Michael L. Walker

Michael L. Walker has been with the Energy Group of General Atomics, which operates the DIII-D tokamak under contract to the U.S. Department of Energy, since 1992. His principle area of responsibility is support of plasma control and operations. He has developed tokamak control algorithms from initial physics modeling through experimental model validation, control design using modern multivariable techniques, implementation in C and assembly language, and incorporation into daily operation of DIII-D and other tokamaks. He is the primary developer for the initial real time control algorithms in both EAST and KSTAR plasma control systems and participates regularly in operation of both tokamaks. He is currently the Principal Investigator for the General Atomics KSTAR collaboration. He actively supports international efforts to develop a conceptual plasma control system design for the control data access and communication system for the ITER tokamak, now under construction in southern France.