Seminar: Mark Gilmore

November 8, 2024

The U.S. Public-Private Partnership in Fusion Energy and Fusion Energy-Related Research in the UNM Plasma and Fusion Science Lab

Mark Gilmore, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UNM

3:00 pm, UNM Centennial Engineering Center, Room 1026
Online Guests: Contact Prof. Osiński <osinski@chtm.unm.edu> for a Zoom link

Abstract: Controlling human-made climate change in a post-industrial society will demand the utilization of a range of carbon-free energy sources, as well as improvements in storage and distribution, efficiency, and conservation. One possible energy solution, suitable for large cities and heavy industry, is Nuclear Fusion. In the last decade, private companies – mainly startup companies – have invested billions of $US in fusion energy research. In order to further this effort, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has initiated a public-private partnership in fusion research. In this talk, the basics of fusion energy and the current status of research will be reviewed. The landscape of private companies engaged in this work will then be briefly described. Finally, research conducted in the last decade related to Fusion Energy in the UNM Plasma and Fusion Science Lab will be discussed.

Bio: Dr. Mark Gilmore is a Professor in the ECE and Physics & Astronomy Departments at UNM. He received the B.S. from Boston University, and the M.S. from Northeastern University, both in EE, and the Ph.D. in Applied Physics from UCLA. He joined the UNM ECE Department in 2003 as an Assistant Professor. Prof. Gilmore has over 35 years of research experience in plasma physics, and has worked in wide variety of areas within plasma science, including industrial plasmas for printing and materials processing, plasma diagnostics, magnetic fusion for energy, turbulence and transport, ionospheric plasma physics, plasma sources, high-power microwave devices, laboratory astrophysics, and High-Energy-Density Physics. He currently serves as Interim Chair of the UNM Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept.