Columbia University Plasma Physicists at 2024 APS Annual Meeting
Last week, Columbia University students, scientists, and faculty descended in Atlanta, GA to present their research results and interact with colleagues at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Plasma Physics. Columbia plasma physicists presented over 125 presentations during the five day meeting to an international audience of more than 2,000 participants.
Presentations are either contributed by participants or invited by the APS Program Committee. Less than 110 scientists are invited to present their results. Invited presentations represent the most exciting results achieved during the past year or present important messages for the plasma physics community.
This year three early career Columbia students were among those invited. Leading off the meeting on Monday morning, was Boting Li (PhD 2024) who presented her doctoral research conducted at Columbia's HBT-EP tokamak in her presentation titled "Sawtooth Suppression by Flux Pumping on HBT-EP." Alex Battey (PhD 2024), Associate Research Scientist at Columbia, presented his research conducted at the DIII-D National Tokamak Facility in San Diego, CA titled "The Effect of Externally Applied and Self-Excited Waves on Relativistic Electrons." And current applied physics graduate student Haley Wilson presented the results from the joint Columbia University-MIT MANTA Collaboration titled "Using integrated modeling to optimize fusion performance in MANTA, a negative triangularity fusion pilot plant concept."
Several Columbia University alumni also were invited to present their latest results. Dr. Mel Abler (PhD 2020) now at the Space Science Research reported the "First Laboratory Observations of Residual Energy Generation in Strong Alfvén Wave Interactions," based on detailed measurements conducted at UCLA. Dr. Seth Davidovits (BS 2010) now at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory presented work on inertially confined fusion titled "Assessing explanations for unexpected fuel-ablator mixing measurements in HDC implosions at the NIF." Captain Dr. Royce W. James, who conducted his doctoral research at Columbia's HBT-EP tokamak and who now professor of physics at the US Coast Guard Academy, engaged the plasma physics community in the "Healthy to Innovative Framework" as a framework to maximize innovation and drive the culture of discovery in science. Dr. James presentation was titled "How do you work this "HTI" thing anyway; Leveraging the Merger of Healthy to Innovative (HTI) Workspaces and a Focus on People to Boost Outcomes and Discovery."
An important part of the Annual Meeting is to meet with colleagues and share ideas, progress, and methods. At the Conference Awards Banquet, the APS formally Awarded Professor Carlos Paz-Soldan with Fellowship. Another especially noteworthy event is the Columbia University Plasma Physics Group Reunion Dinner. Nearly 70 students, scientists, and alumni celebrated the many contributions and progress of Columbia University Plasma Physics.
