NearStar Fusion

Dr. Doug Witherspoon is an experimental plasma physicist with 40+ years of research experience dedicated to applying plasma technologies to industrial, defense, space, and energy applications. He has extensive experience in pulsed power and plasma-driven accelerators, with seven patents awarded. He received his PhD in Plasma Physics from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 1984.

Chris is a veteran aerospace and cleantech entrepreneur with extensive experience in commercializing deep technology and has been focused on business development in plasma technology for the last decade. He is also the Space Committee Co-Chair of the Fusion Industry Association. Prior to his work in fusion energy, he was one of the first three foreign employees of Rocket Space Corporation Energia, where he coordinated international commercial/government space cooperation efforts. Mr. Faranetta also served as Vice President of Orbital Spaceflight for Space Adventures LTD where he sold and managed private crewed missions on the Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station.

Randy is a cleantech entrepreneur and investor focused on developing and deploying technologies that improve energy efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. Randy has been leading entrepreneurial teams in the cleantech space for nearly two decades. Early in his career, Randy managed a team of analysts in developing strategies for an energy trading company and remains active in electricity market transactions. Randy does not currently receive a salary for his work, as the Company is prioritizing the funds raised to pay for salaries of the scientists and consultants to perform the R&D. However, the Company anticipates paying Mr. Roy a salary only if it raises enough money to pay for the R&D required to achieve its primary research objective plus an amount to cover Mr. Roy's salary.

Prior to joining HyperJet Fusion Corporation Dr. Case served as a Senior Scientist with HyperV Technologies Corp. Before joining HyperV in 2005, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the Maryland Centrifugal Experiment (MCX) at the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland College Park. His work on MCX included designing, implementing, fabrication of components and analyzing data from magnetic diagnostics, including magnetic fluctuation probes and diamagnetic loops. At HyperV Dr. Case has designed and built a two channel quadrature heterodyne interferometer for plasma density measurements, as well as optical diagnostics for measuring velocity, and spectroscopic diagnostics to determine which species are present in the plasma. His interests outside plasma physics include space exploration, 3D printing, and history. Dr. Case received his PhD in plasma physics from the University of Maryland in 2001.

Dr. Cruz is a polymath with broad interests, and his current research focus is on nuclear fusion concepts for power generation, specifically Plasma-Jet-Driven Magneto-Inertial Fusion (PJMIF) and Hypervelocity Gradient Field Fusion (HGFF). Dr. Cruz has over 10-years of research and development experience in multi-discipline technical fields: pulsed and DC electron sources, pulsed and DC plasma sources, high-power microwave technology, coupled oscillator systems, pulsed power systems, advanced materials, circuit design, and computer simulation and modeling. In addition to his work in the laboratory, Dr. Cruz also leads component design and fabrication at the company. Dr. Cruz received his PhD in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2011.