CSA Instructor Information

About the Instructors

Design and Operation of Optimal Helium Refrigeration and Liquefaction Systems
Dr. Venkata “Rao” Ganni and colleagues from JLab
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab), Newport News VA

  • Dr. Ganni is a senior staff engineer for the Cryogenics group at JLab and inventor of Floating Pressure Process and Ganni Cycle, which has receive a number of awards. Rao began his career at CTI/Helix/Koch Process Systems nearly 30 years ago and later joined the Super Conducting Super Collider Lab (SSCL) and eventually JLab. He has designed new processes, modified existing processes and supervised the fabrication and commissioning of many helium refrigeration/liquefaction systems presently operating in many industries and laboratories around the world. His has written over 30 technical papers and is a fellow of the Cryogenic Society of America (CSA).


Fundamentals of Cryogenics
Dr. Steven Van Sciver
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee, Florida

  • Dr. Van Sciver is a Distinguished Research Professor and John H. Gorrie Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Florida State University. He is also a Program Director at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL). Dr. Van Sciver joined the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and the NHMFL in 1991, initiating and teaching a graduate program in magnet and materials engineering and in cryogenic thermal sciences and heat transfer. Dr. Van Sciver is a Fellow of the ASME and the Cryogenic Society of America and American Editor for the journal Cryogenics. Dr. Van Sciver has authored over 170 publications as well as the textbook, Helium Cryogenics, published by Plenum Press (1986).


Dr. John Pfotenhauer
University of Wisconsin-Madison

  • Dr. Pfotenhauer holds a joint appointment in the departments of Mechanical Engineering, and Engineering Physics at the University of Wisconsin - Madison where he teaches courses in thermodynamics, heat transfer, energy systems laboratory, cryogenics, and vacuum technology. He has directed experiments related to the stability of He II cooled superconductors, the development of HTS current leads, and during the past fifteen years, the development of innovative cryocoolers, especially with Joule-Thomson and pulse tube refrigeration cycles. His research has generated more than 70 publications.


Introduction to Cryostat Design
Dr. John Weisend II
National Science Foundation/Stanford Linear Accelerator Laboratory

  • Dr. Weisend has worked at the SSC Laboratory, the Centre D'Etudes Nucleaires Grenoble and the Deutsches Elecktronen-Synchrotron Laboratory (DESY). He previously led the Conventional & Experimental Facilities Dept. at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). Dr. Weisend is currently at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia. He was given the 2003 Robert W. Vance Award by CSA. He is Chief Technical Editor of Advances in Cryogenic Engineering and is the co-author (with N. Filina) of “Cryogenic Two-Phase Flow” and the editor of the “Handbook of Cryogenic Engineering.” He is currently writing a biography of Dr. Kurt Mendelssohn.


Tom Peterson
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois

  • Mr. Peterson is a cryogenic engineer with over 30 years of experience in large-scale helium cryogenics for particle accelerators and test facilities, working on both design and operations. He has designed numerous cryostats and cryogenic feed boxes, including those for the testing of superconducting equipment in 1.9 K superfluid. Mr. Peterson's career at Fermilab has included extensive collaborative work on cryogenic systems at other U.S. national laboratories and also CERN (Switzerland) and DESY (Germany). He was Conference Chairman of the Cryogenic Engineering Conference in September, 2003, in Anchorage, Alaska, and served on the board of the Cryogenic Engineering Conference from 1999 to 2005.


Cryocoolers and Microcryocoolers
Dr. Ray Radebaugh
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Boulder, Colorado

  • Dr. Radebaugh was a NIST Fellow and was the leader of the Cryogenic Technologies Group of NIST from 1995 until his retirement in March of this year. He continues to work with the group under contract with NIST. He has conducted and directed research on cryogenics and cryocoolers for the past 43 years at NIST. He has taught short courses on cryocoolers since 1981 and has over 160 publications in the fields of low temperature physics and cryogenic refrigeration. He is a long-time instructor of CSA-sponsored short courses and writes the column “Cryo Frontiers” for Cold Facts magazine. In addition to receiving the CSA Vance Award, he is the 2009 recipient of the Samuel C. Collins Award to be presented at the CEC/ICMC this year.






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