Prize Recipient

Thomas M Antonsen Jr
University of Maryland

"For pioneering contributions in the theory of magnetized plasma stability, RF current drive, laser-plasma interactions, and charged particle beam dynamics."

Thomas M. Antonsen Jr. received his Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1973, and his Master's and Ph. D. degrees in 1976 and 1977, all from Cornell University. He joined the faculty of the University of Maryland in 1984, where he is currently Distinguished University Professor, Professor of Physics and the Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor of Electrophysics. Professor Antonsen's Research interests include the theory of magnetically confined plasmas, the theory and design of high power sources of coherent radiation, nonlinear dynamics in high dimensional systems, and the theory of the interaction of intense laser pulses and plasmas. His recent efforts have concentrated on statistical electromagnetics. He was selected as a Fellow of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society in 1986, and fellow of the IEEE in 2011. He has received the 2003 IEEE Plasma Science and Applications Award, the 2016 IEEE J. R. Pierce Award for contributions to vacuum electronics, and the 2022 IEEE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award for contributions to plasma science. In 2010 he served as chair of the Division of Plasma Physics of the APS.