A Collaborative National Center for Fusion & Plasma Research

STEM

The acronym for the study of science technology, engineering and mathematics, identified as essential in education.

Science Education staff testify about the importance of STEM programs to joint New Jersey Assembly committee

The New Jersey Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee and the Assembly Education Committee met jointly at the College of New Jersey on March 20 to hear testimony from experts regarding the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education for students in kindergarten through grade 12, and particularly the ways in which female and minority students are being reached through STEM programs both inside and outside of school.

Young Women’s Conference in STEM seeks to change the statistics one girl at a time

Some 750 seventh- to 10th-grade girls spent the day learning about computer coding, plasma science, artificial intelligence, and other subjects through numerous hands-on activities at PPPL’s Young Women’s Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) on March 22 at Princeton University.

PPPL’s Young Women’s Conference offers girls fun and inspiration in STEM fields

Some 750 girls will operate robots, use goggles to get a 3-D view of the brain, learn about computer coding and talk to FBI forensics investigators at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory’s Young Women’s Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) on Friday, March 22, at the Frick Chemistry Laboratory on the Princeton University campus.

PPPL’s Young Women’s Conference offers girls fun and inspiration in STEM fields

Tied in knots: New insights into plasma behavior focus on twists and turns

Whether zipping through a star or a fusion device on Earth, the electrically charged particles that make up the fourth state of matter better known as plasma are bound to magnetic field lines like beads on a string. Unfortunately for plasma physicists who study this phenomenon, the magnetic field lines often lack simple shapes that equations can easily model. Often they twist and knot like pretzels. Sometimes, when the lines become particularly twisted, they snap apart and join back together, ejecting blobs of plasma and tremendous amounts of energy.

Ridge and Princeton Charter School teams will go to Washington D.C. for National Science Bowl® after winning challenging science competitions at PPPL

The Ridge Team from Basking Ridge, New Jersey, will go to Washington, D.C., for the National Science Bowl® Finals after battling out a win against a previous champion, West Windsor-Plainsboro South, at the New Jersey Regional Science Bowl on Feb. 23 hosted by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).

Ridge High School and Princeton Charter School teams will go to Washington D.C. for National Science Bowl® after winning challenging science competitions at PPPL

The Ridge High School team from Basking Ridge, New Jersey, will go to Washington, D.C., for the National Science Bowl® Finals after battling out a win against a previous champion, West Windsor-Plainsboro South, at the New Jersey Regional Science Bowl on Feb. 23 hosted by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).

Two sets of rival teams among competitors in middle and high school math and science contest as PPPL hosts New Jersey Regional Science Bowl

PRINCETON, New Jersey (Feb. 19, 2019) - They have drilled and practiced after school and on weekends. They’ve learned the best strategies and they’ve listened to pep talks from their coaches. Now some of the best science and math students in the state are ready to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) New Jersey Regional Science Bowl at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Feb. 22 to 23.

Steven Cowley, PPPL director, explains “the Magnetic Universe” at Science on Saturday

Steven Cowley, director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), has spent a lifetime working to develop fusion energy as a viable source of electricity. But in his spare time, he enjoys investigating the role of magnetism in the universe.

“I’m a fusion nut and I spent most of my career talking about how to make fusion work,” Cowley told the audience at PPPL’s second Ronald E. Hatcher Science on Saturday lecture on “The Magnetic Universe” at PPPL on Jan. 19. “I’ve also done some work understanding magnetic field lines in the universe. It’s kind of a hobby.”

An intriguing combination: First Science on Saturday lecture combines heavy metal and quantum physics

No physics lecture at PPPL up until recently has included electric guitar riffs by the lecturer, snippets from heavy metal bands, and a video clip from the movie “This Is Spinal Tap.”