Dan T. Abell

Senior Scientist

Principal Research Scientist Dan T. Abell received his BA in physics from Swarthmore College in 1982 and his PhD from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1995. Dan is an expert on Hamiltonian methods and symplectic maps, especially with application to beam dynamics in particle accelerators. Early in his career, he developed the codes CREMONA and CTRACK to perform map symplectification and fast symplectic tracking. These codes were later used for tracking studies of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Dan helped to design the Spallation Neutron Source, considering the effect of magnet fringe fields on tune spread, the use of octupole magnets to shape the tune footprint, and particle tracking through the injection magnet to explore dumping of stripped electrons. Dan developed a technique for computing generalized gradients for RF cavity fields, used to compute high-order maps. He has worked extensively with the Polymorphic Tracking Code (PTC) and with GPUSPINTRACK, a GPU-accelerated code for fast and accurate tracking and analysis of spin-orbit motion in particle accelerators. Dan has also worked on the development and implementation of symplectic algorithms for the efficient simulation of RF cavity beam loading in the presence of multiple high-order modes. Most recently, he has worked on improvements to the accelerator ray-tracing code Zgoubi, and on the magnet design code Radia. Publications>>​

Gerard Andonian
Member of the Board

Gerard Andonian is a physicist working in advanced acceleration concepts and radiation generation. He received his PhD from UCLA, where his thesis work focused on short gain length free-electron laser studies. His current research work is centered on novel wakefield acceleration techniques, including beam-driven dielectric and plasma acceleration, optimization of high-efficiency wakefield generation, and development of cutting-edge beam and radiation diagnostics for high intensity accelerators. As an active member of the community, Gerard has presented his research at workshops and conferences, and has co-authored numerous refereed journal publications. He is well versed in accelerator software and was the first user of RadiaSoft’s Sirepo.

Claudia Behnke
Controller

Claudia Behnke is our controller. She has extensive experience working in accounting and finance, and a thorough understanding of databases and accounting systems. She has worked at Apple Computer in the Financial Services Department where she developed a FileMaker Pro call tracking log used by the US Accounts Receivable group. In Boulder, she implemented multiple Excel templates that automated accounting activities at both Exelis Visual Information Solutions and Zayo Group. She developed FileMaker Pro databases for volunteer organizations (student directories, homeowner directories), and was involved with leading student groups in both Odyssey of the Mind and Math Olympiads. Claudia holds an MBA from Bowling Green State University.

David Bruhwiler RadiaSoft

David L. Bruhwiler
CEO

Chairman of the Board

David Bruhwiler has devoted over 25 years to the simulation of experiments and physical systems, including beam and laser-driven plasma accelerators, electron cooling of relativistic heavy ion beams, electron and ion sources, particle tracking and accelerator design and nonlinear dynamical systems. In addition to codeveloping both free and commercial software, and coauthoring more than 30 refereed journal articles, David has managed more than $10M in contracts and grants, and successfully mentored teams of more than 10 scientists, mathematicians and software developers. David is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Publications>>

Evan Carlin
Senior Software Developer

Group Leader

Senior Software Developer Evan Carlin received a BS in computer science from the University of Puget Sound. After graduation he worked as a consultant on a variety of software projects ranging from a cloud migration for a Fortune 500 bank to building a web app for a streaming TV Service. He then went to work for Google where he focused on customer support data analysis and new tool development.

Stephen Coleman
Senior Project Scientist

Group Leader

Stephen Coleman is a research scientist with experience in neutrino physics at Fermilab and J-PARC in Tokai, Japan. He studied physics at the University of Colorado, and received his PhD from the College of William and Mary, working on muon neutrino oscillations in a muon neutrino beam. He also worked for several years in a biology laboratory on a DARPA-funded research project, studying the dynamics of proteins responding to chemical stimulus.
Nathan Cook RadiaSoft

Nathan Cook
Lead Project Scientist
Group Leader

Research Scientist Nathan Cook is an accelerator physicist with a strong background in a variety of topics, ranging from advanced accelerator concepts to intense beam dynamics to thermionic energy converters. He has published peer-reviewed papers on the subjects of laser driven ion acceleration, RF acceleration, novel algorithms for electrostatic and electromagnetic systems, thermionic emission, ion beam imaging diagnostics, and was an editor of the Pre-Conceptual Design Report for the Ion Rapid Cycling Medical Synchrotron project at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Nathan received his BA in physics and mathematics from Williams College and his PhD in physics from Stony Brook University. His thesis work comprised novel approaches to RF acceleration of carbon ions for a rapid cycling medical synchrotron and laser driven shock acceleration of helium ions from a gas target. Publications>>
Beck Cotter RadiaSoft

Rebecca “Beck” Cotter
Senior Research and HR Administrator

Rebecca “Beck” Cotter is our research and HR administrator. She brings over 10 years of experience in pre-award management and proposal development from both a small business and government program perspective. She has worked extensively with the DOE, NASA, and the USAF to secure funding for earth science and climate related projects. Beck holds a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from the University of Houston.

Joan Danver RadiaSoft

Joan Danver
Senior Operations Manager

Operations Manager Joan Danver comes to RadiaSoft with a background in project management in a small business setting. She has experience managing government contracted projects requiring extensive filings and oversight. Joan received her BA in biology from Williams College and her MS in biochemistry and cell biology from Stony Brook University, where she investigated the role of microglia in the brain.
Jonathan Edelen RadiaSoft

Jonathan Edelen
President

Jonathan Edelen is an accelerator physicist with a broad range of experience across the field. He specializes in thermionic cathode guns and space-charge effects in low energy electron beams. Jon earned a PhD in accelerator physics from Colorado State University. After completing his PhD, Jon was selected for the prestigious Bardeen Fellowship at Fermilab. While at Fermilab he worked on RF systems for the PIP-II Injector Test, beam dynamics and RF transient effects in the proposed PIP-II accelerator, and thermionic cathode RF guns at the Advanced Photon Source. Currently, Jon is focused on building advanced control algorithms for particle accelerators including solutions involving machine learning. He is also developing improved simulation tools for studying field enhanced thermionic emission in thermionic energy converters. Jonathan has published papers and presented at international conferences on a variety of topics in accelerators. Publications>>

Joshua Einstein-Curtis
Senior Electrical Engineer

Joshua Einstein-Curtis brings a background in cybersecurity and expertise in hardware and system design. He’s previously worked at Carnegie Mellon’s Software Engineering Institute, Fermilab, XR Trading, and Presco, Inc. His professional achievements include creating custom hardware device designs for particle accelerators, platforms used in trading financial instruments, and designing custom electronics. He has experience working in Verilog, SystemVerilog, VHDL, and associated development and verification environments.

Josh was awarded an MSEE with a focus on satellite communications and semiconductor optics from Boston University and researched free-electron lasers and computer architecture as a PhD candidate at Colorado State University.

Josh has worked in broadcast systems integration for 15 years, including time spent living in Chongqing, China, where he taught English, as well as working with NBC at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He continues to work in the broadcast industry as a freelance engineer, systems integrator, and director, primarily for live sports.

Ben Gur
Software Developer

Ben Gur received a BS in computer science from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He interned for the Apple News team building notification systems and analytic tools, then joined Radiasoft as a software consultant working on internal software solutions before being brought on as a DevOps Engineer.

Chris Hall
Senior Scientist

Research Scientist Chris Hall is an expert in the simulation and analysis of collective beam effects in energy recovery linac (ERL) driven free-electron lasers (FEL), with an emphasis on coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR) effects. He developed techniques to mitigate the negative impact of CSR on the electron beam, based on analysis of experimental data from the Jefferson Laboratory ERL driven FEL. Chris received a BS in physics and mathematics from Hope College, his MS in physics from Michigan State University, and his PhD in electrical engineering from Colorado State University in 2016. Publications>>

Jessie Hanson
Marketing Strategist

Jessie Hanson is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Denver, studying biology, professional writing, and data science. She’s worked as a science and tech writer with a background in medical laboratory science and data analysis, and has developed a nation-wide nonprofit organization focused on teaching science communication through comedy to STEM-field professionals. She owns five bicycles and is not looking for any feedback on that choice.

Morgan Henderson
Associate Scientist

Morgan Henderson is an associate research scientist with experience in nanoscale thermal transport and vibrational analysis of solid-state systems. Morgan studied physics and mathematics at the University of Montana, where they graduated with high honors, and received their MS in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder. Their graduate research included work on an NSF funded project investigating the manipulation of thermal transport in semiconductor materials via nanoscale engineering, in part using large scale atomistic simulations carried out on high-performance computing clusters. They’ve also done work in the area of exoplanet detection, completed a certificate in engineering management at CU Boulder, and are passionate about STEM education and outreach.

Mike Keilman RadiaSoft

Mike Keilman
Senior Software Developer

Senior Software Developer Mike Keilman received his BS cum laude in physics from Oberlin College and his PhD in nuclear physics at the University of Colorado. His thesis experiment, measurement of pion single charge exchange on Deuterium, ran at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility using the Neutral Meson Spectrometer. He analyzed the data with tools ranging from Fortran to shell scripting to an obscure language called “HTML.” Thus armed, he shifted to software development in the far-flung realms of herbal medicine and telecommunications, most recently hand-crafting a variety of iOS apps. At RadiaSoft, he builds and maintains web UIs based on the Sirepo framework, supporting back-end software for X-ray optics, particle accelerators, and other applications. Publications>>

Gurhar Khalsa
Software Developer

Gurhar Khalsa graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in philosophy and then went on to receive a post baccalaureate degree in computer science from CU Boulder. He interned for Cable Labs where he helped design and implement notification systems for clustering and reporting power outages across the country on the Gridmetrics team. He enjoys doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in his free time.

Matthew Kilpatrick
Associate Scientist

Matthew Kilpatrick is an associate research scientist who has experience in supersymmetry and physics beyond the Standard Model as part of the CMS detector at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. He studied physics and mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder and graduated with cum laude designation, and received his MS and PhD from Rice University, working on the Phase 1 pixel detector and searching for all-hadronic top squark decays. He was also a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara looking for di-Higgs production using deep neural networks for identifying many decay channels.

Paul Moeller
Principal Software Developer

Principal Software Developer Paul Moeller has developed real-world solutions in a variety of problem domains including finance, graphics, medical billing, and generic user interfaces. Paul holds a BS in computer science from Clarke University and an MS in computer science from Loyola University. Publications>>
Alex Murokh
Vice-Chairman of the Board

Alex Murokh, PhD, is an accelerator physicist, entrepreneur, and cofounder of RadiaBeam Technologies. Dr. Murokh received his PhD at UCLA in 2002 for his work on the VISA Free Electron Laser. As a postdoc at UCLA, and later as a RadiaBeam research scientist, he worked on the coherent radiation processes, beam diagnostic techniques, and advanced acceleration methods, and novel light sources. Presently, as a chief technical officer at RadiaBeam, Dr. Murokh is responsible for managing the company research division, advancing the product line, and maintaining and enhancing collaborative relationships with the scientific community in the U.S. and internationally. Dr. Murokh has served as a member of the RadiaSoft Board of Directors since 2015.

Rob Nagler RadiaSoft

Rob Nagler
CTO

Member of the Board

CTO Rob Nagler has designed and deployed leading-edge distributed systems for almost 40 years. Rob has written extensively about software, including his book on agile development methods, Extreme Perl. Rob started his career in the Distributed Systems Group at Stanford working with Dr. David Cheriton. At Sun Microsystems, he worked with Eric Schmidt in the software products division. He led OLAP development at Olsen & Associates, a pioneer in financial research and analysis. At Tandem Computers High Performance Research Center, Rob implemented a multi-platform, distributed architecture based on CORBA and used for internet traffic routing for mobile phone networks. Rob holds a BS in computer engineering from the University of California, San Diego, and an MS in computer engineering from Stanford University. Publications>>

Boaz Nash RadiaSoft

Boaz Nash
Senior Project Scientist

Research Scientist Boaz Nash is an accelerator physicist with an expertise in synchrotron light sources. Boaz studied math and physics at Reed College, and received his PhD from Stanford University in physics, studying beam dynamics of electron storage rings. He did his first postdoc at Brookhaven National Lab, working on dynamic aperture and Touschek lifetime calculation and optimization for NSLS-II. Starting in 2009, he worked at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, on existing ESRF, and design for the upgrade EBS machine. He is particularly interested in bridging the gap between the electron beam dynamics and experiments in the synchrotron light sources worldwide. Publications>>

Raven O’Rourke
Software Developer

Raven O’Rourke graduated from CU Denver in 2021 with a bachelor’s in computer science, as well as a cybersecurity certificate. As a student, she contributed to research using machine learning to analyze solar energy deployment. As an intern, she worked on iOS app development for a fitness software company. From 2017 to 2018, she served as an AmeriCorps Member in Englewood Schools.

Kathryn Wolfinger
Associate Scientist

Kathryn Wolfinger is an associate scientist with experience in laser wakefield acceleration and plasma channel formation while at CU Boulder, as well as solar wind and ionospheric physics through internships with NASA Goddard. Kathryn received her BS in physics and mathematics from the University of Evansville and her MS in physics from the University of Colorado Boulder.