career, he spent 31 years at The University of Texas at Austin as a research scientist, Assistant Director, and for nine years Director of the Institute for Fusion Studies. Concurrently, he was Director of the U.S. Burning Plasma Organization and U.S. Chief Scientist for the ITER Project.

Jim can be reached at james.w.vandam@gmail.com