Arnold Lumsdaine has been appointed as Private-Public Partnerships Lead for the Fusion Energy Division at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
As Private-Public Partnerships Lead, Lumsdaine will identify, evaluate and secure opportunities for ORNL to partner with the private fusion energy sector in areas that mutually benefit both the Lab and partner companies, including planning for large facilities. He will also continue to serve as director of the Innovation Network for Fusion Energy program, or INFUSE, which he has led since 2022, and lead a Milestone Evaluation Board to support the Department of Energy’s milestone-based fusion development program.
Lumsdaine has served as group leader for Fusion Engineering since 2020 and was lead engineer for the Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment, or MPEX, from 2018 to 2022. Since joining ORNL in 2009, he has served in lead engineering roles for the design and analysis of high-heat flux divertor components, high-power microwave transmission line components, high-vacuum vessels, and plasma-facing systems.
Lumsdaine received his doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan. He is an active member of the Fusion Energy Division of the American Nuclear Society and served as its chair from 2016 to 2019. He also co-chaired the FESAC Subcommittee on Transformative Enabling Capabilities in 2017-2018.
