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Growing up as a child in the backwoods of British Columbia, a 13 year-old Morgan stepped into the mobile library that called at his small village of Corra Linn and on impulse, took out a book about particle acceleration. He can’t remember the title but it sparked a fascination with science that remains undiminished today.

In 1983 after completing a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Physics and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of British Columbia, Morgan departed for Europe on a backpacking holiday with his future wife. While in Switzerland he took the opportunity to go on a guided tour of the facilities at CERN and decided that accelerator physics was what he really wanted to be involved in. Returning home, Morgan found there were no openings at the TRIUMF facility on UBC’s campus. However, Ebco, a major supplier to TRIUMF that was undertaking a technology-transfer program to commercialize cyclotrons for medical radioisotopes offered him a job as a beamline engineer. Later, Morgan completed a PhD at TRIUMF/UBC in applied accelerator physics developing a new ion source and injection system for Ebco’s TRPET Cyclotron.

Shortly after graduating in 1995, Morgan founded Dehnel Consulting Ltd (DCL). The new company quickly established its credentials with the commercial accelerator industry in Canada, the United States, Asia and Europe before the company began to diversify its activities by licensing technology developed at TRIUMF and other research institutes. To reflect the growing and changing nature of his business, the name was changed in 2004 to D-Pace (Dehnel Particle Accelerator Components and Engineering). As a small business, capital for development was always tight until Buckley Systems, one of D-Pace’s major suppliers of components, purchased a 50% stake in the company in 2014. The partnership has allowed Morgan to pursue exciting opportunities including development of stages one and two of the Ion Source Test Facility (ISTF) based in Auckland, New Zealand. The facility has proved to be a huge benefit to both companies, allowing research into new ion sources plus real-world testing of new beam diagnostic products and beamline magnet systems. “We first licensed the volume cusp ion source from TRIUMF in 2001 and it is incredibly exciting to see all our development work paying off” says Morgan.

As part of the Buckley Systems / DPace partnership, Morgan has become the Chief Science and Innovation Officer for Buckley Systems, further cementing the relationship between the two companies. Morgan will remain based in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada as he is close to clients in North America and in a similar time zone. In addition, “With videoconferencing, it’s easy to keep in touch with clients around the world” comments Morgan. “Plus, with a manufacturing and research base in New Zealand, we can work on problems overnight and often have solutions by the following morning.” Morgan is still excited about accelerator physics and is keen to take full advantage of the synergies between D-Pace and Buckley Systems to develop new applications.

This piece was reprinted by D-Pace, Inc. from the Buckley Systems Spring 2017 technical bulletin with permission from Buckley Systems Ltd. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.