Brian A. Grierson graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2004) with a B.S. from the AMEP Program (Applied Mathematics, Engineering, and Physics) with engineering emphasis in Nuclear Engineering and physics emphasis in Plasma Physics. Through the last two years of undergraduate education and continuing into his graduate studies Brian worked closely with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Physics Department Plasma Physics Group under Professor Cary B. Forest. After graduating in the spring of 2004, Brian accepted the Ph.D. track in Applied Physics at Columbia University in New York, NY. After completing the first year of graduate studies, where also he held Teaching Assistant positions, Brian received his M.S. in Applied Physics (2005). Brian continued his doctoral work under Professor Michael E. Mauel in the field of Plasma Physics, and successfully defended his Ph.D. on March 26, 2009 with the dissertation title “Interchange Turbulence in a Dipole-Confined Plasma”. Brian graduated on May 20, 2009 with a Ph.D. in Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, with Distinction. Having completed the doctoral degree at Columbia University in Plasma Physics, Brian accepted the position of Associate Physicist at Princeton University. His work as a Princeton University associate researcher is performed in San Diego, CA on charge exchange measurements on the DIII-D tokamak. Brian was promoted to PPPL Staff Physicist in May 2012 and continued research at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility. In May 2014, Brian was granted a DOE Early Career Research Program award for his proposal “Exploration of main-ion properties at the boundary of fusion reactors” to develop a main-ion charge-exchange diagnostic suitable for the H-mode pedestal and study the transport of particles, energy and momentum in the main-ion channel. In the fall of 2016 Brian was promoted to Research Physicist in the ITER and Tokamaks Department. In recognition of Brian’s research contributions, he was awarded the Kaul Foundation Prize for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research and Technology Development in 2017 by Princeton University “For groundbreaking studies in deuterium charge exchange spectroscopy, leading to the first routine measurement of main ion flow in a fusion plasma.” In the fall of 2018 Brian was named Divison Head of the DIII-D collaboration for the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory's ITER and Tokamaks Department. At DIII-D, Brian became co-lead of the Core-Edge Integration Task Force in 2017, Deputy Group Leader of Pedestal and ELM Physics in 2018, Group Leader in 2019, and Group Leader for a newly formed Edge & Boundary Physics Group in 2020. At the end of 2021 Brian became Director of the newly formed Fusion Pilot Plant Design Hub at General Atomics, and in 2024 became the Director of the Fusion Energy Technologies Department. Brian continues his research and contributions to the field by mentoring junior scientists and leading research activities at General Atomics in San Diego.
Ph.D. Applied Physics (with Distinction), Columbia University, New York, NY (2009)
M.Phil. Applied Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY (2008)
M.S. Applied Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY (2005)
B.S. Applied Math, Engineering, Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (2004)
Director of Fusion Energy Technologies, General Atomics (2024-present)
Director of Fusion Pilot Plant Design Hub, General Atomics (2021-2024)
Division Head of DIII-D Collaboration, ITER and Tokamaks Department, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (2018-2021)
Principal Research Physicist (RM4), Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (2020-2021)
Research Physicist (RM3), Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (2016-2019)
Staff Physicist (RM2), Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (2012-2016)
Associate Research Physicist (RM1), Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (2009-2012)
Kaul Foundation Prize for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research and Technology Development, Princeton University (2017)
“For groundbreaking studies in deuterium charge exchange spectroscopy, leading to the first routine measurement of main ion flow in a fusion plasma.”Press Releases from PPPLDOE Early Career Research Program award (2014) 5yr, $2.5M
“Exploration of main-ion properties at the boundary of fusion reactors”Press Releases from PPPL, General Atomics, ITER NewslineMember, American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics
Leader of Edge and Boundary Physics Group, DIII-D (2020 - 2021)
Leader of Pedestal and ELM Physics Group, DIII-D (2019-2020)
Edge Coordinating Committee Chair (Jan 2021-2023)
Edge Coordinating Committee Vice Chair (Jan 2019-2021)
US-TTF Executive Committee (2016-2022)
Deputy Leader of Pedestal and ELM Physics, DIII-D (2018-2019)
Co-Lead of Core-Edge Integration Task Force (2017-2020)
Head of Neutral Beam Physics, DIII-D (2015-2019)
Member of ITPA Transport and Confinement (2016-present)
FESAC Decadal Plan Subcommittee Member (2024)
DOE Joint FES/ASCR Advancing Fusion With Machine Learning Workshop panel member (2019)
Advisor, Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) with DOE WDTS story: K. Callahan (2018)
Doctoral Thesis Supervision Committee (MIT): P. Rodrigues-Fernandez (2017-2019), named in Forbes 30 Under 30.
Post-doctoral Research Advisor: S. Haskey, A. Ashourvan
Masters Thesis Advisor: M. Knolker (2015)
DOE Workshop On Integrated Simulations panel member (2015)
Advisor, National Undergraduate Fellowship Program: R. Rozansky (2014)
PPPL Scientific Computing Planning Committee member (2014)
Scientific Journal Referee: Physical Review Letters, Physics of Plasmas, Nuclear Fusion, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Review of Scientific Instruments, Plasma Science and Technology, Fusion Science and Technology, Journal of Fusion Energy, Fusion Engineering and Design
Program Referee: INFUSE Program, DOE Grants, NSF Grants, Fusion Energy Sciences Postdoctoral Research Program