Renewal Fuels, Inc. (OTC: RNWF), operating as American Fusion, announced the appointment of Dr. John E. Brandenburg, Ph.D., as Chief Technology Officer of Kepler Fusion Technologies, effective immediately. Dr. Brandenburg brings over four decades of experience in fusion energy, advanced propulsion, and applied plasma physics to advance the company's Texatron aneutronic fusion platform toward commercial-scale deployment.
Dr. Brandenburg's career includes senior scientific roles at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, The Aerospace Corporation, the Florida Space Institute at Kennedy Space Center, and Orbital Technologies Corporation. He has held U.S. government security clearances at the Top Secret, Secret, Q, and SITK levels. He earned his Ph.D. in Plasma Physics from the University of California, Davis in 1981.
At Lawrence Livermore, he conducted research on magnetically confined thermonuclear fusion and performed LASNEX modeling on inertial confinement fusion pellet designs. At Sandia, he worked on relativistic electron beam physics for defense applications. As Principal Scientist at The Aerospace Corporation, he directed the CMTX compact fusion propulsion experiment and supported national security programs, receiving a Letter of Commendation for contributions to the Cobra Judy Replacement Project.
At the Florida Space Institute, Dr. Brandenburg led research in microwave electro-thermal propulsion and plasma chemical processing for in-situ resource utilization. At ORBITEC, he led vortex rocket engine theory development and experimental testing. Since February 2019, he has served as lead scientist at Kepler Aerospace Ltd. and Kepler Fusion Technologies, playing a central role in developing the Texatron compact toroidal fusion concept.
Dr. Brandenburg is inventor or co-inventor on multiple U.S. patents covering plasma reactors, propulsion systems, and persistent ionization plasma generation, including U.S. Patent Nos. 6,205,769; 5,956,938; 7,037,484; 7,094,384; 8,101,032; 6,441,552; and 6,838,831. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and is author of The GEM Unification Theory: Extending the Standard Model to Include Gravitation.
Brent Nelson, CEO of Kepler Fusion Technologies, stated: "Dr. Brandenburg is one of the most accomplished plasma physicists working in fusion energy today. His decades of experience at premier national laboratories and his hands-on leadership in developing the Texatron platform make him uniquely qualified to guide our technology toward commercial deployment." Richard Hawkins, Chairman and CEO of Renewal Fuels, added: "As we build an infrastructure-grade fusion platform, his technical vision and commercialization focus will be invaluable."
In his role, Dr. Brandenburg will oversee technology strategy, reactor physics, experimental validation, intellectual property development, and long-term commercialization readiness. For additional information on Dr. Brandenburg's background, his full curriculum vitae is available at https://kepleraerospace.com/about-us/dr-john-brandenburg-phd/. More information about Kepler Fusion Technologies and its Texatron platform can be found at www.keplerfusion.com and americanfusionenergy.com.
The appointment signals a significant step for American Fusion as it advances its Texatron platform, which is designed for modular, infrastructure-grade deployment for industrial, commercial, and grid-constrained applications. The company's strategy emphasizes system-level engineering, disciplined intellectual property protection, and scalable architectures to support long-term commercial operation.
