Dr. Louis J. Circeo is a Principal Research Scientist and the Director of Plasma Research in the Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute(GTRI) at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with Nuclear Engineering Minors from Iowa State University. He has extensive research and development experience relating to construction and environmental engineering, and is a registered professional engineer. Dr. Circeo began his career with the Plowshare Program at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory conducting research into the peaceful industrial uses of nuclear explosions. He has been involved with plasma arc technology research since 1971, and holds five U.S. patents relating to plasma technology applications. He established the plasma applications research program at Georgia Tech in 1990, and is now conducting an active research program principally directed toward engineering and environmental applications of  plasma arc technology for the treatment and energy recovery of municipal and hazardous/toxic wastes. Related interests include the subterranean plasma remediation of contaminated soils, municipal landfills, and buried hazardous /toxic debris deposits; and the subterranean vitrification and stabilization of weak foundation soils and unstable landslide-prone regions.

In the  future, Dr. Circeo believes that plasma arc technology is poised to create groundbreaking innovations in the fields of liquid fuels production, coal gasification and oil, oil shale and tar sands recovery processes.