March 15, 2006
Dear Colleagues,
I am writing to inform you that Dr. Anne
Davies, our Associate Director for Fusion Energy Sciences
(FES), and Dr. Michael Roberts, our Director of the
ITER and International Division within FES, will both
be retiring from the Department of Energy's Office of
Science at the beginning of April.
Anne Davies has been an eloquent and tireless
advocate for fusion energy sciences for many years.
She joined the Atomic Energy Commission as a physicist
in the Tokamak Systems Branch in 1974. In 1975, her
leadership and vision were recognized when she became
the Chief of the Tokamak Systems Branch.
Dr. Davies continued to lead the program,
eventually becoming the Director of the Torroidal Confinement
Systems Division within FES in 1980, and later the Deputy
Director of the Fusion program. She became the Associate
Director of FES in 1989 where she led the U.S. and the
program through the ITER Engineering Design Activity,
the subsequent U.S. withdrawal from ITER and the U.S.
return to ITER in 2003.
If there is any person who has kept us
whole throughout the many difficult years we faced in
fusion - and the good years - it's Anne Davies. I have
learned an enormous amount from her, and I have admired
her leadership within the fusion community and the scientific
community for more than 20 years. She is the person
who laid the groundwork for the future of fusion energy
sciences here in the United States.
Dr. Davies has received the DOE Meritorious
Service Award (1984), Meritorious Presidential Rank
Award (1991), DOE Secretary's Gold Award (1997) and
the Meritorious Presidential Executive Rank Award (1999).
Dr. Michael Roberts has been in the fusion
community for over 40 years. He began in the Thermonuclear
(fusion) Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
in 1966. His work at ORNL culminated in leading the
ORNL-PPPL effort resulting in the Tokamak Fusion Test
Reactor (TFTR) at PPPL. With the success of the TFTR,
he was asked to join the Office of Fusion Energy in
1978 where he led the Magnetic Fusion Energy Division
and international collaborations. Dr. Roberts has worked
tirelessly to develop productive relationships with
fusion programs around the world.
Without Dr. Roberts, President Reagan
and President Gorbachev would not have discussed the
ITER burning plasma experiment during their 1985 Geneva
Summit. His vision and constant willingness to press
ahead has culminated in the agreement to build ITER
with seven international partners. He has managed the
U.S. ITER negotiating efforts and has served as the
U.S. contact person within the negotiating framework
since its inception.
In 1994, Dr. Roberts was awarded a Meritorious
Executive medal. The Fusion Power Associates awarded
Mike their Special Achievement award for his many contributions
to fusion. With the success of the ITER negotiations,
his hard work and dedication will be borne out in a
first of its kind agreement in large scale scientific
projects amongst nations representing half the world's
population.
I thank Anne Davies and Michael Roberts
for their dedication and service to their country. We
shall miss their leadership and talents in the Office
of Science. So will the U.S. fusion community, in which
they have played such outstanding roles.
Please join me in wishing both Anne Davies
and Michael Roberts the very best in retirement.
Sincerely,
Raymond L. Orbach
Director, Office of Science
U.S. Department of Energy
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