Riccardo Betti (PhD) is the Robert L. McCrory Professor of Mechanical Engineering, with a secondary appointment as Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester.
He is also the Chief Scientist of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics. His academic research involves high temperature plasma physics with applications to nuclear fusion energy. He served as Chair of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society, Vice Chair of the Fusion Energy Science Advisory Committee of the US Department of Energy, Head of the Department of Theory
and Computation of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Director of the Fusion Science Center for Extreme States of Matter at the University of Rochester, Chair of the Plasma Science Committee of the National Research Council, Member of the Board of Physics and Astronomy of the US National Academy of Science. He received the Blaise Pascal Medal in Physics from the European Academy of Science, the Landau-Spitzer Award from the American and European Physical Societies, the Edward Teller Medal from the American Nuclear Society, the E.O. Lawrence Award from the US Department of Energy, the Leadership Award from Fusion Power Associates, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the UR Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He co-authored over 300 peer reviewed papers and supervised over 30 postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. He received his PhD in Nuclear Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992.