Erich Willen holds a PhD in Nuclear Physics from the Johns Hopkins University. Before retiring in 2006, he was a Senior Physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory where he spent many years doing experimental high energy particle research using the AGS accelerator. In 1980, he joined the Magnet Division, where he became the Division Head and led the development of the SSC and RHIC superconducting magnets in the 1980’s and 1990’s. He then led the development of the RHIC helical magnet system, which has allowed the study of spin physics on the AGS/RHIC complex, and which will be a prominent component of the new eRHIC/EIC project planned for the 2020’s.