ISSE Staff
John Sheffield
Senior Fellow
Office Phone: (865) 974-4251
Email: jsheffield@utk.edu
Ph.D., M.S., Physics, London University
B.S., Physics, Imperial College, London
John Sheffield retired as Executive Director of Joint Institute for Energy and Environment (JIEE, now merged into ISSE) and Director for Energy Technology Programs at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in 2003.
His particular research interests are:
- World population growth and future energy demand and resources;
- The role of energy efficient technologies;
- Opportunities for fusion energy.
- The connection of energy use and the environment;
- The role of improved transportation systems in reducing air pollution in the Smokies region;
- Issues and opportunities for solutions in the farm animal manure area.
Prior to being involved in the general energy and environmental areas he did research in plasma physics and fusion energy science and technology. From 1987 to 2003 he was Executive Director of JIEE and Director for Energy Technology Programs at ORNL. From 1977 to 1994 he was in the Fusion Energy Division at ORNL, serving as Division and Program Director from 1988 to 1994. From 1971 to 1977 he worked on fusion energy research United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) Culham Laboratory and the Joint European Torus experiment. From 1966 to 1971 he was an assistant professor in the Physics Department of the University of Texas at Austin, teaching and doing research on oblique shockwaves in plasmas, and diagnostics—including the scattering of radiation from plasmas. From 1958 to 1966 he worked for the (UKAEA) at Harwell and Culham Laboratories in England.
He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Nuclear Society. He is a member of the Department of Energy’s Fusion Energy Science Advisory Committee, serving as chair from 1996 to 2000. He has published widely in the areas of plasma physics, fusion energy science and technology, and issues of energy needs, production and use.