Fusion reactor design

Three Princeton University-related computer programs have been chosen to run on a new supercomputer that will deliver enhanced scientific findings when it begins crunching numbers in 2018. The projects, consisting of a Princeton Department of Geosciences program and two studies involving the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), encompass high-performance computer codes to map the interior of the Earth and advance the scientific basis for developing fusion energy to generate electricity.

The European Physical Society (EPS) has named physicist Nat Fisch winner of the 2015 Hannes Alfvén Prize. Fisch, director of the Princeton Program in Plasma Physics and professor and associate chair of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University, will receive the honor in June at the at the annual meeting of the EPS Division of Plasma Physics in Lisbon, Portugal.

In a rare transition, engineer Russ Feder has stepped into a management job that a distinguished physicist last held. Feder leads PPPL’s development of all diagnostic tools for US ITER, which manages U.S. contributions to the international ITER experiment, succeeding physicist Dave Johnson in that role. “I’m excited to keep the momentum going and proud to be part of our strong team,” Feder said.  “I also recognize the tough challenges of the job and will need the help of our team and the U.S. diagnostics community to be successful.”

Hong Qin bestrides the globe as a leading scientist and educator. For the past four years he has shuttled between PPPL and a teaching post at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), which named him executive dean of its School of Nuclear Science and Technology in October. Hong takes up the position while maintaining his agenda as a principal research physicist in the PPPL Theory Department and his teaching in the Program in Plasma Physics at Princeton University, where he is a lecturer with the rank of professor in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences.

Your task: Take apart, decontaminate, refurbish, relocate, reassemble, realign and reinstall a 75-ton neutral beam box that will add a second beam box to the National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U) and double the experiment’s heating power. Oh, and while you’re at it, hoist the two-story tall box over a 22-foot wall.