Renewal Fuels, Inc., operating as American Fusion, has appointed Dr. John E. Brandenburg as Chief Technology Officer of its subsidiary Kepler Fusion Technologies. Dr. Brandenburg, a plasma physicist with more than 40 years of experience, will oversee technology strategy and commercialization efforts for the company's Texatron™ fusion platform. This appointment represents a significant step for the Texas-based company as it advances toward making fusion energy a practical reality for industrial and commercial applications.
Dr. Brandenburg's career includes senior scientific roles at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he researched magnetically confined thermonuclear fusion, and Sandia National Laboratories, where he worked on relativistic electron beam physics. He has also held positions at The Aerospace Corporation, the Florida Space Institute at Kennedy Space Center, and Orbital Technologies Corporation, contributing to national security programs and advanced propulsion research. Since 2019, he has served as lead scientist at Kepler, playing a central role in developing the Texatron™ compact toroidal fusion concept. Additional information about Dr. Brandenburg's background is available at https://kepleraerospace.com/about-us/dr-john-brandenburg-phd/.
The appointment signals a focused push toward commercial deployment of fusion energy technology. Brent Nelson, CEO of Kepler Fusion Technologies, stated that Dr. Brandenburg's deep understanding of plasma confinement and practical engineering is exactly what the company needs at this stage of development. Richard Hawkins, Chairman and CEO of Renewal Fuels, emphasized that Dr. Brandenburg's technical vision and commercialization focus will be invaluable as the company builds an infrastructure-grade fusion platform. This leadership move comes as the company, which has filed to change its legal name to American Fusion Inc., seeks to advance its fusion energy technologies through disciplined intellectual property development and scalable architectures.
Dr. Brandenburg holds a Ph.D. in Plasma Physics from the University of California, Davis, and is the inventor or co-inventor on multiple U.S. patents covering plasma reactors, propulsion systems, and related technologies. His issued patents include U.S. Patent Nos. 6,205,769; 5,956,938; and 7,037,484. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and is a Lifetime Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In his new role, Dr. Brandenburg will be responsible for reactor physics, experimental validation, intellectual property development, and long-term commercialization readiness.
The company's strategy centers on developing scalable fusion energy technology for industrial, commercial, and grid-constrained applications. Details about the Texatron™ platform can be found at https://www.keplerfusion.com and https://americanfusionenergy.com. Dr. Brandenburg's extensive experience with government research programs and his hands-on leadership in developing the Texatron™ platform position him to guide the technology toward practical energy solutions. For Texas, this development represents potential economic growth through advanced energy technology leadership, job creation in the high-tech sector, and positioning the state at the forefront of what could be a transformative global energy industry. The implications extend beyond state borders, offering the possibility of clean, abundant energy that could fundamentally change how industries operate and how communities access power.
