David Anderson, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and VP Systems Engineering
Dr. David Anderson is a co-founder of Type One Energy and currently serves as the VP of Systems Engineering. After having served as faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for 42 years, Dr. Anderson retired as Emeritus Professor in 2022 to fully devote his efforts to Type One.
During his tenure at UW-Madison, Dr. Anderson assembled three stellarator systems, two of which were designed, built, and operated from scratch: the Interchangeable Module Stellarator, known for being the first modular coil device; and the Helically Symmetric Experiment, a device that demonstrated the breakthrough discovery of quasi-symmetry to improve plasma confinement.
Dr. Anderson’s expertise is widely recognized internationally. He serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Germany—which oversees both the Asdex Upgrade tokamak in Garching and the W7-X Stellarator in Griefswald—and as an External Reviewer for the Australian Research Council and the Helmholtz Association in Germany. Dr. Anderson is a U.S. DOE delegate to the International Energy Agency executive committee that coordinates worldwide stellarator research. He has also served as past president of the University Fusion Association and on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, as well as many other strategic planning and advisory committees.