Dean has over 40 years of experience including 25 years at Argonne National Laboratory where his expertise in ultra-high vacuum systems lead to his participation in accelerator, diagnostics and photodetector projects.

He is a member of the APS-Upgrade team working on the storage ring vacuum system. Dean carries out construction projects for the APS and the Low Energy Undulator Test Line Free Electron Laser. He also constructed the 6 cm UHV photodetector processing system for the High Energy Physics division.

Dean led the large team responsible for developing the Vacuum and Diagnostics systems of the Linac Coherent Light Source Free Electron Laser at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. He also spent time as the Manager of Mechanical and Product Engineering at Veeco Ion Tech, where he led the design and fabrication of their new line of optical thin film production equipment. Dean’s prior experience includes the design and development of vacuum-based production equipment for the semiconductor industry.

Dean has been researching and developing specialized thin films using equipment that he designed, constructed, and operates. His work centers on a variety of sputtered thin films that have been used in accelerators, nuclear engineering, and high physics photodetectors. His research on nanostructures resulted metal oxide films being applied to gas sensing MEMS devices.

Dean has a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering and a Ph.D. in chemistry with a specialization in nanotechnology from Northern Illinois University.