Forging a Future in Fusion: Career Pathways Panel & Networking

Mel Clark, President & CEO, CleanTech Alliance

Mel Clark is a leader with 25 years of nonprofit experience, as well as for-profit business experience in real estate and human resources.  She has a demonstrated track record of strong fiscal stewardship and program development.  She joined the CleanTech Alliance in April 2020.

She has two adult children, one in college studying computer science, the other a theatre technician at Disneyland.

She was born in Massachusetts, raised in Kansas, spent summers on the beach in Connecticut, and attended colleges in New York and Washington.  She is a life-long learner, and loves to read, travel, cook, bake, and garden, and enjoys hiking, yoga, swimming, diving, and tolerates running (long enough to finish a marathon in 2017). 

Carli Smith, Researcher, Kyoto Fusioneering

Carli Smith is a Fusion Researcher at Kyoto Fusioneering America with a background in fusion materials and physics, providing a broad range of expertise to help tackle technological challenges. She obtained her MS from Penn State University, where she became an advocate for energy policy, participating in the first inaugural Fusion Student Delegation. Understanding that the industry is multi-faceted, throughout her career she aims to use both her technical and non-technical backgrounds to help propel the industry forward. 

Whitney Thomas, Computational Scientist, Zap Energy

Whitney Thomas is a computational plasma scientist at Zap Energy. She came to fusion research from the marine industry where she designed, maintained, and operated a wide variety of boats, from a tiny tug on Lake Diablo in the North Cascades to a research ice breaker in the Arctic. Whitney decided to make the switch to plasmas due to their importance in frontier fields like space travel and clean energy, plus the fact that plasmas are just super cool! She has a BS in Mechanical Engineering and PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Washington.

She splits her time between her sailboat in Seattle and an off-the-grid cabin in the Cascades. For fun, she nerds out on clean energy technology, policy, and deployment.

Moein Borghei, High Voltage Science Lead, Avalanche Energy

Dr. Moein Borghei is the High Voltage Science Lead at Avalanche Energy, where he has been since January 2022. His research interests include multiphysics simulations for crossed-field devices, high-voltage design for vacuum applications, field electron emission, vacuum breakdown and reliability, and power supply design.
Moein earned both his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech. He also serves as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification and represents North American Young Professionals in the IEEE Dielectric and Electrical Insulation Society.

Dr. Tessa Van Volkenburg, Materials Engineer, Helion Energy

Dr. Tessa Van Volkenburg is a Materials Engineer at Helion, investigating plasma-material interactions, high-strength and high-conductivity electromagnets, and handling inbound Polaris materials characterization requests.

Tessa earned a doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering while working at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory developing novel materials for national defense and space exploration. She is passionate about tackling the fusion industry’s complex multiphysical material challenges,  which are critical to achieve scalable clean energy. In her free time she loves crafting, reading, exploring the Pacific Northwest, and all things sci-fi.