John Bellum

I was born August 2, 1945 in Florida and grew up in Sarasota, Florida. I attended Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, earning a BS in Physics in 1968. I went on to earn a PhD in Physics in 1976 at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. My PhD research was in the theory of molecular collisions and electronic structure, and benefitted from international collaboration afforded by the Quantum Theory Project. I held post-doctoral positions, in Chemistry at University of Rochester in New York and in Physics at University of Kaiserslautern in Germany, followed by assistant professor positions in Physics at University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida and University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was a Guest Researcher for six months in 1984 at Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching bei Munich, Germany. In 1985, my career moved into industry and optical and laser technology with scientist and engineer positions at Litton Laser Systems, Hughes Aircraft Company, and CVI Laser Corportion in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I also have worked as a consultant in optical technology. I became certified as a teacher and taught physical sciences and mathematics for 7 years in public secondary schools. I was an instructor of photonics at Central New Mexico (formerly TVI) Community College for a year before starting work as an optical engineer at Sandia National Laboratories in 2004, first as a Contract Associate to Sandia until 2012 and since then as a Sandia employee. I serve as Optical Coating Scientist and Project Lead for Sandia\'s Large Optics Coating Operation in support of the high energy lasers of the Z-Backlighter Laser Facility.