Prize Recipient

John C. Wright
MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center

"For experimental verification, through collaborative experiments, of a novel and highly efficient ion cyclotron resonance heating scenario for plasma heating and generation of energetic ions in magnetic fusion devices."

Dr. Wright is a principal scientist at MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center. He received his B.A. in applied physics from Columbia University in 1991 and his Ph.D. in astrophysical sciences from Princeton University in 1998. His research is in developing and applying new capabilities in radio frequency simulations that contribute to improved understanding of the theory and experiments in wave-particle interactions in plasmas. These physics advances have been accompanied by contributions in computer science, including advanced parallel linear algebra algorithms, integrated multi-physics simulation frameworks, and a Web-based approach to workflow, data, and provenance tracking. He is active in several international and multi-institutional domestic collaborations focused on improving the understanding of radio frequency actuators in tokamaks and stellarators.

2018 Selection Committee Members: David Meyerhofer, Los Alamos National Laboratory (Chair); Emilia Solano, Laboratorio Nacional de Fusion (Vice Chair); Eva Kovačević, CNRS/Université d'Orléans; Carlos Romero-Talamas, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Steven Sabbagh, Columbia University; Vladimir Tikhonchuk, University of Bordeaux.