Dr. Ali Ahmad is a Research Fellow studying energy policy at Harvard Kennedy School’s Project on Managing the Atom and International Security Program. His research interests include energy security and resilience and the political economy of nuclear energy in newcomer markets, with focus on the Middle East. Prior to joining MTA, Ali served as Director of the Energy Policy and Security Program at the American University of Beirut. From 2013 to 2016, Ali was a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security where he worked on informing nuclear diplomacy with Iran. Outside academia, Ali is a senior consultant at the World Bank advising the Energy and Extractive Industries Global Practice. Ali holds a first degree in Physics from the Lebanese University and a PhD in Engineering from Cambridge University.
Mr. Messaoud Baaliouamer is the Executive Secretary of the African Commission on Nuclear Energy (AFCONE) since December 2018. He represented Algeria as AFCONE Commissioner from 2011 to 2018. Before joining AFCONE, Mr. Baaliouamer served as Director for Foresight Studies and Nuclear Applications at the Algerian Atomic Energy Commission (COMENA) since 1999. He coordinated the AFRA Algerian Programme from 1999 to 2006 and from 2012 to 2018 and Assumed the Function of IAEA National Liaison Officer (NLO) from 2012 to 2018. He has been a member of the AFRA (African Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology) Field Management Committee (FMC) from 2000 to 2009 and the AFRA Programme Management Committee (PMC) from 2009 to 2015.
Dr. Rita Baranwal is Vice President of Nuclear and Chief Nuclear Officer. She has overall management and technical responsibility for the research and development activities conducted by EPRI with its global membership related to nuclear generation. Baranwal joined EPRI in January of 2021 and leads a sector that provides research and development (R&D) to more than 80 percent of the world’s commercial nuclear fleet. Before joining EPRI, Baranwal served as Assistant Secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). She led efforts to promote R&D on existing and advanced nuclear technologies that sustain the U.S. fleet of nuclear reactors and enable the deployment of advanced nuclear energy systems. Prior to the DOE, Baranwal directed the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative at Idaho National Laboratory. Under her leadership, GAIN positively impacted over 120 companies by providing state-of-the-art R&D expertise, capabilities, and infrastructure to support deployment of innovative nuclear energy technologies. Before GAIN, Baranwal was director of technology development and application at Westinghouse. Baranwal is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society. She has a bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in materials science and engineering and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in the same discipline from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Rachel Bronson is the president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, where she oversees the publishing programs, management of the Doomsday Clock, and a growing set of activities around nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, climate change, and disruptive technologies. Before joining the Bulletin, she served for eight years at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in a number of capacities including: vice president of studies, vice president of programs and studies, and senior fellow, global energy. She also taught “Global Energy” as an adjunct professor at the Kellogg School of Management. She earned a BA in history at the University of Pennsylvania and a MA and PhD in political science from Columbia University in 1997.
Dr. Mariana Budjeryn is a research associate with Project on Managing the Atom. She is currently working on a book on nuclear disarmament of Ukraine, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Mariana previously held fellowships at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University (2018-2019) and International Security Program and Project on Managing the Atom (2016-2018). Mariana earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.
Dr. Matthew Bunn is the James R. Schlesinger Professor of the Practice of Energy, National Security, and Foreign Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is the Co-PI for the Project on Managing the Atom at the Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs. He is the author or co-author of more than 25 books and book-length technical reports (most recently Insider Threats), and over 150 articles in publications ranging from Science and Nuclear Technology to Foreign Policy and The Washington Post. He appears regularly on television and radio. Bunn holds a doctorate in technology, management, and policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Jacopo Buongiorno is the TEPCO Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the Director of Science and Technology of the MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory. He teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in thermo-fluids engineering and nuclear reactor engineering. Jacopo has published 90 journal articles in the areas of reactor safety and design, two-phase flow and heat transfer, and nanofluid technology. For his research work and his teaching at MIT he won several awards, among which the ANS Outstanding Teacher Award (2019), the MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellowship (2014), the ANS Landis Young Member Engineering Achievement Award (2011), the ASME Heat Transfer Best Paper Award (2008), and the ANS Mark Mills Award (2001) Jacopo is the Director of the Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems (CANES). In 2016–2018 he led the MIT study on the Future of Nuclear Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World. Jacopo is a consultant for the nuclear industry in the area of reactor thermal-hydraulics, and a member of the Accrediting Board of the National Academy of Nuclear Training. He is also a member of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) Space Working Group, a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society (including service on its Special Committee on Fukushima in 2011–2012), a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, past member of the Naval Studies Board (2017–2019), and a participant in the Defense Science Study Group (2014–2015).
Ms. Joyce L. Connery, a native of Massachusetts, was designated as Chair of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board by President Biden on January 20, 2021. She was initially appointed to the Board by former President Obama in 2015, where she served as the Board’s Chair from her appointment in August 2015 until January 2017. She was confirmed again by the Senate to be a Member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on July 2, 2020, for a term expiring October 18, 2024. Ms. Connery has had an extensive career in the fields of nuclear security, safety, nonproliferation, and energy policy. Ms. Connery began her career at the national laboratories, first serving in Kazakhstan working on the shutdown of the BN-350 fast breeder reactor and then returning to Washington, DC, to work in the Office of International Safety in the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration. She has served in several capacities at DOE, including as the senior policy advisor to the Deputy Secretary of Energy. She also served two tours in the National Security Council. From February 2008 through May 2010, she worked in the area of nonproliferation and nuclear security, and from January 2012 through July 2015, she served as Director for Nuclear Energy Policy within the Office of International Economics. Ms. Connery received a B.A. from Tufts University and an M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Adm. James O. Ellis, Jr. retired as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), located in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 18, 2012. INPO, sponsored by the commercial nuclear industry, is an independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the highest levels of safety and reliability—to promote excellence—in the operation of nuclear electric generating plants. In 2004, Admiral Ellis completed a distinguished 39-year Navy career. His final assignment was Commander of the United States Strategic Command during a time of challenge and change. In this role, he was responsible for the global command and control of United States strategic and space forces, reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense.
Dr. Francesca Giovannini is the Executive Director of the Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs. In addition, she is a non-residential fellow at the Centre for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. Ms. Giovannini served as Strategy and Policy Officer to the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), based in Vienna. In that capacity, she oversaw a series of policy initiatives to promote CTBT ratification as a confidence-building mechanism in regional and bilateral nuclear negotiations, elevate the profile of CTBT in academic circles and promote the recruitment of female scientists from the Global South.
Mr. Duncan Hawthorne was appointed Horizon CEO in May 2016 having been a non-executive Director of Horizon since 2013 and CEO of Bruce Power, one of the world’s largest nuclear power plants since it was formed in 2001. He is the Former Chairman of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO). He brings a wealth of industry experience having worked in the power generation business for 30 years, holding senior positions in power companies in the U.K., U.S. and Canada. Originally from Scotland, Duncan joined the electricity board as an apprentice with British Energy. At 21, he went to Strathclyde University in Scotland on a scholarship. Hawthorne progressed through all the engineering positions to director of British Energy and then board member. He is a Fellow of both the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
Dr. John P. Holdren is the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Co- Director of the School's Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, Professor of Environmental Science and Policy in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and Faculty Affiliate in the Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science. He is also Visiting Distinguished Professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, and Senior Advisor to the President at the Woods Hole Research Center, a pre-eminent scientific think tank focused on the role of the terrestrial biosphere in global climate change. From January 2009 to January 2017, he was President Obama's Science Advisor and Senate-confirmed Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), becoming the longest-serving Science Advisor to the President in the history of the position.
Dr. Sheila Jasanoff is Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the Harvard Kennedy School. A pioneer in her field, she has authored more than 130 articles and chapters and is author or editor of more than 15 books, including The Fifth Branch, Science at the Bar, Designs on Nature, The Ethics of Invention, and Can Science Make Sense of Life? Her work explores the role of science and technology in the law, politics, and policy of modern democracies. She founded and directs the STS Program at Harvard; previously, she was founding chair of the STS Department at Cornell. She has held distinguished visiting appointments at leading universities in Europe, Asia, Australia, and the US. Jasanoff served on the AAAS Board of Directors and as President of the Society for Social Studies of Science. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Her honors include the SSRC’s Hirschman prize, the Humboldt Foundation’s Reimar-Lüst award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ehrenkreuz from the Government of Austria, and foreign memberships in the British Academy and the Royal Danish Academy. She holds AB, JD, and PhD degrees from Harvard, and honorary doctorates from the Universities of Twente and Liège.
Ms. Allison F. Johnston has extensive international experience in several spheres, including international finance, nuclear weapons safety and security, and in capacity building to combat nuclear smuggling. Allison presently serves as the Director of the Office of International Nuclear Security in the Global Material Security Division, National Nuclear Security Administration, which engages with 50+ countries to improve the security of nuclear materials in situ and in transit. Previously, Allison served as the DOE Attaché to the US Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan responsible for Nonproliferation and Disarmament issues from 2015-2018. Prior to her Islamabad assignment, Allison served as the Deputy Director of the Office of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (formerly the Second Line of Defense (SLD) Program). Prior to joining NNSA in 2007, Allison worked as the Deputy Director of the Nuclear Weapons Safety and Security Division at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. In this capacity, Allison was the lead interlocutor with the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense (MOD) for a variety of projects, including site security enhancements at over 20 nuclear weapons facilities and the installation of an automated system to assist the Russian MOD with inventory control at nuclear weapons sites.
Dr. Jungmin Kang is an independent consultant and South Korea’s member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials. Dr. Kang is also a former chairman of South Korea’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission in 2018. Dr. Kang was a senior research fellow in the Nuclear Program at Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in 2015-2017. Previously, Dr. Kang was a visiting professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon, South Korea. He holds a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from Tokyo University in Japan and completed his BS and MS in the Nuclear Engineering Department of South Korea’s Seoul National University. Dr. Kang has held previous positions at the Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University, the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University, and the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Kiyoshi Kurokawa, MD, MACP is Professor Emeritus of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) and University of Tokyo and Chairman of the Health and Global Policy Institute. He was appointed chair of the AI Advisory Board by Economic Revitalization Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura in July 2020. A graduate of the University of Tokyo School of Medicine, he was professor of medicine at UCLA (1979-84), University of Tokyo (‘89-‘96), Dean of Tokai University Medical School (‘96-‘02); President of the Science Council of Japan (2003-06); and Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Japan (‘06-‘08). He served as an executive member of many national and international professional societies of his disciplines, including Commissioner of WHO (‘05-‘09), Institute of Medicine of National Academies of Sciences of USA, Master of American College of Physicians and Founding Governor of ACP Japan Chapter. He served as Board Member of the Alexandria Library (Egypt), A*STAR (Singapore), Khalifa University (UAE), OIST (Okinawa), Advisory Board to the Prime Minister of Malaysia. He is a member of the World Dementia Council established by the G8 (now G7) at the London Dementia Summit in 2013, Distinguished Research Affiliate of MIT Media Lab (‘11-), a member of International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC) of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (‘15-), Distinguished Professor of Tokai University (‘19-), and Special Advisor, Hiroshima University (‘19-). He was Chair and Representative Director, Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (‘13-‘18), Chair of Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission by the National Diet of Japan (NAIIC)(‘11-‘12) and received "2012 Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award" of AAAS and "100 Top Global Thinkers 2012" of 'Foreign Policy' for his leadership in NAIIC.
Dr. Edwin Lyman is the Director of Nuclear Power Safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, DC. He earned a doctorate in physics from Cornell University in 1992. From 1992 to 1995, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University's Center for Energy and Environmental Studies (now the Science and Global Security Program). From 1995 to 2003, he worked for the Nuclear Control Institute. His research focuses on nuclear power safety and security. He is a co-author (with David Lochbaum and Susan Q. Stranahan) of the book Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster (The New Press, 2014). In 2018 he received the Leo Szilard Lectureship Award from the American Physical Society.
Dr. Allison M. Macfarlane is currently Professor and Director, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, Faculty of Arts, UBC. The first geologist to chair the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 2012-2014, Dr. Macfarlane holds a doctorate in earth science from MIT and a bachelor's of science from the University of Rochester. She has been on the faculty at George Washington University, Georgia Tech, and George Mason University. From 2010 to 2012 Dr. Macfarlane served on the White House Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future. She serves on the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Richard A. Meserve is Senior of Counsel in the Washington, DC, office of Covington & Burling LLP. He is the President Emeritus of the Carnegie Institution for Science and former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Early in his career, after obtaining a PhD in applied physics from Stanford and a JD from Harvard Law School, he served as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun and as legal counsel to the President’s Science Adviser. Until December 31, 2019, he served as co-chair of the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advisory Board and, until January 17, 2017, he served as a member of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board. Among other activities, he is the former President of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University and Chairman of the International Nuclear Safety Group (chartered by the International Atomic Energy Agency). He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a former member of its Council. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and formerly served on its Council and Trust. He is a Fellow the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the American Philosophical Society, and a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Meserve is actively involved in the recovery from the Fukushima accident as an executive adviser to the Japanese Nuclear Risk Research Center and as an international adviser to the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority. He has chaired or served as a member of a wide variety of studies undertaken by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Dr. Hirokazu Miyazaki is Professor of Anthropology and the Kay Davis Professor at Northwestern University. He also serves as Professor (Special Appointment) in the International Peace and Coexistence Program in the Graduate School of the Humanities and the Social Sciences at Hiroshima University. Miyazaki was trained in anthropology in Japan and at the Australian National University, where he earned a Ph.D. as a specialist of Fiji and the Pacific Islands. Miyazaki subsequently contributed to the formation of the interdisciplinary field of the social studies of finance. His current research focuses on civic activism surrounding the uses of nuclear power. In February 2018, Miyazaki was appointed by the Mayor of Nagasaki as a Nagasaki Peace Correspondent and has been engaged in a variety of forms of peace education. Before joining the Northwestern University Department of Anthropology as the Kay Davis Professor, Miyazaki taught anthropology at Cornell University for sixteen years. From July 2015-June 2018, Miyazaki served as the Director of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and the John S. Knight Professor of International Studies at Cornell. Miyazaki’s publications include The Method of Hope: Anthropology, Philosophy, and Fijian Knowledge (Stanford University Press, 2004), Arbitraging Japan: Dreams of Capitalism at the End of Finance (University of California Press, 2012), The Economy of Hope (co-edited with Richard Swedberg, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), and Nuclear Compensation: Lessons from Fukushima (editor; Northwestern University Libraries, 2021).
Dr. Malka Older is a sociologist, aid worker, and author. She has written on funding, competition, and securitization in relief work; human and organizational factors of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi meltdown; and the intersection between natural hazards and technological disasters. Her science-fiction political thriller Infomocracy was named one of the best books of 2016 by Kirkus, Book Riot, and the Washington Post, and her opinions can be found in The New York Times, The Nation, and Foreign Policy, among other places. She is Faculty Associate at Arizona State University's School for the Future of Innovation in Society where she teaches on humanitarian work and predictive fictions, and is an associated researcher at the Center for the Sociology of Organisations at SciencesPo.
Mr. Daniel B. Poneman is president and chief executive officer of Centrus Energy Corp. He also serves on the company’s board of directors. From 2009 to 2014, Mr. Poneman was the Deputy Secretary of Energy, also serving as the chief operating officer of the U.S. Department of Energy. His responsibilities spanned the range of U.S. energy policies and programs – hydrocarbons, renewables, nuclear, and efficiency – including cybersecurity, project management, national security, and international cooperation. He was also responsible for the Department’s efforts on resilience and emergency response, in cases ranging from Fukushima to Hurricane Sandy. Between April 23, 2013, and May 21, 2013, Mr. Poneman served as Acting Secretary of Energy. Prior to assuming his responsibilities as Deputy Secretary, Mr. Poneman served as a principal of the Scowcroft Group for eight years, providing strategic advice to corporations in a variety of strategic industries. In addition, for eight years he practiced law as a partner at Hogan & Hartson and an associate at Covington & Burling, advising clients on regulatory and policy matters. Mr. Poneman received A.B. and J.D. degrees with honors from Harvard University and an M.Litt. in Politics from Oxford University.
Mr. Nickolas Roth is a senior fellow and director of the Stimson Center’s Nuclear Security Program. Prior to joining the Stimson Center, Roth was a senior research associate at the Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs where he received a Dean’s Award for his work related to the 2014 Nuclear Security Summits. He is also currently an associate at the Project on Managing the Atom. His research has focused on nuclear security, U.S. nuclear weapons policy, arms control, and the nuclear policy-making process.
Ms. Cristine Russell is an award-winning journalist who has written about science, health, the environment and climate for four decades. She is a senior fellow at HKS’ Belfer Center Environment & Natural Resources Program and is a former HKS Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy. Russell has written for Scientific American, the Atlantic, Columbia Journalism Review and other publications and is a former national reporter for The Washington Post. She is a past president of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and of the National Association of Science Writers. In 2017, she co-chaired the World Conference of Science Journalists. Russell was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020. She is an honorary member of Sigma Xi, the scientific research society, and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is active in efforts to improve science journalism and communication to the general public about controversies in science.
Dr. Kyoko Sato is Associate Director of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at Stanford University. Her research examines technoscientific governance in Japan and the United States. She is currently co-editing a collective volume (with Soraya Boudia and Bernadette Bensaude Vincent), Living in a Nuclear World: From Fukushima to Hiroshima, an interdisciplinary post-Fukushima reflection on the development of the global nuclear order. She has conducted fieldwork in various areas affected by nuclear technology (e.g., Fukushima, Hiroshima, Nagasaki; communities surrounding TMI, Hanford site, and other facilities; Church Rock) to examine the dynamics and relationships among global and national nuclear governance, expertise, and democratic citizenship. She is part of Comparative Covid Response, an on-going study on the pandemic response of 16 countries (led by Steve Hilgartner and Sheila Jasanoff). Her previous work examined interdisciplinary knowledge production in the United States and the politics of genetically modified food in France, Japan, and the United States. She has published in journals such as Science, Technology and Human Values; East Asian Science, Technology and Society; Theory and Society; and 科学技術社会論研究 (Journal of Science and Technology Studies; in Japanese) and book chapters on the Fukushima disaster both in English and in Japanese. She worked as a journalist in Tokyo before pursuing her PhD in sociology from Princeton University.
Dr. Sonja Schmid is an associate professor of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at Virginia Tech, and serves as the co-director of the STS graduate program in Northern Virginia. For her book, "Producing Power: The Pre-Chernobyl History of the Soviet Nuclear Industry" (MIT Press 2015), she studied the organization of the emerging Soviet nuclear industry. In other research, she traced the results of Soviet nuclear technology transfer to Central and East European nations that have since joined the European Union. She is particularly interested in examining the interface of national energy policies, technological choices, and nonproliferation concerns. Her most recent research project on the challenges of globalizing nuclear emergency response was supported by an NSF CAREER award, and the monthly speaker series (SIREN) she hosted as part of this grant is now available as an online archive. She teaches courses in social studies of technology, science and technology policy, socio-cultural studies of risk, energy policy, and nuclear nonproliferation. Together with the Nuclear Engineering Program and the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech, she developed an interdisciplinary graduate certificate in "Nuclear Science, Technology, and Policy". Dr. Schmid earned her doctorate in Science & Technology Studies from Cornell University, and her previous graduate degrees in Slavic Studies, Philosophy, and Linguistics from the University of Vienna, Austria. Before joining Virginia Tech, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation, and at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California.
Mr. Ostap Semerak is the former Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine. In 2014 he was appointed Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers. From 2007 to 2012 he served as Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 6th convocation. He was a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Budget and a member of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) faction. Minister Semerak was born in the city of Lviv and studied at Ivan Franko Lviv National University (Faculty of Physics) from 1989 to 1994. He earned a Master's Degree in Political Science at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy National University in 1998.
Dr. Tatsujiro Suzuki is Professor and Vice Director at the Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition at Nagasaki University (RECNA), Japan. Before joining RECNA, he was a Vice Chairman of Japan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) of the Cabinet office from January 2010 to March 2014. Until then, he was an Associate Vice President of the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry in Japan (1996-2009) and Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo (2005-009), an Associate Director of MIT’s International Program on Enhanced Nuclear Power Safety from 1988-1993 and a Research Associate at MIT’s Center for International Studies (1993-95). He is now a member of Advisory Board of Parliament’s Special Committee on Nuclear Energy since June 2017. He is also a Council Member of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (2007-09 and from 2014~), co-chair of International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) and a Chairperson of Japan Association of Disarmament Studies (JADS) from 2019. Dr. Suzuki has a PhD in nuclear engineering from Tokyo University (1988). Please click here to view slides related to Dr. Suzuki's panel appearance.
Mr. William H. Tobey was Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration from 2006-2009. There, he managed the U.S. government's largest program to prevent nuclear proliferation and terrorism by detecting, securing, and disposing of dangerous nuclear material. Mr. Tobey also served on the National Security Council Staff under three presidents, in defense policy, arms control, and counter-proliferation positions. He has participated in international negotiations ranging from the START talks with the Soviet Union to the Six Party Talks with North Korea. He also has ten years experience in investment banking and venture capital. He serves on the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board of the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine. He chairs the board of the World Institute for Nuclear Security.
Ms. Rumina Velshi was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in August 2018, and has extensive technical, regulatory and adjudication expertise in the energy industry. Key priorities for Ms. Velshi include ensuring that the CNSC and other nuclear regulators continue to work to enhance safety, are ready to respond to innovation and accelerating technological change, collaborate with a view to eventually harmonize regulatory reviews, and find ways to gain and enhance public trust. In February 2020, Ms. Velshi was appointed Chairperson of the Commission on Safety Standards (CSS), established by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for a four-year term. Ms. Velshi very actively promotes careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), especially for young women. Ms. Velshi holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in civil engineering, a Master of Engineering degree in chemical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration, all from the University of Toronto.
Dr. Aditi Verma is a Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow at the Belfer Center's Project on Managing the Atom and the International Security Program. She is broadly interested in how nuclear technologies specifically and complex technologies broadly—and their institutional infrastructures—can be designed in collaboration with publics such that traditionally excluded perspectives can be brought into these design processes. Prior to her current appointment, Aditi worked at the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, where her work, endorsed and funded by policymakers from the NEA member countries, focused on bringing epistemologies from the humanities and social sciences to academic and practitioner nuclear engineering, thus broadening their epistemic core. Aditi holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees in Nuclear Science and Engineering from MIT. Her doctoral research, funded by the Sloan Foundation and a Spira Fellowship, combined theoretical and methodological resources from design studies and sociology to study how reactor designers make decisions in the foundational early stages of design, particularly those bearing on safety. Aditi has also previously held positions at the International Atomic Energy Agency, Framatome (formerly Areva), and the Center for the Study of Science, Technology and Policy.
Mr. Christer Viktorsson was appointed by the Board of Mangement of the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, United Arab Emirates as the new DG of FANR from June 1, 2015. Mr. Viktorsson is a nuclear physicist and has more than 35 years of experience in nuclear regulation and safety. He has worked nationally and internationally in the fields of nuclear safety, nuclear emergency preparedness, nuclear waste management, radiation protection, security and safeguards. Furthermore, he has extensive experience in nuclear policies and in the preparation and application of national regulations, international standards and peer reviews. He has given numerous lectures and presentations at a variety of fora as well as taken part in many bilateral and international negotiations in the area of nuclear cooperation. Mr. Viktorsson also has a degree in economics and is experienced in management and administration of state bodies. He graduated from Abo Academy University in Finland and spent his first 3 years after graduation in nuclear research at the University and radioisotope production for medical purposes. In 1995, he became the Deputy Director General of the Swedish Nuclear Safety Authority where he spent 10 years regulating the nuclear industry. He started his international career in 1987 when he was recruited to the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency in Paris for 6 years to set up an enhanced international cooperation in occupational radiation protection and emergency preparedness for nuclear accidents. From 2005 to the end of 2008 he worked at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna where he was in charge of policy matters in the Department for Nuclear Safety and Security.
Dr. Julius Weitzdörfer is a Junior Professor in East Asian Law at the University of Hagen. He studied Japanese studies and journalism in Leipzig and Tōkiō as well as law in Hamburg and Shanghai. From 2009 to 2013 he was a research assistant under Prof. Dr. Baum at the Institute, who also supervised his doctoral dissertation on the regulation of consumer credit in Japan (“Verbraucherkreditregulierung in Japan”). Based on 15 years of research into organised financial crime in Japan, it analyses the reform of Japanese credit law and was published with Mohr Siebeck in 2020. In 2013, Dr. Weitzdörfer moved on to the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, where he was a research fellow and later Affiliated Lecturer and Director of Studies in Law at Darwin College. After holding scholarships in Kyoto and Frankfurt, and the receipt of his doctoral degree from the University of Hamburg, in 2019 he accepted a Junior Faculty Fellowship with the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Dr. Shangui Zhao is the chief of the Nuclear Fuel Section of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center, China. He has been mainly engaged in nuclear and radiation safety review and technical support of supervision on nuclear fuel cycle facilities since 2007. He was previously a researcher on nuclear criticality safety at the China Institute of Atomic Energy. He is the author or co-author of over 30 published articles.
