Princeton-UTokyo Educational Partnership on Plasma Physics

PrincetonUTokyo_500Princeton University (the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, PPPL) and the University of Tokyo (the Departments of Advanced Energy, Physics and Electrical Engineering) have initiated a joint educational activity in plasma physics for undergraduate and graduate students. The scientific focus is interdisciplinary within the field of plasma physics, and it is aimed at plasma physics that applies to basic laboratory plasma experiments, plasmas in space (in the heliosphere) and plasmas studied for fusion energy. Exposure of students to the research problems, common physics, and experimental and theoretical tools of both communities will provide them with educational experiences well beyond those received in the classroom. The new educational partnership program builds on a long and productive collaboration between senior researchers of both institutions.
In this new program, undergraduate and graduate students become exchange internship students for a seven to nine week session in the summer. This year’s summer school hosted by Princeton started with one and a half weeks of classes in interdisciplinary plasma physics, followed by six to eight weeks of research training for undergraduates. The site of the summer school will alternate each year between Princeton University and University of Tokyo. We anticipate several undergraduate and graduate students participating from each university every summer. For a certain period, possibly in part overlapping with the summer school, we will organize intensive lectures for the students by senior researchers.

–Masaaki Yamada, Ph. D.
Princeton Plasma Physics Lab
Princeton University