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'''Robert W. Conn''' (born Dec. 1, 1942) is President and Chief Executive Officer of [[The Kavli Foundation]], a U.S. based foundation dedicated to the advancement of basic science research and public interest in science. A physicist and engineer, Conn is also the current Board Chair of the Science Philanthropy Alliance and dean emeritus of the [[Jacobs School of Engineering]] at the [[University of California, San Diego]]. In the 1970s and 1980s, Conn helped pioneer the study of [[fusion energy]] as a potential source of electricity, and he served on numerous federal panels, committees, and advisory boards advising the government on the subject. He co-led the establishment in the early 1970s of the Fusion Energy Technology Institute at the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]], and in the mid-1980s he led the founding of the Institute for Plasma and Fusion Research at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]]. As a university administrator in the 1990s and early 2000s, Conn served as Dean of the School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego as it established several engineering institutes and programs, including the [[California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology]], known as Calit2. While at UCSD he also led the effort to establish an endowment for the School of Engineering, which began with major gifts from Irwin and Joan Jacobs. [[Irwin M. Jacobs]] is the co-founder and founding CEO of [[Qualcomm]]. The engineering school was renamed the Irwin and Joan Jacobs School of Engineering at U.C. San Diego in 1998. After leaving academia in 2002, Conn worked in private industry as a Managing Director at Enterprise Partners Venture Capital. He has over the years served on numerous private and public company corporate boards. Conn joined The Kavli Foundation in 2009. He helped establish the Science Philanthropy Alliance, which aims to increase private support for basic science research, in 2012.<ref>[https://www.aip.org/aip/assembly/2016/robert-conn Robert W. Conn Biography] Accompanying the Article, "The Role of Foundations and Societies in Supporting Frontier Research at Disciplinary Boundaries," by Robert W. Conn, American Institute of Physics</ref>
'''Robert W. Conn''' (born Dec. 1, 1942) is President and Chief Executive Officer of [[The Kavli Foundation]], a U.S. based foundation dedicated to the advancement of basic science research and public interest in science. A physicist and engineer, Conn is also the current Board Chair of the Science Philanthropy Alliance, an organization that aims to increase private support for basic science research, and Dean Emeritus of the [[Jacobs School of Engineering]] at the [[University of California, San Diego]] (UCSD). In the 1970s and 1980s, Conn participated in some of the earliest studies of [[fusion energy]] as a potential source of electricity, and he served on numerous federal panels, committees, and advisory boards advising the government on the subject. In the early 1970s, he co-led the establishment of the Fusion Energy Technology Institute at the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]] (UW), and in the mid-1980s he led the establishment of the Institute for Plasma and Fusion Research at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] (UCLA). As a university administrator in the 1990s and early 2000s, Conn served as Dean of the School of Engineering at UCSD as it established several engineering institutes and programs, including the [[California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology]], known as Calit2. While at UCSD he also led the effort to establish an endowment for the School of Engineering, which began with major gifts from Irwin and Joan Jacobs. [[Irwin M. Jacobs]] is the co-founder and founding CEO of [[Qualcomm]]. The engineering school was renamed the Irwin and Joan Jacobs School of Engineering at U.C. San Diego in 1998. After leaving academia in 2002, Conn worked in private industry as a Managing Director at Enterprise Partners Venture Capital. Over the years he has served on numerous private and public company corporate boards. Conn joined The Kavli Foundation in 2009. He helped establish the Science Philanthropy Alliance in 2012.<ref>[https://www.aip.org/aip/assembly/2016/robert-conn Robert W. Conn Biography] Accompanying the Article, "The Role of Foundations and Societies in Supporting Frontier Research at Disciplinary Boundaries," by Robert W. Conn, American Institute of Physics</ref>


==Education==
==Education==
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===University of Wisconsin-Madison===
===University of Wisconsin-Madison===


In 1970, Conn began his professional career at the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]], where he joined the nuclear engineering department as a visiting associate professor. He became associate professor in 1972 and full professor in 1975. Conn participated in some of the nation’s earliest feasibility studies of nuclear fusion energy, and between 1972 and 1980 published nearly 100 articles and reports on plasma physics and fusion technology. Along with four colleagues, Conn founded the University’s Fusion Energy Technology Institute in 1972. He also became the university’s Romnes Faculty Endowed Chair in 1978.<ref>Gerald Kulcinski, Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Director, Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUyJGGHNggo "Early Days In Bob Conn's Career at Wisconsin"], Robert W. Conn 70th Birthday Symposium at the University of California, San Diego, May 9, 2013</ref>
In 1970, Conn began his professional career at the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]], where he joined the nuclear engineering department as a visiting associate professor. He became associate professor in 1972 and full professor in 1975. It was at UW that Conn participated in some of the nation’s earliest feasibility studies of nuclear fusion energy. Between 1972 and 1980, he published nearly 100 articles and reports on plasma physics and fusion technology. Along with four colleagues, Conn founded UW's Fusion Energy Technology Institute in 1972. He also became the university’s Romnes Faculty Endowed Chair in 1978.<ref>Gerald Kulcinski, Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Director, Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUyJGGHNggo "Early Days In Bob Conn's Career at Wisconsin"], Robert W. Conn 70th Birthday Symposium at the University of California, San Diego, May 9, 2013</ref>


Conn’s early work came at a time when the federal government was eager to develop alternative sources of energy in the wake of the [[1973 oil crisis]]. He became one the first researchers to study the potential of nuclear fusion reactors, in which the fusion of [[hydrogen nuclei]] releases tremendous amounts of energy in the form of heat and nuclear particles, which is then used to generate electricity. Nuclear fusion is the process that fuels stars, but triggering and sustaining nuclear fusion in a controlled manner on Earth so it can generate heat for a power plant is not yet a practical reality.<ref>[http://www.iter.org/proj/inafewlines "What is Fusion?"], ITER Website</ref>
Conn’s early work came at a time when the federal government was eager to develop alternative sources of energy in the wake of the [[1973 oil crisis]]. He became one the first researchers to study the potential of nuclear fusion reactors, in which the fusion of [[hydrogen nuclei]] releases tremendous amounts of energy in the form of heat and nuclear particles, which is then used to generate electricity. Nuclear fusion is the process that fuels stars, but triggering and sustaining nuclear fusion in a controlled manner on Earth so it can generate heat for a power plant is not yet a practical reality.<ref>[http://www.iter.org/proj/inafewlines "What is Fusion?"], ITER Website</ref>
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In magnetic confinement reactors, hydrogen gas is heated to very high temperatures (about 150 million degrees Celsius). At these high temperatures [[electrons]] separate from hydrogen nuclei and the gas becomes plasma, which is often referred to as the fourth [[state of matter]], the others being solid, liquid and gas. By controlling, or confining, the flow of plasma in test reactors, engineers can cause hydrogen nuclei to collide and fuse – creating for short amounts of time a nuclear fusion reaction that generates heat. One of the unsolved challenges of controlled nuclear fusion energy is to sustain a reaction that generates more energy than what goes into just maintaining the operation of the reactor itself.<ref>[http://www.iter.org/proj/inafewlines "What is Fusion?"], ITER Website</ref>
In magnetic confinement reactors, hydrogen gas is heated to very high temperatures (about 150 million degrees Celsius). At these high temperatures [[electrons]] separate from hydrogen nuclei and the gas becomes plasma, which is often referred to as the fourth [[state of matter]], the others being solid, liquid and gas. By controlling, or confining, the flow of plasma in test reactors, engineers can cause hydrogen nuclei to collide and fuse – creating for short amounts of time a nuclear fusion reaction that generates heat. One of the unsolved challenges of controlled nuclear fusion energy is to sustain a reaction that generates more energy than what goes into just maintaining the operation of the reactor itself.<ref>[http://www.iter.org/proj/inafewlines "What is Fusion?"], ITER Website</ref>


In his early work, Conn studied numerous aspects of plasma, including how it can be confined with magnetic fields, thereby increasing its density and the likelihood that atomic nuclei collide and fuse. Conn also studied the boundary conditions between plasma and the walls inside a reactor, how to design the so-called “blanket region” surrounding the plasma chamber so as to capture the fusion energy, and many other science and engineering challenges associated with practical reactor development.<ref>[https://www.aip.org/aip/assembly/2016/robert-conn Robert W. Conn Biography] Accompanying the Article, "The Role of Foundations and Societies in Supporting Frontier Research at Disciplinary Boundaries," by Robert W. Conn, American Institute of Physics</ref> Among the many reports for which Conn played a central role was the UWMAK-1 Study in 1973,<ref>[http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/pdf/fdm68.pdf "UWMAK-I - A Wisconsin Toroidal Fusion Reactor Design"], Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Nov. 20, 1973</ref>which became a tutorial on reactor design used by private sector companies including Westinghouse and McDonald Douglas. His key leadership partner in these studies was Professor Gerald Kulcinski, Grainger Professor of Engineering at Wisconsin.<ref>Gerald Kulcinski, Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Director, Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUyJGGHNggo "Early Days In Bob Conn's Career at Wisconsin"], Robert W. Conn 70th Birthday Symposium at the University of California, San Diego, May 9, 2013</ref>
In his early work, Conn studied numerous aspects of plasma, including how it can be confined with magnetic fields, thereby increasing its density and the likelihood that atomic nuclei collide and fuse. Conn also studied the boundary conditions between plasma and the walls inside a reactor, how to design the so-called “blanket region” surrounding the plasma chamber so as to capture the fusion energy, and many other science and engineering challenges associated with practical reactor development.<ref>[https://www.aip.org/aip/assembly/2016/robert-conn Robert W. Conn Biography] Accompanying the Article, "The Role of Foundations and Societies in Supporting Frontier Research at Disciplinary Boundaries," by Robert W. Conn, American Institute of Physics</ref> Among the many reports for which Conn played a central role was the UWMAK-1 Study in 1973,<ref>[http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/pdf/fdm68.pdf "UWMAK-I - A Wisconsin Toroidal Fusion Reactor Design"], Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Nov. 20, 1973</ref>which became a tutorial on reactor design used by private sector companies including Westinghouse and McDonald Douglas. His key partner in these studies was Professor Gerald Kulcinski, Grainger Professor of Engineering at UW.<ref>Gerald Kulcinski, Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Director, Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUyJGGHNggo "Early Days In Bob Conn's Career at Wisconsin"], Robert W. Conn 70th Birthday Symposium at the University of California, San Diego, May 9, 2013</ref>


======Inertial confinement reactor studies======
======Inertial confinement reactor studies======
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In inertial confinement reactors, lasers are fired at a pellet of fuel (often made from a combination of deuterium and tritium) with the goal of igniting a fusion chain reaction.<ref>[https://lasers.llnl.gov/science/icf "Inertial Confinement Fusion: How to Make a Star"], National Ignition Facility and Photon Science, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory</ref>
In inertial confinement reactors, lasers are fired at a pellet of fuel (often made from a combination of deuterium and tritium) with the goal of igniting a fusion chain reaction.<ref>[https://lasers.llnl.gov/science/icf "Inertial Confinement Fusion: How to Make a Star"], National Ignition Facility and Photon Science, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory</ref>


While at the University of Wisconsin, Conn collaborated with his colleagues on a research program called SOLASE that studied the physics and engineering challenges of inertial confinement reactors. The work identified the key physics, engineering, and technology issues that needed to be solved if inertial fusion was to become a practical energy source. Among the many ideas advanced at that time was the use of a gas in the chamber to absorb the primary energy of each micro-explosion and cause that energy to re-radiate to the walls on a much longer time scale. The SOLASE program studied numerous technological challenges, ranging from delivering fuel pellets to the center of the device at a rate of one to five per second, capturing the energy from the fusion events, shielding the laser beams from pellet explosion debris, and capturing the neutrons carry energy so as to make a practical power system.<ref>Gerald Kulcinski, Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Director, Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUyJGGHNggo "Early Days In Bob Conn's Career at Wisconsin"], Robert W. Conn 70th Birthday Symposium at the University of California, San Diego, May 9, 2013</ref>
While at UW, Conn collaborated with his colleagues on a research program called SOLASE that studied the physics and engineering challenges of inertial confinement reactors. The work identified the key physics, engineering, and technology issues that needed to be solved if inertial fusion was to become a practical energy source. Among the many ideas advanced at that time was the use of a gas in the chamber to absorb the primary energy of each micro-explosion and cause that energy to re-radiate to the walls on a much longer time scale. The SOLASE program studied numerous technological challenges, ranging from delivering fuel pellets to the center of the device at a rate of one to five per second, capturing the energy from the fusion events, shielding the laser beams from pellet explosion debris, and capturing the neutrons carry energy so as to make a practical power system.<ref>Gerald Kulcinski, Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Director, Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUyJGGHNggo "Early Days In Bob Conn's Career at Wisconsin"], Robert W. Conn 70th Birthday Symposium at the University of California, San Diego, May 9, 2013</ref>


======Fusion-fission hybrid reactor studies======
======Fusion-fission hybrid reactor studies======
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In fusion-fission hybrid reactors, high-energy fast neutrons generated by nuclear fusion trigger nuclear fission in traditional nuclear fuels such as uranium and plutonium. The hybrid reactor concept has a fusion reactor at the core and a surrounding “blanket” of fissile material. In a hybrid reactor, neutrons from fusion reactions are used to produce fissionable materials such as [[Uranium-233]] or [[Plutonium-239]] which would need then to be reprocessed and used as fuel in a fission nuclear power plant. One fusion hybrid plant can provide enough fuel for as many as five nuclear power plants of the same power.
In fusion-fission hybrid reactors, high-energy fast neutrons generated by nuclear fusion trigger nuclear fission in traditional nuclear fuels such as uranium and plutonium. The hybrid reactor concept has a fusion reactor at the core and a surrounding “blanket” of fissile material. In a hybrid reactor, neutrons from fusion reactions are used to produce fissionable materials such as [[Uranium-233]] or [[Plutonium-239]] which would need then to be reprocessed and used as fuel in a fission nuclear power plant. One fusion hybrid plant can provide enough fuel for as many as five nuclear power plants of the same power.


Conn’s work on inertial fusion hybrid reactors was conducted under the SOLASE-H program at the University of Wisconsin, and was supported by the [[Electric Power Research Institute]] (EPRI).<ref>[http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/studies/SOLASE-H "SOLASE-H FTI Publications"], Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison</ref>
Conn’s work on inertial fusion hybrid reactors was conducted under the SOLASE-H program at UW, and was supported by the [[Electric Power Research Institute]] (EPRI).<ref>[http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/studies/SOLASE-H "SOLASE-H FTI Publications"], Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison</ref>


===University of California, Los Angeles===
===University of California, Los Angeles===


In 1980, Conn left the University of Wisconsin to join the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] (UCLA), where he continued research in plasma physics and nuclear fusion, as well as materials science and energy policy. While at UCLA Conn led the establishment in 1986 of the Institute of Plasma and Fusion Research, and served as its founding director. It was during this time that Conn began more extensively to advise the federal government on fusion energy, specifically for the [[United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology]] and the Department of Energy’s Magnetic Fusion Advisory Committee, among other governmental bodies. While at UCLA, Conn and his colleague, Farrokh Najmabadi, directed a national U.S. Department of Energy program known as ARIES, which prepared conceptual designs of possible fusion energy power plants. He was also a driving force behind creating PISCES, a laboratory research facility located first at UCLA and today at UC San Diego that studies what happens when very high temperature plasma comes into contact with the material world, as would occur inside a magnetic fusion reactor. Conn further led the formation of a multi-lateral experiment program, the Advanced Limiter Test or ALT program, that studied plasma as it interacts with components inside a [[tokamak]] fusion experiment, in this case the former TEXTOR tokamak machine at Germany’s largest national laboratory, the [[Forschungszentrum Jülich]]. The countries participating included Germany, Japan, Belgium, and the U.S. In 1991, Conn became chair of the newly formed Fusion Energy Advisory Committee (FEAC) at the U.S. Department of Energy.<ref>Stephen O. Dean, President of Fusion Power Associates and Editor of Journal
In 1980, Conn left UW to join the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] (UCLA), where he continued research in plasma physics and nuclear fusion, as well as materials science and energy policy. While at UCLA Conn led the establishment in 1986 of the Institute of Plasma and Fusion Research, and served as its founding director. It was during this time that Conn began more extensively to advise the federal government on fusion energy, specifically for the [[United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology]] and the Department of Energy’s Magnetic Fusion Advisory Committee, among other governmental bodies. At UCLA Conn and his colleague, Farrokh Najmabadi, directed a national U.S. Department of Energy program known as ARIES, which prepared conceptual designs of possible fusion energy power plants. Conn also played a key role in the creation of PISCES, a laboratory research facility located first at UCLA and today at UCSD. The lab studies what happens when very high temperature plasma comes into contact with the material world, as would occur inside a magnetic fusion reactor. Conn further led the formation of a multi-lateral experiment program, the Advanced Limiter Test or ALT program, that studied plasma as it interacts with components inside a [[tokamak]] fusion experiment, in this case the former TEXTOR tokamak machine at Germany’s largest national laboratory, the [[Forschungszentrum Jülich]]. The countries participating included Germany, Japan, Belgium, and the United States. In 1991, Conn became chair of the newly formed Fusion Energy Advisory Committee (FEAC) at the U.S. Department of Energy.<ref>Stephen O. Dean, President of Fusion Power Associates and Editor of Journal of Fusion Energy, and Mohamed Abdou, Distinguished Professor of Engineering and Applied Science and Director of the Fusion Science & Technology Center at UCLA, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUyJGGHNggo "Presentations on Robert W. Conn"], Robert W. Conn 70th Birthday Symposium at the University of California, San Diego, May 9, 2013</ref>
of Fusion Energy, and Mohamed Abdou, Distinguished Professor of Engineering and Applied
Science and Director of the Fusion Science & Technology Center at UCLA, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUyJGGHNggo "Presentations on Robert W. Conn"], Robert W. Conn 70th Birthday Symposium at the University of California, San Diego, May 9, 2013</ref>


===University of California, San Diego===
===University of California, San Diego===


In 1993, Conn moved to the [[University of California, San Diego]] (UCSD) to become Dean of its School of Engineering, which in 1998 became the Irwin and Joan [[Jacobs School of Engineering]]. He was also UCSD’s Walter J. Zable Professor of Engineering Science. Conn led the Jacobs School through a period of rapid growth, during which numerous research centers were formed. These included the Center for Wireless Communications, the Whitaker Institute for Biomedical Engineering, and the [[California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology]] (Calit2).<ref>[http://www.kavlifoundation.org/robert-w-conn Robert W. Conn Profile], The Kavli Foundation</ref> Today, the Jacobs School ranks 10th in the nation and 23rd in the world according to the 2016 Academic Ranking of World Universities in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences conducted by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy.<ref>[http://www.shanghairanking.com/FieldENG2016.html 2016 Academic Ranking of World Universities], ShanghaiRanking Consultancy</ref> While at UCSD, Conn also built partnerships between the university and private industry, establishing the von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Transfer.<ref>[http://www.kavlifoundation.org/robert-w-conn Robert W. Conn Profile], The Kavli Foundation</ref> During his time at UCSD, Conn continued to advise the federal government on fusion energy development. In the mid-1990s he served on a committee that reviewed fusion energy for the United States President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, also known as PCAST.<ref>[https://science.energy.gov/~/media/fes/fesac/pdf/1990-99/1995_jul.pdf Report of the Fusion Energy Panel], The U.S. Program of Fusion Energy Research and Development, The President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), July 1995</ref>
In 1993, Conn moved to the [[University of California, San Diego]] (UCSD) to become Dean of its School of Engineering, which in 1998 became the Irwin and Joan [[Jacobs School of Engineering]]. He was also UCSD’s Walter J. Zable Professor of Engineering Science. Conn led the Jacobs School through a period of rapid growth, during which numerous research centers were formed. These included the Center for Wireless Communications, the Whitaker Institute for Biomedical Engineering, and the [[California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology]] (Calit2).<ref>[http://www.kavlifoundation.org/robert-w-conn Robert W. Conn Profile], The Kavli Foundation</ref> Today, the Jacobs School ranks 10th in the nation and 23rd in the world according to the 2016 Academic Ranking of World Universities in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences conducted by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy.<ref>[http://www.shanghairanking.com/FieldENG2016.html 2016 Academic Ranking of World Universities], ShanghaiRanking Consultancy</ref> At UCSD Conn also built partnerships between the university and private industry, establishing the von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Transfer.<ref>[http://www.kavlifoundation.org/robert-w-conn Robert W. Conn Profile], The Kavli Foundation</ref> During his time at UCSD, Conn continued to advise the federal government on fusion energy development. In the mid-1990s he served on a committee that reviewed fusion energy for the United States President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, also known as PCAST.<ref>[https://science.energy.gov/~/media/fes/fesac/pdf/1990-99/1995_jul.pdf Report of the Fusion Energy Panel], The U.S. Program of Fusion Energy Research and Development, The President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), July 1995</ref>


During his career in academia, Conn published more than 300 journal articles, conference papers, book chapters and op-eds related to fusion energy science and engineering.<ref>[http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=2030608&privcapId=132404189 Executive Profile of Robert W. Conn Ph.D.], Company Overview of The Kavli Foundation, Bloomberg</ref> Among them was a 216-page book chapter on magnetic fusion reactors in the book 1981 book “Fusion,” which was edited by the physicist [[Edward Teller]].<ref>Robert W. Conn, [https://www.amazon.com/Fusion-Magnetic-Confinement-Edward-Teller/dp/012414344X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1489868846&sr=8-2&keywords=Fusion+and+Edward+teller "Magnetic Fusion Reactors" Chapter (pp. 194-410)], FUSION, Edited by Edward Teller, Volume 1 Magnetic Confinement, Part B (Published 1981)</ref>
During his career in academia, Conn published more than 300 journal articles, conference papers, book chapters and op-eds related to fusion energy science and engineering.<ref>[http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=2030608&privcapId=132404189 Executive Profile of Robert W. Conn Ph.D.], Company Overview of The Kavli Foundation, Bloomberg</ref> Among them was a 216-page book chapter on magnetic fusion reactors in the book 1981 book “Fusion,” which was edited by the physicist [[Edward Teller]].<ref>Robert W. Conn, [https://www.amazon.com/Fusion-Magnetic-Confinement-Edward-Teller/dp/012414344X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1489868846&sr=8-2&keywords=Fusion+and+Edward+teller "Magnetic Fusion Reactors" Chapter (pp. 194-410)], FUSION, Edited by Edward Teller, Volume 1 Magnetic Confinement, Part B (Published 1981)</ref>
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===Private Sector===
===Private Sector===


From 1986 to 1994, roughly paralleling his time at UCLA, Conn co-founded a company called Plasma & Materials Technologies Inc. (PMT), which developed a system known as MORI that was used for plasma etching during the fabrication of semiconductors. The company had an initial public offering, or IPO, on NASDAQ in 1995, and was later acquired. Over the years, Conn has served on the boards of several public companies involved in the semiconductor industry. From 2002 to 2008, after leaving the Jacobs School at UC San Diego, Conn leveraged his experience in the private sector at PMT to become Managing Director of Enterprise Partners Venture Capital (EPVC), a venture capital firm invested in technology and life science companies.<ref>[http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=2030608&privcapId=132404189 "Executive Profile of Robert W. Conn Ph.D."] Company Overview of The Kavli Foundation, Bloomberg</ref>
From 1986 to 1994, roughly paralleling his time at UCLA, Conn co-founded a company called Plasma & Materials Technologies Inc. (PMT), which developed a system known as MORI that was used for plasma etching during the fabrication of semiconductors. The company had an initial public offering, or IPO, on [[NASDAQ]] in 1995, and was later acquired. Over the years, Conn has served on the boards of several public companies involved in the semiconductor industry. From 2002 to 2008, after leaving the Jacobs School at UCSD, Conn became Managing Director of Enterprise Partners Venture Capital (EPVC), a venture capital firm invested in technology companies.<ref>[http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=2030608&privcapId=132404189 "Executive Profile of Robert W. Conn Ph.D."] Company Overview of The Kavli Foundation, Bloomberg</ref>


===The Kavli Foundation===
===The Kavli Foundation===


In 2009 Conn became the second President of The Kavli Foundation, succeeding Dr. [[David H. Auston]], who served as the Foundation’s president from 2002 to 2008.<ref>[http://www.kavlifoundation.org/kavli-news/dr-robert-w-conn-named-president-kavli-foundation#.WNQz9RLyvig "Dr. Robert W. Conn Named President of The Kavli Foundation"], The Kavli Foundation, Mar. 10, 2009</ref> Fred Kavli, the founder of the Kavli Foundation, served as Chairman and CEO. On Fred Kavli’s passing in 2013, Conn assumed the title of CEO. As head of The Kavli Foundation, which is based in Los Angeles, Conn leads its efforts to support research in [[astrophysics]], [[nanoscience]], [[neuroscience]] and [[theoretical physics]] at academic institutions around the world. This is accomplished by endowing Kavli Institutes in these fields with a minimum of $20 million. The Foundation also works to promote increased public understanding of scientists and their work, has programs to help scientists become better communicators, and has programs with museums and other public institutions to help reach the general public about science. The Foundation supports a unique meeting program that has proven to be catalytic for a number of new science initiatives. Among them is The [[BRAIN Initiative]], a broad collaborative research initiative launched in 2013 to accelerate the development of technologies that will enable scientists to visualize, in real time, how the brain functions at the level of individual cells and cell networks.<ref>[http://www.kavlifoundation.org/brain-initiative The Brain Initiative], The Kavli Foundation</ref> From 2009 to early 2017, The Kavli Foundation expanded the number of science institutes in its name from 15 to 20.<ref>[http://www.kavlifoundation.org/institutes "Institutes"], The Kavli Foundation</ref>
In 2009 Conn became the second President of The Kavli Foundation, succeeding Dr. [[David H. Auston]], who served as the Foundation’s president from 2002 to 2008.<ref>[http://www.kavlifoundation.org/kavli-news/dr-robert-w-conn-named-president-kavli-foundation#.WNQz9RLyvig "Dr. Robert W. Conn Named President of The Kavli Foundation"], The Kavli Foundation, Mar. 10, 2009</ref> Fred Kavli, the founder of the Kavli Foundation, served as Chairman and CEO. On Fred Kavli’s passing in 2013, Conn assumed the title of CEO. As head of The Kavli Foundation, which is based in Los Angeles, Conn leads its efforts to support research in [[astrophysics]], [[nanoscience]], [[neuroscience]], and [[theoretical physics]] at academic institutions around the world. This is accomplished by endowing Kavli Institutes in these fields with a minimum of $20 million. The Foundation also works to promote increased public understanding of scientists and their work, has programs to help scientists become better communicators, and has programs with museums and other public institutions to help reach the general public about science. The Foundation supports a unique meeting program that has proven to be catalytic for a number of new science initiatives. Among them is The [[BRAIN Initiative]], a broad collaborative research initiative launched in 2013 to accelerate the development of technologies that will enable scientists to visualize, in real time, how the brain functions at the level of individual cells and cell networks.<ref>[http://www.kavlifoundation.org/brain-initiative The Brain Initiative], The Kavli Foundation</ref> From 2009 to early 2017, The Kavli Foundation expanded the number of science institutes in its name from 15 to 20.<ref>[http://www.kavlifoundation.org/institutes "Institutes"], The Kavli Foundation</ref>


===Science Philanthropy Alliance===
===Science Philanthropy Alliance===

Revision as of 18:32, 5 April 2017

  • Comment: This draft appears to have been written to praise Conn rather than to describe his career neutrally. Robert McClenon (talk) 05:16, 29 March 2017 (UTC)
Robert W. Conn
Born (1942-12-01) December 1, 1942 (age 81)
NationalityAmerican
AwardsDistinguished Alumni Award (California Institute of Technology), 1998[1]

Distinguished Associate Award U.S. Department of Energy, 1992[2]
Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award United States Department of Energy, 1984[3]
Curtis W. McGraw Research Award American Society for Engineering Education, 1982

Outstanding Achievement Award, Fusion Energy Development American Nuclear Society, 1979
Scientific career
FieldsScience Philanthropy, Higher Education Administration, Plasma Physics Engineering, Fusion Energy Development, semiconductor device fabrication
InstitutionsThe Kavli Foundation, Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Wisconsin-Madison, California Institute of Technology, Pratt Institute

Robert W. Conn (born Dec. 1, 1942) is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Kavli Foundation, a U.S. based foundation dedicated to the advancement of basic science research and public interest in science. A physicist and engineer, Conn is also the current Board Chair of the Science Philanthropy Alliance, an organization that aims to increase private support for basic science research, and Dean Emeritus of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). In the 1970s and 1980s, Conn participated in some of the earliest studies of fusion energy as a potential source of electricity, and he served on numerous federal panels, committees, and advisory boards advising the government on the subject. In the early 1970s, he co-led the establishment of the Fusion Energy Technology Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW), and in the mid-1980s he led the establishment of the Institute for Plasma and Fusion Research at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a university administrator in the 1990s and early 2000s, Conn served as Dean of the School of Engineering at UCSD as it established several engineering institutes and programs, including the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, known as Calit2. While at UCSD he also led the effort to establish an endowment for the School of Engineering, which began with major gifts from Irwin and Joan Jacobs. Irwin M. Jacobs is the co-founder and founding CEO of Qualcomm. The engineering school was renamed the Irwin and Joan Jacobs School of Engineering at U.C. San Diego in 1998. After leaving academia in 2002, Conn worked in private industry as a Managing Director at Enterprise Partners Venture Capital. Over the years he has served on numerous private and public company corporate boards. Conn joined The Kavli Foundation in 2009. He helped establish the Science Philanthropy Alliance in 2012.[4]

Education

Robert W. Conn was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1960 and attended Pratt Institute, also in Brooklyn, graduating with a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering and Physics (1964). He did his graduate work at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA, where he received an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering (1965) and a Ph.D. degree in Engineering Science (1968).[5]

Career

University of Wisconsin-Madison

In 1970, Conn began his professional career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he joined the nuclear engineering department as a visiting associate professor. He became associate professor in 1972 and full professor in 1975. It was at UW that Conn participated in some of the nation’s earliest feasibility studies of nuclear fusion energy. Between 1972 and 1980, he published nearly 100 articles and reports on plasma physics and fusion technology. Along with four colleagues, Conn founded UW's Fusion Energy Technology Institute in 1972. He also became the university’s Romnes Faculty Endowed Chair in 1978.[6]

Conn’s early work came at a time when the federal government was eager to develop alternative sources of energy in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. He became one the first researchers to study the potential of nuclear fusion reactors, in which the fusion of hydrogen nuclei releases tremendous amounts of energy in the form of heat and nuclear particles, which is then used to generate electricity. Nuclear fusion is the process that fuels stars, but triggering and sustaining nuclear fusion in a controlled manner on Earth so it can generate heat for a power plant is not yet a practical reality.[7]

Over his career Conn has conducted studies on designs for several different types of test reactors for fusion, among them magnetic confinement reactors, inertial confinement (sometimes called “laser fusion”) reactors, and nuclear fusion-fission hybrid reactors.

Magnetic confinement reactor studies

In magnetic confinement reactors, hydrogen gas is heated to very high temperatures (about 150 million degrees Celsius). At these high temperatures electrons separate from hydrogen nuclei and the gas becomes plasma, which is often referred to as the fourth state of matter, the others being solid, liquid and gas. By controlling, or confining, the flow of plasma in test reactors, engineers can cause hydrogen nuclei to collide and fuse – creating for short amounts of time a nuclear fusion reaction that generates heat. One of the unsolved challenges of controlled nuclear fusion energy is to sustain a reaction that generates more energy than what goes into just maintaining the operation of the reactor itself.[8]

In his early work, Conn studied numerous aspects of plasma, including how it can be confined with magnetic fields, thereby increasing its density and the likelihood that atomic nuclei collide and fuse. Conn also studied the boundary conditions between plasma and the walls inside a reactor, how to design the so-called “blanket region” surrounding the plasma chamber so as to capture the fusion energy, and many other science and engineering challenges associated with practical reactor development.[9] Among the many reports for which Conn played a central role was the UWMAK-1 Study in 1973,[10]which became a tutorial on reactor design used by private sector companies including Westinghouse and McDonald Douglas. His key partner in these studies was Professor Gerald Kulcinski, Grainger Professor of Engineering at UW.[11]

Inertial confinement reactor studies

In inertial confinement reactors, lasers are fired at a pellet of fuel (often made from a combination of deuterium and tritium) with the goal of igniting a fusion chain reaction.[12]

While at UW, Conn collaborated with his colleagues on a research program called SOLASE that studied the physics and engineering challenges of inertial confinement reactors. The work identified the key physics, engineering, and technology issues that needed to be solved if inertial fusion was to become a practical energy source. Among the many ideas advanced at that time was the use of a gas in the chamber to absorb the primary energy of each micro-explosion and cause that energy to re-radiate to the walls on a much longer time scale. The SOLASE program studied numerous technological challenges, ranging from delivering fuel pellets to the center of the device at a rate of one to five per second, capturing the energy from the fusion events, shielding the laser beams from pellet explosion debris, and capturing the neutrons carry energy so as to make a practical power system.[13]

Fusion-fission hybrid reactor studies

In fusion-fission hybrid reactors, high-energy fast neutrons generated by nuclear fusion trigger nuclear fission in traditional nuclear fuels such as uranium and plutonium. The hybrid reactor concept has a fusion reactor at the core and a surrounding “blanket” of fissile material. In a hybrid reactor, neutrons from fusion reactions are used to produce fissionable materials such as Uranium-233 or Plutonium-239 which would need then to be reprocessed and used as fuel in a fission nuclear power plant. One fusion hybrid plant can provide enough fuel for as many as five nuclear power plants of the same power.

Conn’s work on inertial fusion hybrid reactors was conducted under the SOLASE-H program at UW, and was supported by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).[14]

University of California, Los Angeles

In 1980, Conn left UW to join the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he continued research in plasma physics and nuclear fusion, as well as materials science and energy policy. While at UCLA Conn led the establishment in 1986 of the Institute of Plasma and Fusion Research, and served as its founding director. It was during this time that Conn began more extensively to advise the federal government on fusion energy, specifically for the United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology and the Department of Energy’s Magnetic Fusion Advisory Committee, among other governmental bodies. At UCLA Conn and his colleague, Farrokh Najmabadi, directed a national U.S. Department of Energy program known as ARIES, which prepared conceptual designs of possible fusion energy power plants. Conn also played a key role in the creation of PISCES, a laboratory research facility located first at UCLA and today at UCSD. The lab studies what happens when very high temperature plasma comes into contact with the material world, as would occur inside a magnetic fusion reactor. Conn further led the formation of a multi-lateral experiment program, the Advanced Limiter Test or ALT program, that studied plasma as it interacts with components inside a tokamak fusion experiment, in this case the former TEXTOR tokamak machine at Germany’s largest national laboratory, the Forschungszentrum Jülich. The countries participating included Germany, Japan, Belgium, and the United States. In 1991, Conn became chair of the newly formed Fusion Energy Advisory Committee (FEAC) at the U.S. Department of Energy.[15]

University of California, San Diego

In 1993, Conn moved to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to become Dean of its School of Engineering, which in 1998 became the Irwin and Joan Jacobs School of Engineering. He was also UCSD’s Walter J. Zable Professor of Engineering Science. Conn led the Jacobs School through a period of rapid growth, during which numerous research centers were formed. These included the Center for Wireless Communications, the Whitaker Institute for Biomedical Engineering, and the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2).[16] Today, the Jacobs School ranks 10th in the nation and 23rd in the world according to the 2016 Academic Ranking of World Universities in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences conducted by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy.[17] At UCSD Conn also built partnerships between the university and private industry, establishing the von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Transfer.[18] During his time at UCSD, Conn continued to advise the federal government on fusion energy development. In the mid-1990s he served on a committee that reviewed fusion energy for the United States President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, also known as PCAST.[19]

During his career in academia, Conn published more than 300 journal articles, conference papers, book chapters and op-eds related to fusion energy science and engineering.[20] Among them was a 216-page book chapter on magnetic fusion reactors in the book 1981 book “Fusion,” which was edited by the physicist Edward Teller.[21]

Private Sector

From 1986 to 1994, roughly paralleling his time at UCLA, Conn co-founded a company called Plasma & Materials Technologies Inc. (PMT), which developed a system known as MORI that was used for plasma etching during the fabrication of semiconductors. The company had an initial public offering, or IPO, on NASDAQ in 1995, and was later acquired. Over the years, Conn has served on the boards of several public companies involved in the semiconductor industry. From 2002 to 2008, after leaving the Jacobs School at UCSD, Conn became Managing Director of Enterprise Partners Venture Capital (EPVC), a venture capital firm invested in technology companies.[22]

The Kavli Foundation

In 2009 Conn became the second President of The Kavli Foundation, succeeding Dr. David H. Auston, who served as the Foundation’s president from 2002 to 2008.[23] Fred Kavli, the founder of the Kavli Foundation, served as Chairman and CEO. On Fred Kavli’s passing in 2013, Conn assumed the title of CEO. As head of The Kavli Foundation, which is based in Los Angeles, Conn leads its efforts to support research in astrophysics, nanoscience, neuroscience, and theoretical physics at academic institutions around the world. This is accomplished by endowing Kavli Institutes in these fields with a minimum of $20 million. The Foundation also works to promote increased public understanding of scientists and their work, has programs to help scientists become better communicators, and has programs with museums and other public institutions to help reach the general public about science. The Foundation supports a unique meeting program that has proven to be catalytic for a number of new science initiatives. Among them is The BRAIN Initiative, a broad collaborative research initiative launched in 2013 to accelerate the development of technologies that will enable scientists to visualize, in real time, how the brain functions at the level of individual cells and cell networks.[24] From 2009 to early 2017, The Kavli Foundation expanded the number of science institutes in its name from 15 to 20.[25]

Science Philanthropy Alliance

In 2012, Conn co-founded the Science Philanthropy Alliance and has served as its Board Chair since then. The Alliance seeks to increase philanthropic giving to basic science and advises new, emerging, and current philanthropists on how to most effectively support basic research. Alliance members include the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), The Kavli Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, the Simons Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Wellcome Trust. In addition, there are eleven Associate Members, including older foundations and newly emerging ones.[26]

Since about 2005, and especially after the Great Recession began in 2008, government funding of basic science has remained flat at best, and in real terms it has declined. While still more than $40 billion per year, the members of the Science Philanthropy Alliance have recognized the need for more flexible funding of science. The six organizations that formed the Alliance, including The Kavli Foundation, adopted as their mission to substantially increase philanthropic support for basic research in the natural sciences and mathematics. The Alliance does not solicit funds or make grants, but it does connect philanthropists and philanthropic organizations with scientists and provides advice on how to best support basic research at universities, research institutes, and other organizations.[27] This has included advising the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which in 2016 announced a $3 billion commitment to basic science research, making it the second key area of focus of their philanthropy, after education.[28] In 2016, more than $2.3 billion of private funding was received by 42 institutions for basic science research, according to the “Private Funding of Basic Science” survey by the Science Philanthropy Alliance.[29]

While an advocate for private support of science research, Conn has also argued that continued public funding is critical, and he has noted that government funding of basic science is about fifteen times that of philanthropy. “Philanthropy is no substitute for government funding. You can’t say that loud enough,” he told The New York Times in a Mar. 15, 2014 article on concerns over increasing private support for science projects.[30]

Awards and Honors

Conn was elected in 1982 a fellow of both the American Physical Society[31] and the American Nuclear Society[32]. In 1987, Conn was elected to the National Academy of Engineering[33]for his contributions to plasma physics and fusion energy.

Awards received include the 1998 Distinguished Alumni Award from the California Institute of Technology, the 1992 Distinguished Associate Award, also from the U.S. Department of Energy, 1984 Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award from the U.S. Department of Energy, 1982 Curtis W. McGraw Research Award of the American Society for Engineering Education, and the 1979 Outstanding Achievement Award for research from the American Nuclear Society. In 1984, when Conn received the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award, the U.S. Department of Energy cited Conn's "pioneering contributions to fusion reactor engineering and for his articulate representation of the engineering needs of fusion."[34]

Outreach

As President and CEO of The Kavli Foundation, Conn has worked to advance science research around the world, increase awareness about the importance of science research, and recognize the achievements of scientists as well as journalists who cover the scientific enterprise. Conn has also served on several committees for the U.S. government; the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; the University of California; and national laboratories.

Through his Board Chairmanship of the Science Philanthropy Alliance, Conn has worked to increase philanthropic spending in the United States on basic science research.

Affiliations

• Member, National Academy of Engineering • Fellow, American Physical Society • Fellow, American Nuclear Society

References

  1. ^ List of Distinguished Alumni, The Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award
  2. ^ "Robert W. Conn Profile", The Kavli Foundation
  3. ^ List of Award Laureates by Year, The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science
  4. ^ Robert W. Conn Biography Accompanying the Article, "The Role of Foundations and Societies in Supporting Frontier Research at Disciplinary Boundaries," by Robert W. Conn, American Institute of Physics
  5. ^ "Executive Profile of Robert W. Conn Ph.D." Company Overview of The Kavli Foundation, Bloomberg
  6. ^ Gerald Kulcinski, Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Director, Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, "Early Days In Bob Conn's Career at Wisconsin", Robert W. Conn 70th Birthday Symposium at the University of California, San Diego, May 9, 2013
  7. ^ "What is Fusion?", ITER Website
  8. ^ "What is Fusion?", ITER Website
  9. ^ Robert W. Conn Biography Accompanying the Article, "The Role of Foundations and Societies in Supporting Frontier Research at Disciplinary Boundaries," by Robert W. Conn, American Institute of Physics
  10. ^ "UWMAK-I - A Wisconsin Toroidal Fusion Reactor Design", Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Nov. 20, 1973
  11. ^ Gerald Kulcinski, Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Director, Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, "Early Days In Bob Conn's Career at Wisconsin", Robert W. Conn 70th Birthday Symposium at the University of California, San Diego, May 9, 2013
  12. ^ "Inertial Confinement Fusion: How to Make a Star", National Ignition Facility and Photon Science, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  13. ^ Gerald Kulcinski, Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Director, Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, "Early Days In Bob Conn's Career at Wisconsin", Robert W. Conn 70th Birthday Symposium at the University of California, San Diego, May 9, 2013
  14. ^ "SOLASE-H FTI Publications", Fusion Technology Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  15. ^ Stephen O. Dean, President of Fusion Power Associates and Editor of Journal of Fusion Energy, and Mohamed Abdou, Distinguished Professor of Engineering and Applied Science and Director of the Fusion Science & Technology Center at UCLA, "Presentations on Robert W. Conn", Robert W. Conn 70th Birthday Symposium at the University of California, San Diego, May 9, 2013
  16. ^ Robert W. Conn Profile, The Kavli Foundation
  17. ^ 2016 Academic Ranking of World Universities, ShanghaiRanking Consultancy
  18. ^ Robert W. Conn Profile, The Kavli Foundation
  19. ^ Report of the Fusion Energy Panel, The U.S. Program of Fusion Energy Research and Development, The President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), July 1995
  20. ^ Executive Profile of Robert W. Conn Ph.D., Company Overview of The Kavli Foundation, Bloomberg
  21. ^ Robert W. Conn, "Magnetic Fusion Reactors" Chapter (pp. 194-410), FUSION, Edited by Edward Teller, Volume 1 Magnetic Confinement, Part B (Published 1981)
  22. ^ "Executive Profile of Robert W. Conn Ph.D." Company Overview of The Kavli Foundation, Bloomberg
  23. ^ "Dr. Robert W. Conn Named President of The Kavli Foundation", The Kavli Foundation, Mar. 10, 2009
  24. ^ The Brain Initiative, The Kavli Foundation
  25. ^ "Institutes", The Kavli Foundation
  26. ^ "Who We Are" Science Philanthropy Alliance
  27. ^ Science Philanthropy Alliance
  28. ^ "Celebrating the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's Commitment to Basic Science Research", Sept. 21, 2016, Science Philanthropy Alliance
  29. ^ "Research Institutions Received Over $2.3 Billion in Private Funding for Basic Science in 2016", Feb. 13, 2017, Science Philanthropy Alliance
  30. ^ William J. Broad, "Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science", "New York Times", Mar. 15, 2014
  31. ^ APS Fellow Archive, American Physical Society
  32. ^ Current Fellows, American Nuclear Society
  33. ^ NAE Members, National Academy of Engineering
  34. ^ Robert W. Conn, 1984, The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award, U.S. Department of Energy
  • The Kavli Foundation[1]
  • Science Philanthropy Alliance[2]


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Robert W. Conn Biography

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