On August 1, 2024, Ezekial (Zeke) Unterberg will be starting the position of Fusion Materials R&D Lead within the Materials Science and Technology Division (MSTD) of ORNL’s Physical Sciences Directorate.
Fusion is increasingly perceived as a key clean energy source for the future, and fusion energy sciences and technologies are among ORNL's top priorities. As an international leader in fusion materials research and a key contributor to ORNL’s integrated fusion energy science and technology efforts, MSTD plays a crucial role in advancing materials research for the development and deployment of economically viable fusion energy. The Fusion Materials R&D Lead is the central role in driving the ORNL effort to advance fusion materials science and technology by leading scientific research, coordinating collaborative projects, and bridging fusion materials R&D in MSTD with fusion technology and physics research in the Fusion Energy Division and across ORNL organizations.
Unterberg joined ORNL in 2007 as a DOE Fusion Energy Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow, following the completion of his PhD in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. At that time, he worked on assignment at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility (an Office of Science user facility) in San Diego, California, where his research focused on tokamak plasma-wall interactions. Since 2019, he has been a senior research and development scientist and group leader for Power Exhaust and Particle Control in the Fusion Energy Division within the Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate. In this role, he has developed and progressed a research plan addressing issues related to plasma-wall interactions, a key link to making fusion energy practical.
On an interim basis, Jeremy Lore will move into Unterberg’s current lead role for the Power Exhaust and Particle Control Group.
Understanding fusion environment–induced damage mechanisms, especially neutron irradiation effects, and how they impose changes in materials can lead to development of improved materials and design strategies that mitigate deleterious radiation effects, providing improvements in safety, lifetime, efficiency, and performance of materials and components that will enable the deployment of economical fusion energy systems
