PPPL 

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy Facility

PPL News

DOE PRINCETON PLASMA PHYSICS LABORATORY VOL. 2, NO. 1 • SPRING 1998

In the photo above, U.S. Representatives Rodney Frelinghuysen and Mike Pappas pledged their support for

fusion funding during a January news conference at the Laboratory. During the conference, the Congressmen

signed a letter to President Clinton urging him to fully fund the U.S. fusion research program in his annual budget.

From left are Pappas, Frelinghuysen, Princeton University student Daniel Weitz, and PPPL Director Rob

Goldston.

In November, PPPL Director Rob Goldston gave U.S. Representatives Michael Pappas and Curt Weldon a tour of PPPL.

The Congressmen visited the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

and the L-wing experiments, including the Magnetic

Reconnection Experiment and the high-intensity hyperthermal

atomic beam apparatus. Goldston (right) describes the apparatus to Pappas (left) and Weldon (middle).

Lab Hosts Congressional Visitors
PPPL NEWS • Spring 1998 Page 2

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton

Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is a Collaborative National Center for plasma and fusion science. The

Laboratory’s primary mission is to develop the scientific

understanding and the key innovations which will lead to

an attractive fusion energy source, including:

• Worldwide availability of inexhaustible fuel;

• No contribution to acid rain or global warming;

• Materials and by-products unsuitable for weapons;

• Radiological hazards thousands of times less than

from fission;

• No runaway reaction possible;

• Cost comparable to other long-term energy options.

In the long run, perhaps one hundred years or so from

now, experts estimate that a sustainable world energy

economy will require three times more energy production

than today – but with three times less carbon dioxide

emission and with minimal other environmental impacts.

At the 1998 meeting of the American Association for the

Advancement of Science President Clinton expressed his

confidence that fusion would help “grow the economy by

restoring, not depleting, our planet.” This is the fundamental theme of our research.

We must think globally, but we also must develop

fusion for the sake of our own national energy security.

While the nation possesses large reserves of coal, the

environmental and ultimately economic cost of burning it

may not be supportable. The U.S. is unacceptably dependent on other nations for the oil required to maintain our

standard of living. The present tensions in the Middle East

will seem minor compared to what we will face as reserves

of oil and gas begin to run low in the next century. We will

be more secure and prosperous in the future if we invest now

in developing fusion and other clean energy sources.

Research at PPPL has given rise to new ideas on the

magnetic confinement of plasmas – the hot ionized gases

in which fusion reactions occur. PPPL’s Tokamak Fusion

Test Reactor (TFTR), which operated from 1982-1997,

achieved world-record levels of fusion power and greatly

enhanced our understanding of the science and technology required for practical fusion energy. The National

Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), now under construction at PPPL — building on the insights from TFTR

— is just the first of our new initiatives. Other exciting

ones are now coming off the drawing boards. Together

with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and other institutions we are developing a proposal for a second “proofof-principle” experiment, called the National Compact

Stellarator Experiment, at about the same scale as NSTX.

It combines results from TFTR with some of the earliest

insights into plasma confinement by our founding director, Lyman Spitzer, Jr. We are also developing ideas for

smaller experiments and planning a major initiative in

computational plasma physics. An important element of

our research involves collaborating on off-site experiments, both in the United States and abroad.

As we travel down the road to fusion, we are also

making exciting scientific discoveries about the plasmas

which form the sun and the stars and which fill the space

around the earth. Understanding this plasma is crucial, for

example, for the comprehension of “space weather” which

affects our communication satellites and astronauts. Our

plasma measurement techniques are applied to understanding solar flares and astrophysical phenomena.

The science and technology of plasmas also have

many applications here on earth. Our research provides

important technological capabilities for society. Almost

all computer chips are now processed with plasmas.

Satellites are kept in their orbits using plasma thrusters.

Plasmas are key to the latest high-efficiency flat-panel

displays. The radio-frequency waves we use to heat

plasmas can also be used to kill bacteria in milk. Here at

PPPL, some of us are working on developing a new “cold

pasteurization” process. Others are using lasers, originally developed to measure the characteristics of fusion

plasmas, to monitor the properties of fibers, on the fly, as

they are being made. Projects of this kind allow our

research results to be applied in the near-term to help the

national economy, while we continue our quest for a key

new energy source for a sustainable world.

We hope you enjoy reading the PPPL News.

PPPL: Our Mission for the Future

— Rob Goldston

PPPL Director
Page 3 PPPL NEWS • Spring 1998

Construction of the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) is moving

forward at PPPL. The experiment is a joint project among PPPL, Oak Ridge

National Laboratory, Columbia University, and the University of Washington at Seattle, with PPPL having primary responsiblity for the project and

coordination of its design. The experiment, expected to begin operation in

1999, will test the physics principles of spherical torus plasmas. Clockwise

from bottom left: (1) Last fall, the Test Cell was cleared to make way for

NSTX. (2) The lower half of the toroidal field (TF) center stack. The pronglike objects are cooling tubes that will be straightened out and then nested

between the contact pads. (3) Representatives of the Department of

Energy, PPPL, and Everson Electric look over the ohmic heating tension

tube. From left are DOE's John Sauter, Everson Electric's Greg Naumovich,

NSTX Project Director Masayuki Ono, DOE representative Jeff Hoy, and

PPPL Procurement Head Rod Templon. (4) The NSTX Test Cell in its

present state. The three cylinders at the back are high-voltage enclosures

for the neutral beam line at right. (5) A mold at Everson Electric in

Allentown, Pennsylvania, for the machine's TF center stack.

NSTX Moves Ahead

Construction of the National Spherical Torus Experiment Continues at PPPL

Photos by:

Tom Meighan and Elle Starkman
PPPL NEWS • Spring 1998 Page 4

development of sophisticated computer programs gives

scientists the tools to design, investigate, and conduct

research on a broader range of devices such as stellarators.

“Once researchers give up the guiding principle of

axisymmetry and begin research with non-axisymmetric

devices they find themselves a little bit at sea. So they

need something to guide them — some compass or

navigational tool. In recent years, larger computers have

become available, and we’ve developed sophisticated

computer programs that provide such a tool. And now

we’re beginning to see that there’s no fundamental reason

why axisymmetric devices are better than nonaxisymmetric devices.”

The term stellarator refers to a large class of toroidal

devices that are non-axisymmetric. A non-axisymmetric

device is one in which the magnetic field changes as one

follows it around the torus (in contrast to an axisymmetric

device, where the field does not change). A nonaxisymmetric magnetic field can be produced from an

axisymmetric one by giving it a twist. Some stellarators

have modular magnetic coils that look like deformed

toroidal field coils. Another example of a stellarator is the

heliac model in the Lobby, which is similar to one being

built in Spain and to a smaller one in Australia.

Lyman Spitzer founded the Laboratory with a

stellarator experiment in the 1950s, but it presented problems which researchers could not solve because they

lacked the necessary computational tools. And while

some level of interest in stellarators continued at PPPL

over the years, tokamaks became the favored fusion

device during the last two decades.

“Until recently, people focused on axisymmetric

machines such as tokamaks. An axisymmetric magnetic

field has basically the same shape as an automobile tire in

the sense that if you rotate it, it looks pretty much the

same. This simplifies things conceptually and allows you

to understand more easily what’s going on,” explained

Reiman.

A potential advantage to a stellarator is more flexibility. “Once you allow the magnetic field to become three

dimensional, there is more flexibility in terms of controlling the properties of the magnetic field and being able to

do things that you couldn’t do in axisymmetric devices,”

Reiman said. For instance, in a stellarator, researchers

have more control over the shape and pitch of the field

lines than in a tokamak.

Another advantage the stellarator has over a tokamak

is that it doesn’t have disruptions, said the project leader.

Also, you don’t need to drive a plasma current.

Team Develops Stellarator Concept

Later this year, a national stellarator experiment may be

proposed for construction at PPPL. The project team,

which is presently engaged in developing the conceptual

design of a medium-sized, non-axisymmetric device, includes researchers from PPPL and many collaborating

laboratories and universities in the U.S. and abroad. The

stellarator configuration was presented during an international workshop on stellarator concept improvement at

PPPL in January, and the machine’s first plasma is

proposed for 2002 or 2003. Below, Stellarator Project

Leader Allan Reiman talks about the rebirth of interest in

stellarators and their potential for advances in the development of fusion power.

 By Patti Wieser

I

n a way, designing stellarator experiments during con

temporary times is similar to navigating a ship in the

late Middle Ages. Both — whether charting new territory

in fusion research or crossing the ocean — pose difficulties without the proper navigational tools. And only with

new inventions and technology are the hurdles overcome.

“Until the compass was invented, people pretty much

sailed ships along the shoreline. They couldn’t go very far

from the shore without getting lost at sea. With the

invention of the compass, they were able to cross the

ocean,” said PPPL Stellarator Project Leader Allan

Reiman.

Just as the invention of the compass allowed sailors to

venture across the ocean without getting lost, the recent

Modular Coils
Page 5 PPPL NEWS • Spring 1998

“In principle, you can sustain a stellarator plasma

indefinitely. In practice, however, you have limitations

unless you have such things as superconducting coils,” he

said.

In addition, researchers can get a better test of their

codes than before. “So you have these computer codes

that tell you how to design your machine and in some

sense they embody the present state of knowledge in

plasma physics,” said Reiman. “The codes tell you to go

off in a certain direction and twist the coils in a certain

way. You then can test the physics basis for following that

direction. That leads to advances in plasma science that

benefit the whole magnetic fusion program.”

There are about ten medium-sized to large stellarators

in the world. The stellarator being proposed for construction at PPPL would be medium-sized — about as large as

the Princeton Beta Experiment-Modification (PBX-M).

It would be the third — and largest — stellarator in the

U.S. Larger stellarators — comparable in size to the

Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) — include the

soon to be completed LHD in Japan and the planned W7-

X in Germany. Both are in the $500 million to billion

dollar range.

The stellarator at PPPL would use many existing

facilities such as power supplies, machine components,

heating systems, and diagnostics. One possibility is to

convert PBX-M to a stellarator. “That would have a lot of

advantages including the ability to reuse the coils, vacuum

The PPPL stellarator team includes (from left): Larry Grisham, Irving Zatz, Martha Redi, Mike Zarnstorff, Rob Goldston, George Sheffield,

Hutch Neilson, Allan Reiman, John Schmidt, Harry Mynick, Don Monticello, Morrell Chance, Bob Simmons, Gerd Schilling, Guo-Yong Fu,

Harold Furth, and Long-Poe Ku. Not pictured are Art Brooks, Neil Pomphrey, and Gregory Rewoldt.

vessel, and diagnostics. We are presently looking into the

various options,” noted Reiman. If PBX-M is reused, the

project would need some additional coils inside the vacuum

vessel to produce the non-axisymmetric field. “The main

new component would be the coils. We’re asking our

computer programs to come up with an optimal shape,”

said the project leader.

In addition to equipment and experimental space,

PPPL has another important stellarator resource — its

staff. “We have a number of people with expertise in

stellarators. In addition to current staff, John Johnson,

who is retired, maintains an interest. He’s now in Japan as

a visiting professor at the stellarator lab there for three

months. We are always happy to get his input,” Reiman said.

Returning to his analogy, Reiman said, “It was only

after they started using the compass in the late Middle

Ages that they really learned how it worked. When

Columbus sailed to America and got close to the Caribbean, he discovered that his compass no longer pointed

toward the North Star. There was a major panic on the

ship. And it was only with time that people discovered

that the north magnetic pole was not the same thing as the

north pole of the earth. With this knowledge, they improved the use of the compass for navigation. That’s

analogous to how we use our computer programs to help

us design a stellarator. We know that we can rely on our

computer programs only up to a point, and then we have to

do an experiment and see what is really going to happen.” ●
PPPL NEWS • Spring 1998 Page 6

PPPL Collaborates with

Agriculture Department

in Development of

Pasteurization Process

Researchers Are Investigating Use of Radio

Frequency and Microwave Heating for

Pasteurization

The $120,000 agreement between the two federally

funded agencies came about after researchers at the

USDA’s Eastern Regional Research Center (ERRC) in

Philadelphia evaluated RF radiation while exploring improved methods for pasteurization. Initial results and

subsequent evaluation of micro-organisms introduced

into liquid foods indicate that RF radiation is a potentially

effective means for pasteurization.

RF Advantages

RF waves offer advantages over the traditional pasteurization method of directly heating raw liquid foods.

The direct method often heats foods unevenly, possibly

resulting in incomplete pasteurization in lower temperature regions and in denaturing foods in overheated regions. Using radio frequency waves in the appropriate

wavelength may allow pasteurization without heating

liquid foods to temperatures that cause food deterioration.

The ERRC is collaborating with PPPL because of the

Lab’s extensive experience in the application of RF and

microwave radiation to the study of plasmas. The LaboAsmall group of researchers at PPPL —

including physicist Randy Wilson, engineers Elmer

Fredd and Chris Brunkhorst, and technician Dave Ciotti

— is focusing its attention on an innovative pasteurization process through a collaboration with the Agriculture

Department.

Last fall, PPPL and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) signed an interagency agreement to jointly

develop new pasteurization methods that use radio frequency (RF) waves and microwave heating. These heating techniques — also used to warm plasma in a fusion

device — are being tested for pasteurizing raw liquid

foods such as eggs, fruit juices, and milk.

“This is another example of applying our fusion and

plasma science capabilities to an area that benefits the

U.S. public,” said PPPL Technology Transfer Head Lewis

Meixler.

PPPL Rated

Outstanding

Outstanding. That’s what the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) rates PPPL for the

Laboratory’s operations in fiscal year 1997.

In a report released earlier this month, the DOE gave

the Laboratory the highest rating — outstanding — for its

scientific and operational accomplishments. The federal

agency cited the Laboratory for providing new insights

into physical sciences and for constructing and operating

leading edge experiments on schedule, within budget,

and in a safe and environmentally sound manner. In

addition, PPPL was noted for aggressively expanding its

role in collaborating with other domestic and foreign

fusion programs, as well as for theoretical and computational work, and efforts in technology transfer, public

outreach, and education.

“This highest citation from the Department of

Energy, which recognizes our first year under the new

performance-based contract, is the result of the efforts

and dedication of our extraordinary staff,” said PPPL

Director Rob Goldston. “It is also a great credit to the

leadership of former Director Ron Davidson and former

Interim Director John Schmidt during fiscal year 1997.”

Difficult Challenges

N. Anne Davies, Associate Director for Fusion

Energy Sciences for the DOE’s Office of Energy Research, commended the Laboratory for successfully

dealing with difficult challenges during the past year,

including a change in top management, downsizing,

and the closing of the record-setting Tokamak Fusion

Test Reactor.

“Despite these circumstances, PPPL has maintained a balanced, well-qualified staff who, under their

new director and deputy director, are highly motivated

and dedicated to sustaining their institution’s strong

record of scientific and operational accomplishments,”

said Davies.

She further cited PPPL for “making the transition

from a tokamak-dominated research program to one more

focused on innovative concepts, consistent with and fully

supportive of DOE’s strategic goals for a restructured

fusion energy sciences program.”

Said DOE Princeton Group Manager Jerry Faul,

“This rating is the highest that could be earned ... I express

my appreciation to all of the Laboratory staff who contributed to this successful year.”●
Page 7 PPPL NEWS • Spring 1998

Next to the radio frequency oven that will be used in the pasteurization experiments are members of the PPPL team, including (from

left), Chris Brunkhorst, Elmer Fredd, and Dave Ciotti. Not pictured

is Randy Wilson.

ratory has particular expertise in optimizing the absorption of RF and microwave energy into a receiving medium. Experience includes the measuring of RF parameters, instrumentation, the design and fabrication of antennas, and the safe handling of these components.

The four-person PPPL team is working with Mike

Kozempel, who is the USDA’s Principal Investigator

on the project. The PPPL team is assisting the ERRC

researchers in improving the operation of their RF

power source, as well as providing the expertise to

enable the measurement of power deposited, power

launched, and launch efficiency. In addition, the PPPL

group is concentrating on optimizing the equipment’s

RF launch configuration.

The ERRC’s radio frequency oven is presently at

PPPL for testing and modifications. The machine is

expected to be returned to the ERRC sometime this

summer, where the pasteurization experiments will take

place.

The agreement between ERRC and the Princeton

Plasma Physics Laboratory supports a memorandum of

understanding between Secretary of Agriculture Dan

Glickman and former Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary to

use one federal agency’s technologies to benefit research

at other federal agencies. ●

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma

Physics Laboratory (PPPL) will receive $700,000 in

fiscal year 1998 under a recently established Cooperative

Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between the Laboratory and the Princeton Textile Research

Institute. The agreement is part of the American Textile

Partnership (AMTEX) — a government-industry consortium which includes many of the nation’s leading textile

and apparel manufacturers. Under the terms of the

CRADA, Laboratory staff will develop state-of-the-art

optical techniques for the on-line characterization of

synthetic fibers during production.

“The AMTEX Partnership provides PPPL scientists

with the opportunity to apply technology developed in

magnetic fusion research to help solve a significant industrial problem in the near-term. We are pleased to join our

colleagues from other DOE-supported laboratories participating in AMTEX,” noted PPPL Director Rob Goldston.

PPPL’s Dennis Mansfield is the Principal Investigator on the CRADA. He will be joined by Phil Efthimion

and Stewart Zweben, who will act in administrative

capacities, and Hideo Okuda, who will be involved in

theoretical and numerical work on the project.

Said Mansfield, “There will be an enormous economic benefit, if we can monitor and control the characteristics of synthetic fibers such as nylon and dacron online during the manufacturing process. Substantial time

and money will be saved by eliminating the need to stop

production to remove samples for off-line laboratory

PPPL staff involved in the AMTEX project are (from left) Dennis

Mansfield, Hideo Okuda, Mark Cropper, Phil Efthimion, and

Stewart Zweben. The laser device is on the table in front of

Efthimion. Not pictured is Lewis Meixler.

PPPL Funded

for Textile Research

By Anthony R. DeMeo

Continued on page 8
PPPL NEWS • Spring 1998 Page 8

analysis.” PPPL scientists also expect to expand significantly the number of fiber properties that can be measured.

On-line measurement of the physical and chemical

properties of textile fibers will allow process adjustments

to be made immediately — a substantial advantage. It is

anticipated that vastly improved process reproducibility,

efficiency, and quality control will result, eliminating the

over-production presently needed to insure an adequate

supply of fiber with consistent characteristics.

For years, PPPL scientists have used sophisticated

lasers operating in the infrared, visible, and ultraviolet

wavelength ranges to study the properties of hot ionized

gases — high-temperature plasmas in which fusion reactions occur. The PPPL staff will now apply these welldeveloped research tools to help textile manufacturers.

Science Over Supper

Specifically, laser light will be scattered from textiles

during and immediately following solidification of the

extruded fibers, as well as during the drawing process.

During these processes, the fibers are moving at speeds up

to 30 miles per hour. The light scattered from fibers under

these conditions contains important information about

the physical and chemical make-up of the polymer under

investigation.

Mansfield noted, “Whatever instrument comes out of

this work will have to function in the difficult environment of a factory floor; it will, therefore, have to be robust.

In this regard, making delicate measurements on a factory

floor presents many of the same challenges that arise in

the environment of a fusion device. We hope to be able to

exploit the revolutions which are currently taking place in

the fields of laser physics, modern optics, and computer

science to meet these challenges.”●

Throwing light on the subject, local teacher Doris

Gross (left) works with PPPL scientist Andrew

Post Zwicker to understand the principles of

electrical circuits. The workshop, held recently at

the Patton J. Hill Elementary School in Trenton,

was titled “Wire That House! — Understanding

the Basics of Electricity.” As part of PPPL’s “Science Over Supper” series, area teachers are teaming up with PPPL scientists to explore the science

concepts they teach in their classes. Besides electricity, topics cover geology, plate tectonics, earthquakes, energy, magnetism, and the solar system.

A second series, organized by PPPL’s Science

Education Program staff, is being planned for this

spring.

Continued from page 7

AMTEX

In photo at right PPPL Deputy Director Richard Hawryluk (left)

accepts a $1,000 donation from Robert F. Kelley, Vice President of

the Division of Environment, Safety, and Communications for

Formosa Plastics Corporation, U.S.A. The donation is for the

Laboratory's research and science education efforts.

PPPL Receives Donation
Page 9 PPPL NEWS • Spring 1998

“He’s from there? Hm. I didn’t know they had

physicists in that area of the country.”

“He has a college degree and is applying for a

secretarial position. Something’s not right.”

 “Do you think someone from that culture can

handle a management position? Those people are always so non-confrontational. What if she has to tell a

staff member that he or she isn’t doing a good job?”

Such stereotypically spiked perceptions could be first

impressions managers have of potential employees

or promotional candidates. And if the adage “first impressions are the most important” is believed, employment

decisions will be affected.

Through a Diversity Awareness program offered to

PPPL Council members and senior managers in January,

participants worked to break through assumptions, judgments, and stereotyping while demystifying diversity and

recognizing its advantages. “This workshop let people

know what diversity is and what it isn’t,” said PPPL

Diversity Leader Pamela Lucas.

Diversity includes physical, cultural, and institutional

differences, including race and gender, religion and demographic background, as well as management style and

communication modes. Diversity is not a new name for

affirmative action or a special program to disenfranchise

white males. Nor is it a fast track project for women and

minorities. Diversity awareness is recognizing and valuing the skills and abilities of all employees, and seeing the

worth of alternative perspectives.

How We Perceive Other People

Information Services Head Anthony De Meo said, “I

expected the program to be about employment quotas, but

it was really about how we perceive other people. We

were warned not to be fooled by first impressions or

preconceived notions of individuals or cultural groups.”

He added that greater communication among different

groups is critical.

Computer Head Dori Barnes said the program

instructor offered a refreshing approach. “No one was

made to feel bad about harboring an inkling of a

prejudice about someone or something. The instructor’s

philosophy was realistic — we all have natural biases

or make assumptions based on perceptions. The trick is

how to focus our awareness of differences on their

positive aspects and to respect others and understand

how differences can be valuable to us and the organization,” she said.

Diversity trainer Ricardo H. Correia (standing) leads a group of PPPL senior managers during a diversity awareness

workshop at the Laboratory.

 By Patti Wieser

Managers Gain Diversity Insight through Workshop

Continued on page 10
PPPL NEWS • Spring 1998 Page 10

The workshop, conducted by Centaur Consulting

President Ricardo H. Correia, focused on raising the level

of awareness about diversity issues. According to material from the Connecticut-based Centaur, diversity allows

people to recognize and appreciate the benefits of diverse

experiences and perspectives. The concept encompasses

three main elements: respecting all people simply because they are people; being aware that due to the uniqueness of each person’s experiences, he or she will bring a

different and valuable perspective; and understanding

how those perspectives are a business asset and a necessary commodity.

Participant Steve Jardin commented, “I think the

main point was that people with different backgrounds

see problems and events from different perspectives, and

may see solutions or improvements that others miss. We

are a very diverse society, and it is constructive to view

this diversity as an advantage.”

Doug McCune called the training “entertaining and

thought provoking.” “The gist was to remind us to question our assumptions especially as these affect our relationships with others. This is a good thing to do on a

continuing basis,” said McCune.

He said the training reminded him of something he

read not long ago by a Microsoft manager about the

process of building an effective software development

team. One of the manager’s cardinal rules was “Don’t flip

the BOZO bit!” Explained McCune, “What he meant was

just because somebody on the team once gave you some

bad information or a false lead, that is not enough reason

to set BOZO=TRUE in regard to this person, and to never

again listen to anything he or she says.”

McCune said everybody agrees that making snap

judgements based on ill-informed prejudice can be destructive to the set of relationships that forms our institution. He added that diversity training is good, but more

important factors are the examples provided by the

Laboratory’s leadership and the work environment they

foster.

“Snap judgements occur frequently when people are

pressured to produce beyond their capabilities. Overcoming prejudice requires energy and thought. If one feels

‘I’ve got to keep moving, I don’t have time to think about

this,’ then one is going to cut corners. This includes

making snap judgements based on prejudice, sacrificing

the long-term health of the Laboratory as an institution

based on human relationships in the interest of some

short-term consideration,” he said.

Lucas noted the workshop generated a lot of discussion among participants, and was successful in

heightening the awareness of PPPL’s senior managers

about diversity issues.

“It is important that department and division managers are involved in this training because we need support

from the top for diversity efforts. This day reinforced the

Lab’s leadership commitment to diversity and we hope

this is just the beginning in a long process of continuing

diversity efforts,” she said.●

Princeton University's fifth annual

Dinner in Celebration of Women

of Color was a hit. The March 5

dinner and evening of entertainment drew several PPPL'ers, as

well as Princeton University staff

and friends. Above is the group

from the Laboratory, including,

from left, Teresa Greenberg (back

to camera), Mary Ann Brown, Sue

Murphy-LaMarche, co-organizer

Pamela Lucas, Arlene White, Linda

Harmon, and James Morgan. The

Director's Minority Advisory Committee and Director's Advisory

Committee on Women at the Laboratory contributed to the event.

Women of Color Dinner Draws Crowd

Continued from page 9

Diversity
Page 11 PPPL NEWS • Spring 1998

PPPL’s Interactive Website Wins Awards

I

t’s “Cool.” It’s a “Hot Spot.” It’s a “Best of the

Web.” It’s PPPL’s interactive, educational website,

called IPPEX, that allows users to operate their own

fusion experiments and analyze data from real experiments conducted by physicists. The site recently won five

awards.

The Internet Plasma Physics Educational eXperience

(IPPEX) website was cited for its excellence last fall on

five websites, including those of New Scientist magazine

and the Exploratorium museum. IPPEX is a fully interactive educational experience that teaches users about plasma

physics and fusion energy at a pre-college level (see

website address at end).

One of Ten Cool Sites

IPPEX was selected for the Hot Spots section of New

Scientist Planet Science website. Hot Spots is Planet

Science’s pick of science and technology-related sites on

the web. In addition, the Exploratorium, a museum of

science, art, and human perception in San Francisco,

chose IPPEX as one of the “Ten Cool Sites” for the month

of September, 1997. Each month, the Exploratorium

picks the best websites in science, art, and education.

Sites are submitted by visitors to the Exploratorium

homepages or suggested by its staff and are selected based

upon content, design, and the overall experience of visiting them.

The “Virtual Tokamak,” an IPPEX section created by

PPPL’s Daren Stotler, was chosen as one of the top 25

percent web applets by JARS, the JAVA Review Service.

JAVA is a programming language invented by Sun

Microsystems for writing programs that can be downloaded through the Internet and immediately run on a

local computer. Applets are small JAVA programs that

allow web pages to include functions such as animations,

calculators, or almost anything a regular computer program could do safely.

cent Technologies, voted IPPEX one of the top 10 science

sites on the web. Finally, the Yahooligans Directory on

the Internet cited IPPEX as its only “cool” physics site

under Top Science and Oddities: Physics.

“We are excited we were able to develop a way for

students to interact with real scientists, doing real experiments in a way that is meaningful and helpful to the

students,” said IPPEX Project Manager Andrew Post

Zwicker. “Our goal is to interest them in science and

deepen their understanding of basic concepts.”

Besides being noted at various websites, IPPEX has

had an impact on students from as nearby as the Bronx to

as faraway as Italy. IPPEX was featured in the Thirteen/

WNET program, “The Internet in Action — Real Time

and Remote Visits,” where 10th graders at the Bronx

High School of Science used it in their physics classes.

And, IPPEX helped create a new plasma physicist

when an Italian undergraduate who had finished the

TFTR data analysis section wrote expressing a desire to

pursue graduate studies in fusion energy, but did not have

any contacts in the field. Post Zwicker introduced him to

an Italian colleague who arranged an interview for him.

He starts his graduate work this fall.

In addition to Post Zwicker, the IPPEX development

team at PPPL includes members of the Science Education

Program, physicists Steve Scott and Daren Stotler, Engineering and Technical Infrastructure Head Mike Williams, Computer Division Head Dori Barnes, and software engineer Bill Davis. The new look was created by

Da Jin Wang, a 1997 high school summer research

student from Union City, NJ. The site includes a section

of data analysis from the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

(TFTR) at PPPL; the “Virtual Tokamak” and Magnetic

Drift JAVA applets; interactive units on relevant physics

topics; and “Ask a Scientist,” in which students from all

over the world ask questions on plasma physics and

fusion energy.

Teaching Tool

IPPEX gives teachers a tool to use while teaching a

subject that is difficult to demonstrate and explain, allowing students to interact with the site, visualize difficult

concepts, and analyze actual data from a fusion experiment. It is funded by the New Jersey Networking Infrastructure in Education at the Stevens Institute of Technology through a grant from the National Science Foundation. The address for IPPEX is:

http://ippex.pppl.gov/ippex/

“We are excited we were able to

develop a way for students to interact

with real scientists, doing real experiments in a way that is meaningful and

helpful to the students.”

— Andrew Post Zwicker

WWW Associates, an Internet development company whose customers include Hewlett-Packard and Lu-
PPPL NEWS • Spring 1998 Page 12

The PPPL NEWS is issued by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, a research facility

supported by the United States Department of Energy. Correspondence and requests to reprint

material should be directed to: Information Services, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, P.O. Box

451, Princeton, NJ 08543; telephone 609-243-2750; fax 609-243-2751; e-mail info@pppl.gov .

 PPPL NEWS

Information Services Head: Anthony R. DeMeo

Editor: Patti Wieser

Photographer: Elle Starkman, Dietmar R. Krause

Layout and Graphics: Gregory J. Czechowicz

Princeton University Wins $305,000 DOE Grant to

Advance Study of Inertial Confinement Fusion

“The work that will come out of these grants will add

to our basic knowledge of physics, and help to train future

scientists and engineers,” said Dr. Victor H. Reis, Assistant Secretary of Energy for Defense Programs. “Both of

those goals are compatible with our long term plan to

maintain the safety and reliability of the nation’s nuclear

stockpile without further nuclear testing.” ●

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced

this month the award of a multi-year research grant,

valued at $305,000, to Princeton University to carry out

experimental studies of high energy plasmas and how

they interact with laser pulses. The research will support

DOE’s advanced studies of inertial confinement fusion.

PPPL’s Nathaniel Fisch will lead the Princeton team

examining how electrons are transported and magnetic

fields are generated when a very short laser pulse collides

with a pre-heated, pre-compressed plasma. This study of

plasma effects during “fast ignition” of fusion reactions

will help scientists understand and model ultraintense

laser/matter interactions.

Other Grants

Thirteen other research grants, with a total worth of

$5.2 million over three years, were awarded in a new

research effort in high-energy-density science as part of

the department’s Inertial Confinement Fusion program.

Initial funding of $2 Million has been appropriated for the

current fiscal year (1998). Average funding for a winning

proposal is about $143,000/year for two- and three-year

programs of work. The 14 grants will support the work of

professors and students at 16 universities, as well as

researchers from one private company, in 11 states and

the District of Columbia. At least 10 post doctoral associates and 13 graduate students will receive support from

the grants.

Nathaniel Fisch