Mark J. Kushner

Mark J. Kushner is the William P Allis Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, George I Haddad Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Academic Program Director, Michigan Institute for Plasma Science and Engineering. He received the BS and BA in Nuclear Engineering and Astronomy from the University of California at Los Angeles; and the MS and Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology.  He served on the technical staffs of Sandia National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Spectra Technology before joining the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1986 where he was the Founder Professor of Engineering and served in many administrative roles.  Dr. Kushner was the Dean of Engineering and the James and Katherine Melsa Professor at Iowa State University before joining UM in 2008 as founding director of the Michigan Institute for Plasma Science and Engineering.  Prof. Kushner's research area is low temperature plasmas, their fundamental properties and technological applications.  He has served on and chaired several National Academies policy advising studies, including the recently released 2020 Decadal Report on Plasma Science, as well as several Department of Defense and Department of Energy advisory panels.  Prof. Kushner is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.