Jeremy Chittenden
Scientific Advisor
Jeremy Chittenden is a Professor of Plasma Physics at Imperial College with over 30 years’ experience of innovative research in fields of high energy density physics, laboratory astrophysics and inertial confinement fusion (ICF). He is responsible for developing a broad range of radiation hydrodynamics, MHD and kinetic plasma modelling tools which are used extensively in the design of experiments through collaborations with groups in the UK, US & France.
Prof. Chittenden is a fellow of the American Physical Society, a divisional associate editor of Physical Review Letters and has published over 170 peer reviewed articles. He joins the board, on an independent basis, via Imperial Consultants.
Andrew Randewich
Scientific Advisor
After completing a PhD in plasma physics, Andrew joined AWE in 1997 in the High Altitude Nuclear Effects Team where he developed a novel capability to model Nuclear Induced Van Allen Belts, worked on Electromagnetic Pulse phenomenology, and won the AWE Discovery Award for Early Career Scientific Innovation. Andrew later worked on thermonuclear burn modelling in support of Inertial Confinement Fusion and as a Team Leader in the Computational Physics Group. Since then, Andrew managed the Physics Certification programme and later led the High Performance Computing Group.
From 2016 Andrew was Head of Physics Function comprising 550 staff including AWE’s Criticality and Design Safety groups. Andrew became Director of Science, Engineering and Technology in 2019 and also picked up the AWE Chief Scientist role again looking after 1800 staff and the major facilities supporting the science and engineering behind the Certification of the UK Deterrent. Since 2020 Andrew has been Executive Director Engineering and Science and manages 3100 people; around half of the AWE workforce.
Andrew regularly sits on national and international review panels, for example he has served on the UK Fusion Advisory Board, the US National Ignition Facility Management Advisory Committee, several NNSA reviews of Inertial Confinement Fusion, the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Research Board. Andrew sits on the AWE Diversity and Inclusion Strategy Board and IOP Women in Physics Advisory Panel, and previously the Institute of Physics Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Andrew has twice been a judge for the national Women in Science and Engineering awards. For six years Andrew was deputy Chair of the AWE Nuclear Safety Committee, the Warhead Safety Committee and a co-opted member of the MoD Trident Safety Committee, and was appointed as a visiting Professor at Imperial College, London in 2012. He is a Chartered Physicist, a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics.
Photo UK Ministry of Defence © Crown Copyright (2022)
Steven Rose
Scientific Advisor
Steven Rose has worked in plasma physics for all of his career, with a particular emphasis on plasmas produced using high-power lasers.
He has spent much of that time at the two high-power laser facilities in the UK: the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory’s Central Laser Facility where he became the Associate Director for Physics, and at AWE Aldermaston where he was the Head of Plasma Physics.
Professor Rose joined Imperial College as the Head of Plasma Physics in December 2006 and in 2011 was appointed the Vice-Dean for Natural Sciences at Imperial, a position he held until 2014. In 2015 he was appointed Professorial Research Fellow at Oxford.
Dr. Rick Spielman
Scientific Advisor
Rick Spielman received his Ph.D. in Plasma Physics from the University of California, Davis, in 1978, where he was a Chancellor’s Fellow and a Regent’s Fellow. Moving to Sandia National Laboratories in 1979, he was first a Member of the Technical Staff, then a Principal Member of the Technical Staff, and finally a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff. He was the Chief Scientist and Project Manager at Sandia for the successful Z Machine – the most powerful pulsed-power driver in the world.
Dr. Spielman is leading the design effort for a potential intermediate pulsed-power facility and is working with Sandia National Laboratories in the design of the Next Generation Pulsed Power (NGPP) facility. He is heading the LLE program for short-pulse laser effects for external customers.