NEW AdCom MEMBERS
Class of 2011
In this first issue of 2008 we especially welcome the newly elected AdCom members and new Technical Committee Chairs. Their brief biographies follow.

Elected AdCom Members
David K. Abe

DAVID K. ABE is the head of the Devices and Design Section of the Vacuum Electronics Branch at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory where he directs experimental and theoretical research in electron beam physics and the development of vacuum electronic devices for the generation of coherent electromagnetic radiation. He received a BS in engineering from Harvey Mudd College (1981), an MS in electrical engineering from the University of California, Davis (1988), and a PhD in electrophysics from the University of Maryland (1992). His research interests include the development of linear beam, slow-wave devices and components for applications ranging from the microwave to submillimeter-wave frequency regimes, multiple-beam devices, and the electromagnetic properties of materials. Prior to NRL, Dr. Abe worked on interdisciplinary projects in pulsed power, high power microwave generation, and electromagnetic effects at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Berkeley Research Associates, and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.
Dr. Abe has been an active member of the IEEE community for the past 19 years, serving in various capacities as a session organizer and on the technical program committees of numerous conferences, as a guest editor and a reviewer for various journals, and as an elected member of the Plasma Science and Applications Committee ExCom.
David Abe can be reached at the Naval Research Laboratory, Code 6841, 4555 Overlook Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20375; Phone +1 202 767-0033; Fax: +1 202 767-1280; E-mail: david.abe@ieee.org

Janet L. Barth

Janet Barth (M’89-SM’99) is the Head of the Flight Data Systems and Radiation Effects Branch at NASA’s Goddard Space
Fight Center. She began her technical career as an analyst in Goddard’s Radiation Physics Office, then as a senior radiation effects engineer. She has spent the last 29 years focusing on radiation effects on humans in space, hardness assurance for space electronics systems, and radiation environment modeling. Currently, her branch is responsible for flight hardware deliverables to several NASA programs, including the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the James Webb Space Telescope. Janet is a member of the Goddard Senior Fellows Council that advises the Center Director. She has been active in NPSS through the Nuclear Space and Radiation Effects Conference since 1985, serving on the Radiation Effects Steering Committee as Member at Large and as a Short Course Presenter, Guest Editor of the December Issue of the TNS, Technical Program Chair of the 2001 NSREC, Liaison to RADECS, and General Chair of the 2006 NSREC. She holds a BS in Biological Science, a BS in Mathematics, and has completed graduate work in Computer Science.

Janet Barth can be reached at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 561, Greenbelt, MD 20771-0001; Phone: +1 301 286-5966; E-mail:janet.l.barth@nasa.gov.

Dillon McDaniel

Dillon McDaniel is the newly elected AdCom member representing the Pulsed Power community. He did not submit a bio or photo for publication.

George H. Neilson, Jr.

George H. “Hutch” Neilson is Project Integration Manager for the National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) at PPPL, a new facility being constructed to study the physics of compact stellarators. Dr. Neilson led the project from 1998 until 2007, during which time it advanced through a series of design stages and fabrication of the major components. His current focus is long-term planning for the transition to operation in 2012 and integration into the world stellarator research effort. The NCSX project is being carried out as a partnership between PPPL and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
Dr. Neilson came to PPPL in 1989 as a visitor and joined the staff in 1996 as a Principal Research Physicist and Deputy Head of the Advanced Projects Department. At PPPL, he led national physics design activities for a series of fusion experiment design projects, including the Burning Plasma Experiment (BPX), the Tokamak Physics Experiment (TPX), design studies for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), and the design of the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) project in collaboration with Korea.
From 1974 to 1996, Neilson was an experimental physicist and manager in the ORNL Fusion Energy Division. At ORNL, he worked on a series of tokamak and stellarator fusion confinement experiments, including ORMAK, ISX, and the Advanced Toroidal Facility (ATF). He led the ATF First Plasma task force in 1988.
Neilson earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1979. He earned his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973. Neilson’s research interests are design and construction of magnetic confinement experiments, plasma magnetics, and magnetic diagnostics. He has authored numerous papers on fusion plasma physics and design, served on several committees within the fusion program, and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Hutch Neilson can be reached at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, PO Box 451, Princeton, NJ 08543-0451 USA; Phone: +1 609 243 2726; Fax: +1 609 243 3315; E-mail: hneilson@pppl.gov.

Stefan Ritt

Stefan Ritt received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1993. He is currently technical coordinator of the MEG experiment at PSI, Switzerland, where he is responsible for the readout electronics, the DAQ hardware and software and the slow control system. He is primary author of the MIDAS DAQ system and the ELOG electronic logbook software, which are used today in many experiments worldwide. He has been regular participant in the IEEE NPSS Real Time conference since 1997. He has served on the scientific advisory committee for this conference since Montreal 2003, where he also was Short Course Instructor. He is an editor of the IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science and regular reviewer for other IEEE scientific journals. He has been Ph.D. advisor for seven students and has served on the PSI computing committee since 1999. His interests have shifted from mainly DAQ software to a broader coverage of all DAQ aspects in particle physics experiments, including slow control, computer clusters, electronics development and chip design.
Stefan Ritt can be reached at PSI, Olga 102, Villigen 5232 SWITZERLAND; Phone: +41 563 103728; E-mail: stefan.ritt@psi.ch