Donald A Spong

Bio

Don Spong is a theoretical and computational plasma physicist in the Plasma Theory and Modeling Group of ORNL's Fusion Energy Division.

His current research focuses on plasma confinement and particle trajectories in 3-D magnetic geometries, Monte Carlo simulation of thermal and energetic particle transport, magnetic configuration optimization, energetic particle driven Alfvén instabilities in fusion devices, plasma gyro-fluid and gyro-kinetic simulation, scientific visualization, parallel computing.

Awards

1988 Martin Marietta Energy Systems/ORNL publications Award

1994 Martin Marietta Energy Systems/ORNL Technical Achievement Award

1994 Martin Marietta Energy Systems/ORNL Author of the Year Publication Award

2001 UT-Battelle/ORNL Science and Technology Award

2016 Fellow of the American Physical Society - Division of Plasma Physics

2020 UT-Battelle/ORNL Distinguished Researcher Award

2021 Fusion Power Associates (FPA) FPA Distinguished Career Award

Education

University of Michigan
Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering

University of Michigan
Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering

University of Arizona
Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering

Professional Affiliations

Professional Memberships: American Physical Society, Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi 

National Committees: DIII-D Program Advisory Committee, Program Advisory Committee for National Energy Research Supercomputing Center (NERSC), ITER Expert Group on Energetic Particles, Reviewer of Plasma Theory proposals for Office of Fusion Energy, DOE.

Publications

Other Publications