Right now, I’m participating in the WDTS Virtual Career Fair, where undergraduates interested in research opportunities can interact with personnel from national labs and private industry. Want to come work in nuclear fusion?

I had no idea that slot car racing was such a big business. This photo does not do it justice; this is a very large track… with a very slow driver 🚙📷

Following a terrifying Google search about spiders, it appears this spider in the yard is a Peucetia viridans. It’s actually very pretty and you can zoom in to see its little eyes 🕷📷

We made a highlight sheet for some of the diagnostics-focused presentations our lab is presenting at the American Physical Society – Division of Plasma Physics (APS-DPP) conference this month. Most of these posters are found in the following sessions: BP10, TP10

The primary magnet of the largest nuclear fusion device in the world is now 1/7 complete. General Atomics has completed the first module of the ITER central solenoid. Technically, ITER only uses 6 of the modules (hopefully, we’ll never need to use that backup module).

Making Our Fusion Reactor Better, day 352 of 320: yesterday, we attached the final vacuum flanges to the tokamak. As we pump it down today, if there are no leaks, then the year-long engineering upgrade is complete 😵

My HTC One M8 lasted about five years, but now we have to part ways. I would have considered replacing the battery to keep it, but the failure of the physical buttons sealed its fate. A great phone 📱

Making Our Fusion Reactor Better, day 339 of 320: with vessel close and pumpdown only 6 days away, we better get all those tiles reinstalled!

What a beast!

Making Our Fusion Reactor Better, day 319 of 320: behold, the 50-ton neutral beam positioned in all its off-axis glory! 👩‍🔬📷