Mike Campbell
University of California San Diego
Seminar Information
Engineering Building Unit 2 (EBU2)
Room 479 (4th Floor, through hallway doors)
Seminar Recording Available: Please contact seminar coordinator, Jake Blair at (j1blair@ucsd.edu)
The need to decarbonize central power production and the recent demonstration of fusion ignition and scientific gain greater than 1 at the National Ignition facility has renewed interest in Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE). The presentation will both summarize the present state of fusion physics, and the challenges and opportunities for a program focused on IFE.
Dr. Campbell is an internationally known expert in inertial fusion, high-energy-density physics, high-power lasers and their applications, and advanced energy technologies including Generation IV nuclear fission reactors and biofuels. He has won numerous awards including the Department of Energy's E. O. Lawrence Award, the American Nuclear Society's Edward Teller Award, the American Physical Society's John Dawson Award (twice), the Department of Energy's Excellence in Weapons Research Award, and the Leadership Award and Distinguished Career award from Fusion Power Associates. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and Optica. He has published over 250 articles in scientific journals and holds five patents including the design of the first laboratory x-ray laser. He has given numerous invited and plenary talks at both national and international conferences. He is the originator of the Inertial Fusion Science and Applications Conference.
Dr. Campbell has been a member of numerous committees providing advice and strategy, including the National Academy of Sciences, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Texas, the National Research Council of Canada, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of Rochester, Lockheed Martin Corporation, and the Missile Defense Agency. He served on the Board of Evans and Sutherland Corporation and has worked in various scientific and leadership positions at federal laboratories, universities and the private sector including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where he was Associate Director for Lasers and was the originator of the National Ignition Facility, General Atomics where he as Senior Vice President for Energy, Logos Technologies, Sandia National Laboratories, and the University of Rochester where he was the Director of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE). Dr. Campbell initiated an SMR program while at Logos Technologies for deployment in forward operating bases and remote, off-grid sites working with the Congress. On this basis the Senate Armed Services Committee instructed DOD to explore the applications and need for SMR’s. This was the beginning of the Pele Program now underway.
Campbell retired in April 2022 from the University of Rochester where he was the Director of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE). For his contributions to the LLE, Rochester, and fusion research, he recently was given honorary Doctorate by the University. Campbell now consults with a focus on fission energy, fusion and high-power lasers and their applications. He has received his degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and the University of Western Sydney. Campbell is presently a Professor of Practice at UCSD, Adjunct professor at UN-Reno and is President of MCM Consultants.