The founding leadership of Kronos Fusion Energy is built around scientific and engineering innovators whose experience spans nuclear engineering, compact-tokamak design, superconducting magnet development, aneutronic-fuel research, and high-level strategic systems planning. Priyanca Ford, Founder and Executive Board Member, leads the strategic direction of Kronos by integrating her background in statistical modeling, algorithmic planning, and systems-level commercialization strategy. She has developed the organizational architecture, multi-disciplinary research structure, and long-horizon development roadmap that ties together plasma-physics research, REBCO magnet engineering, and scalable compact-reactor deployment. Her academic foundation includes advanced study in quantitative analysis, mathematical modeling, and systems optimization, which underpins her ability to connect scientific development with long-range commercialization and national-energy-infrastructure alignment.

Dr. Gerald Kulcinski, Co-Founder and Aneutronic Fusion Engineer, is one of the world’s foremost authorities on helium-3 fusion, direct-energy-conversion physics, nuclear heat-transfer systems, and aneutronic-fuel-cycle engineering. He earned his Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, along with earlier graduate work and research roles within nuclear-rocket programs at Los Alamos. As former Associate Dean for Research and Director of the Fusion Technology Institute at UW–Madison, he spent decades advancing helium-3 fusion science, proton-boron energetics, neutron-lean reactor design, plasma-wall interaction models, and advanced reactor safety frameworks. His career includes contributions to NASA advisory councils, major national-lab collaborations, and several U.S. federal technology committees.

Dr. Carl Weggel, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist for S.M.A.R.T. Design, has more than 50 years of leadership in superconducting magnet development, compact-tokamak architecture, neutron-source engineering, and high-field magnetic-confinement system design. He completed multiple advanced degrees in engineering and physics, culminating in a Ph.D. focused on high-field magnet structures and plasma-confinement system behaviors. His work includes world-record magnet systems for national laboratories, compact neutron-source devices, cryogenic platform development, and superconducting-coil optimization frameworks that directly influence Kronos’s compact Helium-3 tokamak geometry.

Dr. Robert “Bob” Weggel, Co-Founder and Magnetic Field Design Lead, earned advanced degrees in engineering and applied physics, specializing in superconducting-magnet performance, REBCO-conductor optimization, Lorentz-force structural engineering, and extreme-field stabilization. His decades of design work across MIT, DOE labs, NASA programs, and particle-accelerator facilities enable the development of REBCO-based high-field coils, advanced magnetic-field shaping, and compact-reactor magnetic-topology structures essential to Kronos’s fusion architecture.

Bandel L. Carano serves as a senior Board Member for Finance and Strategy, leveraging his four decades as Managing Partner at Oak Investment Partners, one of the most influential growth-equity firms in the United States. He earned both his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, where he developed an early foundation in systems engineering, signal processing, and high-technology commercialization. His leadership in scaling global technology enterprises informs Kronos’s financial modeling, capital-deployment strategy, and commercialization roadmaps for compact, high-field aneutronic fusion systems. Patrick Schweiger, Board Member for Fusion Device Engineering, contributes more than 40 years of experience designing fusion-device components, plasma-heating systems, neutral-beam injectors, vacuum-vessel architectures, and high-power RF heating mechanisms. His academic background includes advanced engineering degrees focused on mechanical, nuclear, and plasma-system design, and his career includes contributions to major European and U.S. fusion programs. Dr. Gerald Kulcinski also serves on the Board in a dual scientific and governance capacity, reinforcing the technical oversight and scientific roadmap for Kronos’s aneutronic fusion-energy development.

The Kronos Science Advisory Board brings together leading physicists, engineers, materials scientists, computer scientists, and fusion researchers across the U.S. and international scientific community. Dr. Wilfred A. Cooper, a specialist in plasma-equilibrium theory, earned advanced degrees in applied physics and engineering, contributing foundational work in MHD stability, force-balance modeling, and analytic confinement frameworks. His experience spans national-lab research programs and multi-decade theoretical contributions that directly support high-field compact-tokamak design. Dr. Konstantin Batygin, Chief Mathematician, holds a Ph.D. in Planetary Science from Caltech and a B.S. in Physics from UC–Santa Cruz. He is an internationally recognized mathematician and astrophysicist known for high-impact discoveries in orbital dynamics and nonlinear systems. His mathematical expertise supports advanced confinement-simulation models, field-line topology optimization, and full-reactor computational geometry development. Dr. Paul S. Weiss, Board Advisor for Materials and Nanotechnology, holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from UC Berkeley and B.S./M.S. degrees from MIT. As a UCLA Distinguished Professor and former Director of the California NanoSystems Institute, he is a global leader in nanoscale materials engineering, atomic-level surface manipulation, and precision materials characterization—all critical to plasma-facing component development and advanced materials for fusion reactors.

Dr. Siegfried Glenzer, Science Advisor for Plasma Physics, earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Kassel and has led major research programs in high-energy-density plasma physics, including the LCLS program at SLAC and research roles aligned with NIF. His expertise strengthens Kronos’s modeling of plasma heating, turbulence suppression, diagnostic instrumentation, and transport phenomena. Dr. Robert “Bob” Weggel and Dr. Carl Weggel continue within this section as scientific leadership for magnet and confinement system development. Dr. Nasr Ghoniem, Board Advisor for Materials Science and Nuclear Engineering, holds multiple degrees including a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering and several master’s degrees in physics and engineering. His career includes leadership at UCLA in radiation-damage modeling, defect-evolution physics, and high-temperature alloy behavior for nuclear-energy systems. Dr. Peter Hosemann, a specialist in irradiation-resistant materials and structural-integrity science, earned his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from UC Berkeley and leads research in welding science, mechanical behavior of nuclear materials, and materials-joining strategies relevant to fusion component durability. Dr. Jack Dongarra, Board Advisor for High-Performance Computing, holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of New Mexico and is one of the most influential figures in HPC, numerical algorithms, and scientific computing. His contributions to parallel-computing standards and supercomputing performance evaluation directly support Kronos’s simulation, digital-twin, and predictive-physics environments. Dr. David Goggins contributes defense-aligned engineering insight, with an academic background in naval engineering and operational systems. Dr. Gerald Kulcinski additionally appears in this section for his scientific research leadership.

The Operations Team at Kronos spans supply-chain management, commercialization strategy, national security, legal architecture, environmental policy, licensing, and enterprise-level technology integration. Vijay Gehani, Supply Chain Component Manager, holds degrees in engineering and operations management and oversees supplier qualification, component sourcing, and technical procurement for REBCO conductors, cryogenics, plasma-diagnostic assemblies, and reactor-fabrication subsystems. National-security advisors include Brian C. O’Neill, whose background in intelligence, risk analysis, and critical-infrastructure defense is supported by academic training in national security and advanced analytical modeling; Major General (RET) Robin L. Fontes, who graduated from West Point and earned advanced degrees in international security and strategic studies, later overseeing multi-theater operational commands; Major General (RET) Paul Pardew, who holds advanced military acquisition and contracting education certifications and previously oversaw major DoD procurement programs; and General (RET) Gustave F. Perna, a four-star general with a distinguished military logistics background who earned multiple military education distinctions and served as COO for Operation Warp Speed. Commercialization experts include Peter Ashley, with a finance and investment background; Andrea Romero, who holds degrees in marketing and business strategy; Jonathan Foreman, who possesses advanced legal training in intellectual-property law; Michael De Frenza, experienced in technology licensing and IP transfer; David Beck, specializing in fusion-energy commercialization; Jon Michel Greenwood, experienced in information-system architecture; Martin Owens, trained in advanced reactor strategy and regulatory planning; Marc Strecker, who holds a J.D. from Emory Law and a computer-science degree from Brown University; Sushma Bhatia, with an environmental-policy and legislative-affairs background; and Keith Longtin, who brings decades of nuclear-technology commercialization experience supported by a strong engineering academic foundation. Priyanca Ford and Michael Laughlin, COO, provide organizational alignment, enterprise-level integration, and commercialization governance.

The Technology Validation & Audit Committee consists of 14 confirmed scientific and engineering advisors responsible for validating Kronos’s reactor physics models, magnet designs, materials performance, cryogenic systems, plasma-confinement behavior, and risk-assessment frameworks. Dr. Joseph V. Minervini, Science Advisor for Magnet Engineering, earned advanced degrees in mechanical and nuclear engineering and spent decades at MIT developing superconducting-magnet systems for tokamaks and advanced magnetic-confinement devices. His expertise supports REBCO coil-behavior validation, Lorentz-load structural analysis, and magnet-cryogenic integration. Dr. Patrick E. Hopkins, Science Advisor for Extreme Thermal Materials and Heat Transport, earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and specializes in ultrafast heat-transfer phenomena, high-temperature interfacial materials, and fusion-relevant thermal-loading behavior. Dr. Mitchell Pryor, Science Advisor for Robotics and Automation in High-Energy Systems, holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and is a leading expert in robotics for nuclear-facility operations and high-precision autonomous systems. Dr. Travis Knight, Science Advisor for Engineering Physics and Advanced Nuclear Fuels, holds a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from Purdue University and leads research in fuel-cycle chemistry, systems integration, and advanced reactor materials at the University of South Carolina.

Dr. Gary S. Was, Science Advisor for Radiation Materials and Structural Integrity, holds a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan and is a world authority in irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking, high-temperature alloys, and nuclear-materials degradation. Dr. Donald A. Spong, Science Advisor for Plasma Theory and Fusion Confinement Systems, earned his Ph.D. in Plasma Physics and serves as a senior theoretical physicist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, contributing to neoclassical transport theory, turbulence modeling, and 3-D magnetic-geometry optimization. Dr. Earl E. Scime, Science Advisor for Plasma Confinement and Helicon Sources, earned his Ph.D. in Plasma Physics and leads plasma-confinement research at West Virginia University with expertise in helicon plasma sources and magnetic-nozzle physics. Dr. Patrick H. Diamond, Science Advisor for Plasma Turbulence and Transport, holds a Ph.D. from the University of California–San Diego and is one of the most cited plasma-transport theorists in the world.

Dr. Ahmed Hassanein, Science Advisor for Plasma–Material Interactions, holds a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering and previously led major plasma-surface interaction research at Purdue University. Dr. Philippe Lebrun, Science Advisor for Cryogenics and Magnet Cooling, earned his engineering and doctoral degrees in cryogenic systems and spent decades at CERN developing advanced cryogenic and superconducting-magnet infrastructures. Dr. Stephen O. Dean, Science Advisor for Fusion Policy and History, earned his Ph.D. in Physics and previously led fusion-policy efforts at the U.S. Department of Energy. Dr. David A. Hammer, Science Advisor for Pulsed-Power Fusion, holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and leads high-energy-density plasma and pulsed-power research at Cornell University. Dr. Guido Van Oost, Science Advisor for Magnetic Confinement and Fusion Systems, holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics and is a senior figure in tokamak transport, edge-plasma studies, and magnetic-confinement system optimization. Together, these 14 experts form Kronos’s highest layer of technical verification and engineering-model validation.

The Generator Design Leads integrate magnet engineering, compact-tokamak geometry design, plasma-physics optimization, materials validation, and pulsed-power initiation strategies to build the S.M.A.R.T. Helium-3 fusion generator. Dr. Ruben Fair, Board Advisor for Magnet Design and ITER Liaison, earned degrees in electrical and nuclear engineering and spent decades developing superconducting magnet systems and ITER-aligned coil architectures. Dr. Carl Weggel and Dr. Robert “Bob” Weggel appear again in this section as foundational leaders in compact-reactor magnetic design, high-field topology engineering, superconducting-coil assembly, and advanced confinement-structure development. Dr. Siegfried Glenzer contributes plasma-physics modeling and diagnostic system expertise, supported by his academic and laboratory background in high-energy-density plasma science. Dr. Gerald Kulcinski adds helium-3 fusion experience and direct-energy-conversion research essential to reactor-cycle design. Patrick Schweiger provides engineering oversight for fusion-device integration based on decades of reactor-system design experience. Dr. Frank J. Wessel, Science Advisor for Plasma Physics and Pulsed Power, holds advanced degrees in physics and electrical engineering and contributes deep experience in plasma-startup physics and high-voltage pulsed-power delivery. Dr. Konstantin Batygin’s mathematical-model development strengthens reactor-geometry optimization, field-line mapping, and confinement-system predictive modeling. Together, the Generator Design Leads define the integrated scientific and engineering foundation of Kronos’s compact aneutronic-fusion reactor system.