Leadership, service & community

Service is the infrastructure that makes good research, teaching, and community possible.

I have consistently taken on leadership roles that build community for students and early-career scientists, broaden public engagement with fusion energy, and improve the working environment at the facilities I am part of.

01
Early career

Supporting students and early-career scientists

Since 2020, I have chaired the APS Division of Plasma Physics CONNECT committee, the national body that represents students and early-career plasma scientists. Our volunteer committee gathers community data on early-career experiences, organizes recurring professional development events, and partners with the APS-DPP Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Organizing Collective Committee to make the field more accessible.

I helped establish, and from 2021 to 2024 chaired, the annual APS-DPP Student Day, a mini-conference at the division's national meeting where students present their research to peers, meet laboratory and industry scientists, and talk openly about mental health and belonging in the field. I am also a trained member of the APS-DPP Ally Program.

As a graduate student at Princeton, I founded the Plasma Graduate Student Committee, which gave students a formal voice in curriculum reform and remains active today. I also mentored in Princeton's PreDoc graduate preparation program and served on the board of the international student-led Fusion EP seminar series.

02
Public

Broadening engagement with fusion

I co-chair and organize Fusion Energy Week, a global outreach series held each May, and co-lead USFusionEnergy.org and the US Fusion Outreach Team, which coordinate grassroots fusion education nationwide. In 2026 I became Outreach Chair of the MagNetUS Executive Committee, which develops plasma education and training programs across the US.

With an APS Forum on Outreach and Engaging the Public minigrant, I designed and distributed Fusion Trading Cards that introduce students to fusion science concepts. I regularly give public talks, including at the CU Boulder Saturday Physics Series, at Colorado Fusion Week, and for Colorado high school students. I am a member of the Small College Plasma Consortium, which shares teaching resources with institutions that lack large plasma programs.

03
Research community

Leadership in the research community

I co-chair the General Atomics Personnel Development Committee, which works to improve community, training, and professional climate at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, the largest magnetic fusion user facility in the US. I lead the joint EU/US working group on negative triangularity, and previously led a working group of the US Joint Research Taskforce on ELM-free regimes.

I also enjoy building student-led research efforts. In 2022, I was project lead for a team of eight graduate students in the ORFEAS Fusion Design Contest, which produced a roadmap for bringing fusion to the US grid under economic, manufacturing, and engineering constraints and won the top prize. I have since helped organize two inter-institutional fusion design courses, both of which led to peer-reviewed papers written by students.

04
Roles

Roles and memberships

  • 2020–presentChair, APS-DPP CONNECT Committee (national committee for students and early-career plasma scientists)
  • 2026–presentOutreach Chair, MagNetUS Executive Committee
  • 2023–presentCo-chair, General Atomics Personnel Development Committee (DIII-D)
  • 2023–presentCo-chair and organizer, Fusion Energy Week
  • 2023–presentCo-chair, USFusionEnergy.org and US Fusion Outreach Team
  • 2022–presentAlly, APS Division of Plasma Physics Ally Program
  • 2021–2024Chair, APS-DPP Student Day
  • 2023–2024Minigrant recipient, APS Forum on Outreach & Engaging the Public (Fusion Trading Cards)
  • 2022Project lead, ORFEAS Student Fusion Design Contest (winning team)
  • 2021–2022Board of Directors, Fusion EP international student-led seminar series
  • 2019–2021Founder and Chair, Plasma Graduate Student Committee, Princeton University
  • 2018–2019President, Princeton Plasma Student Leadership Council
  • 2016–2021Volunteer, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory tours and outreach events
05
Initiatives

Initiatives in more detail

If you would like to get involved in any of these efforts, or talk about building a more welcoming plasma science and engineering community, please get in touch.