About Me

I completed my MS in physics at the Technical University in Vienna, Austria and moved to the US to join my wife and son and got a PhD in nuclear engineering from the University of Maryland. I also got an MBA from Loyola College in Baltimore, MD.

I worked in consulting for the next decades to ensure the safety of nuclear power plants in various parts of the world, using the tools of probabilistic safety analyses. The last 15 years of my career was spent working for the Department of Energy managing and overseeing programs for safe operations of the nuclear weapons stockpile here in the US. I also lead a US/Russia agreement on the safe dismantlement of nuclear weapons in Russia.

After I retired in 2010, I was looking for freelance work to keep my mind active and for a continued challenge. I decided indexing would fit my interests and my engineering background would find writing indexes stimulating and challenging. In preparation for my new career, I graduated from the indexing course at the University of California, Berkeley and also use my experience using indexes throughout my career.

It has been my privilege to work with many authors and write indexes for interesting works I would otherwise most likely not have encountered. I strive to make these indexes both comprehensive, concise, and well-structured to provide the reader with quick access to information needs.

Helmut Filacchione