Upcoming Conference

We look forward to seeing everyone in Berlin in a few weeks at the 2025 IEEE International Pulsed Power and Plasma Science Conference!

Don’t miss this great conference with a robust technical and social program. Plenary talks each day will be given by a number of award winners and top researchers in the pulsed power and plasma science fields, including Dr. Debbie Callahan, Dr. Randy Curry, Dr. Simon Bott-Suzuki, Dr. Richard Adler, and Dr. Thomas Klinger. Wednesday will also feature the 2nd Pulsed Power Workshop for Fusion Applications.  

The PPPS conference is being held in the Estrel Hotel in Berlin, Germany from June 15, 2025 – June 20, 2025. Additional information on registration for the conference can be found here: https://www.ppps2025.kit.edu/index.php and questions can be sent to [email protected].

PPST Award Winners

Congratulations to our 2025 award winners for PPST! They will all be recognized during the PPPS Conference in Berlin.

2025 IEEE Peter Haas Award Winner – Dr. Randy Curry

Dr. Curry joined the Ipulse-Group (Albuquerque) in November 2024 as a Vice President of Technology Development. The company is focused on commercial pulsed power applications. Previously he was a distinguished member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories from 2021-2024. As a DMTS at SNL, he was a member of the ECSD Scorpius team, the next generation accelerator program being developed by LANL, LLNL, and SNL. In 2022 he transitioned to leading teams involved in the development of high pressure switches for SF6 replacement and development of advanced materials and technology for magnetically insulated transmission lines that could potentially reduce losses in Z and the next generation of pulsed power at SNL. Prior to joining SNL, he was a distinguished faculty member at the University of Missouri (1995-2021), and the director of the Center for Physical and Power Electronics. The Center was a leader in advanced applications of pulsed power including directed energy, biomedical applications and new materials for compact pulsed power. The advanced applications of pulsed power included high pressure oil switches for directed energy, solid state switched systems, electrostatic disinfection, atmospheric plasmas, smart farming, biomedical applications, machinable metamaterials, nanodielectric material development for high power antennas and high voltage ultracompact capacitors. Dr. Curry prior to joining academia, developed and delivered pulsed power systems and applications at the Tetra Corporation, Titan Pulsed Sciences (formerly PSI), Power Spectra and Physics International. These included the two electron beam systems for the MIT Lincoln Laboratory CORA laser system, the SDIO system voted the most successful of 1990-1991. Dr. Curry was the Chair of the 2011 IEEE Pulsed Power Conference, the 2009 Technical Chair of the IEEE Pulsed Power Conference, and the 2023 Chair of the IEEE Workshop on Pulsed Power for Fusion. He is also the 2025 Chair of the 2nd IEEE Workshop on Pulsed Power for Fusion. Dr. Curry is the author of over 151 conference and journal papers, and holds 20 patents. Dr. Curry graduated from TTU with a BSEE (1982), a MSEE (1985), and St. Andrews University with a PhD in Applied Physics (1992).

2025 IEEE Erwin Marx Award Winner – Dr. Richard Adler

Dr. Richard Adler is the President and founder of North Star High Voltage, and previously the co-founder of North Star Research (with R. Richter-Sand).  Dr. Adler graduated with a BSc in Physics from the University of Alberta in 1976, and subsequently graduated with a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University in 1980.  He has spent almost all of his career in small business starting with 5 years at Mission Research.  This was followed by 2 years at Pulse Sciences Inc (Los Angeles) and for a short period at Titan/PSI.  North Star Research (Albuqerque) was founded in 1987 and Dr. Adler was co-owner and president from 1987 until 2004 when the company was acquired by Applied Energetics.  Dr Adler worked at Applied Energetics/North Star Power Engineering from 2004-2012 followed by a year working in the US and UK at e2V.  In 2014, Dr. Adler has since worked full time as president/chief technical officer of North Star High Voltage which primarily makes HV probes, dividers and HV support equipment with some pulse generator design work. Dr. Adler has concentrated on pulsed power systems and measurements to satisfy the highly varied requirements of 100s of customers over the years.  Dr. Adler has 23 patents and 63 Archival publications.  He is also the editor and co-author of the well-known pulsed power formulary.  His experience has ranged from originating the popular cloth fiber cathode for electron emission in 1982, to the development of a wide range of HV measurement devices over the period from 1996 – 2025.  He designed and supervised the construction of machines ranging from the first magnetically insulated line microwave source to X-ray cargo inspection systems based on electron beam scanning to counter-IED devices fielded in Afghanistan, to HV probes from 10 kV to 400 kV.  Over 10,000 HV measurement devices have been delivered to customers.  In that span Dr. Adler has also designed literally hundreds of pulsed power generators and HV accelerators built for customers.

2025 IEEE Arthur H. Guenther Pulsed Power Student Award Winner – Raimi Clark

Raimi is recognized for outstanding contributions as a student in pulsed power engineering, science and technology. Raimi Clark is a PhD candidate at the Center for Pulsed Power and Power Electronics at Texas Tech University, where she obtained her B.S. in mechanical engineering in 2020 and M.S. in electrical engineering in 2022. She is a recipient of the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration Laboratory Residency Graduate Fellowship for her doctoral studies. Her research interests span a range of pulsed power development and diagnostics, with a particular emphasis on high voltage vacuum insulation. Ms. Clark’s work has contributed to the understanding of anode-initiated flashover, a critical failure mechanism in large-scale pulsed power devices. In particular, spectroscopic analyses of the developing flashover plasma enabled confirmation of bulk insulator involvement in the developing plasma, providing robust evidence for a flashover phenomenology first introduced in the 70s but previously lacking evidentiary support. This work has the potential for considerable impact to the pulsed power community, as flashover thresholds must be advanced in order to enable further development of large-scale pulsed power machines to access new experimental regimes for the study of extreme states of matter and pulsed-power driven fusion. Her current focus is the exploration of electron emission from highly stressed insulators, enabling better characterization of the initial conditions for vacuum surface flashover development.

Emily Schrock can be reached by E-mail at [email protected].