Dr. Michael J. Frankel, senior scientist at the Penn State University Applied Physics Laboratory , is one of the nation’s leading experts on the effects of nuclear weapons. Formerly he served as Executive Director of the Congressional Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (the EMP Commission) and in 2009-2010 as Chief Science Officer for L-3 Communications/ATG. He has also served as Associate Director for Advanced Energetics and Nuclear Weapons, Office of the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense; Chief Scientist, Nuclear Phenomenology Division, Defense Threat Reduction Agency; Congressional Fellow, US Senate; Chief Scientist, SDIO Lethality Program; and as a Research Physicist at the Naval Surface Weapons Center, White Oak, MD. In prior government service, Dr. Frankel directed significant elements of the core national Nuclear Weapons Phenomenology program along with major WMD, Directed Energy, and Space System technology programs at the Defense Nuclear Agency while coordinating activities between the military Services, National Laboratories, and industrial S&T organizations to address strategic defense technology needs. Also known for his expertise in directed energy and advanced energetic materials, he has made seminal contributions to key strategic defense programs, spanning both offensive and defensive systems. He has been active in international scientific exchanges in his role as Exec Secretary for the US – UK Joint Working Group under terms of the 1958 Atomic Treaty, and as Chairman of both the Novel Energetics and Hard Target Defeat working groups under the TTCP agreement US allies. He has delivered invited lectures, chaired national and international technical symposia, testified before Congress, and published numerous articles in the professional scientific literature. He holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from New York University.