ECE Professor David Anderson retires

After a prominent career spanning decades, Professor David Anderson retired from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in December 2022. Anderson, an alum of the department earning his bachelor’s degree in 1974, master’s degree in 1975, and doctoral degree in 1984, now serves as Emeritus Professor on campus.

After earning his bachelor’s degree, Anderson began designing and building stellarator projects here and abroad in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, after earning his PhD, he was appointed an associate scientist and eventually a senior scientist with the department.

In 1990, he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Germany, developing the design for what would become the Helically Symmetric eXperiment (HSX). In 1999, he was appointed associate professor and became principal investigator on the Department of Energy-funded HSX project.

HSX was the first fusion device in the world based on quasisymmetry in the magnetic field structure and served as a catalyst for a new and exciting renaissance in stellarator fusion physics. Over three decades, under Anderson’s leadership, HSX, housed in Engineering Hall, has made major advances in stellarator physics, garnering $47 million in outside funding and attracting collaborators from around the world.

Anderson has supervised 15 PhD students and co-advised five others, many of whom have gone on to prominent positions in the fusion community. In 2012 he was appointed the Jim and Anne Sorden Chair in ECE, an honor renewed twice. He has served as president of the University Fusion Association, chair of the National Stellerator Coordinating Committee and is the Department of Energy’s U.S. representative appointed to the International Energy Agency Executive Committee on Implementation of Stellarator Research Agreement, among many other roles with DOE.

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Chair and Philip D. Reed Professor Susan Hagness described Anderson, “He is a beloved teacher and mentor with a career-long dedication to the advancement of stellarator technology.”

Anderson recently co-founded Type One Energy, a company commercializing stellarator fusion technology as a pathway to fusion energy. He is the current Vice President and Chief Engineer. Other co-founders include UW-Madison ECE PhD alumnus Dr. John Canik. In Hagness’ view, “Fusion energy is on the horizon, for real, and we have David to thank for that.”