Faculty and Alumni Speak at Plasma Physics Meetings
The American Physical Society (APS) Division of Plasma Physics invited five Columbians to speak at its 50th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas from November 17-21, 2008. Columbia participants included:
Allen Boozer, Professor of Applied Physics, gave a tutorial on the “Use of Non-Axisymmetric Shaping in Magnetic Fusion”.
Michael Mauel, Professor of Applied Physics, representing the joint M.I.T.-Columbia superconducting levitated dipole project, gave a talk on “Improved Confinement During Magnetic Levitation in LDX”.
Jeremy Hanson, (Ph.D. ‘09), with the HBT-EP tokamak research project, spoke on “Feedback Suppression of Rotating External Kink Modes in the Presence of Noise”.
Brian Grierson, (Ph.D. ‘09), with the CTX dipole basic plasma physics project, spoke on “Global and Local Characterization of Turbulent and Chaotic Structures in a Dipole-confined Plasma”.
Quin Marksteiner, (Ph.D. ‘08), with the Columbia Non-neutral Torus (CNT) research project, spoke on“Observationsof a Parallel Force Balance Breaking Instability in Non-neutral Plasmas Confined on Magnetic Surfaces”
Five other Columbians made presentations at the biannual IAEA Meeting on Controlled Fusion Energy in Geneva from October 13-18, 2008.
Dave Maurer, Adjunct Assistant Professor and Associate Research Scientist, representing the HBT-EP tokamak research project, spoke on “Control of Kink Modes Near the Ideal Wall Limit Using Kalman Filtering and Optimal Control Techniques.”
Darren Garnier, Research Scientist, representing the joint M.I.T.-Columbia superconducting levitated dipole project, presented “Confinement Improvement with Magnetic Levitation in Superconducting Dipole”.
David Gates, (Ph.D. ‘94), presented “Overview of Results from the National Spherical Torus Experiment”.
Steve Sabbagh, Adjunct Professor and Senior Research Scientist, spoke on “Advances in Global MHD Stabilization Research on NSTX”.
Holger Reimerdes, Research Scientist, working, with the DIII-D collaboration, spoke on “Wall-Stabilization and Its Limits in High Beta DIII-D Plasmas”.
These meetings are the world’s most prestigious in plasma physics, and the number of invitations awarded to members of Columbia’s plasma physics program is evidence that quality science, hard work, and good results can make “large-size” impact even with a relatively small, but dedicated, team of plasma scientists!