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Recent News

Stephanie Miller receives DOE NNSA Laboratory Residency Graduate Fellowship

2018-04-17 Stephanie Miller (NERS) has been selected to receive the Laboratory Residency Graduate Fellowship from the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration. For her LRGF research, Stephanie will spend two 12-week residencies at Sandia National Labs, working with the pulsed-power sciences and inertial confinement fusion (ICF) groups. She will be working to transfer the technology and diagnostic techniques that she is developing here at U-M to the 30-MA Z facility at Sandia.

Yao Kovach wins Eye on Research photo contest

2018-04-13 Yao E. Kovach (NERS) is a winner of Eye on Research, a graduate student photo contest aimed at capturing the excitement, range, color and creativity of research. In her plasma picture, the self-organization pattern shows a perfectly symmetrical spoke structure with center convergence on the anode surface of sodium chloride solution at 80mA. Above the plasma spokes, a golden yellow colored prominent halo that surrounds the white colored main plasma column along with 8 millimeter gap in the air. Below the plasma spokes, the image shows a salt water reflection of the halo with helium plasma emitted from the 500 micrometer center of a hollow shaped cathode. From the spectroscopic analysis, we determined the golden yellow colored of the halo is due to the sodium glow from the vapor of the liquid. These blue colored plasma spokes have a size of around 25 micrometer and 85 micrometer in width and length respectively.

A startup company founded by L. Brad King takes top prize in the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition

2017-11-17 Orbion Space Technology, a firm founded by L. Brad King, participated in the 2017 Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition in Detroit. Orbion won $500,000 in cash and an additional $39,000 in in-kind services.

Ryan McBride receives the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award

2018-02-21 The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has announced awards of $16 million through its 2018 Young Investigator Program (YIP). The awards were made to young scientists whose research holds strong promise across a wide range of naval-relevant science and technology areas. Ryan McBride's winning project title is "High-Power Microwave Generation by Compact Linear Transformer Driver Technology."

MIPSE reception at APS Division of Plasma Physics meeting

2017-11-10 On October 23rd 2017, the first MIPSE reception was held during the 59th annual meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics in Milwaukee, WI. Nearly 100 MIPSE faculty, students, and alumni attended, as well as past MIPSE speakers and members of the DPP Executive Committee. Select MiPlasma videos from our MIPSE speaker seminar series played throughout the reception. If you missed the reception, we hope to see you at the next DPP meeting in Portland, OR.

Michael Keidar receives Ronald C. Davidson Award for Plasma Physics

2017-10-11 Prof. Michael Keidar, a former MIPSE speaker, has received the 2017 Ronald C. Davidson Award for Plasma Physics from AIP Publishing. The annual award is presented in collaboration with the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics, to recognize outstanding plasma physics research by a Physics of Plasmas author.

John Nees elected OSA Fellow

2017-09-26 John Nees has been elected Fellow of OSA, the Optical Society, “for contributions to the development of short pulse high rep rate laser technology as well as to the science of high intensity short pulse laser interactions with matter.”

Amanda Lietz receives ISPC 2017 Student Oral Presentation Award

2017-08-16 Amanda Lietz received Student Oral Presentation Award for her talk “Mechanisms of Induced Turbulence in Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jets” at the 23rd International Symposium on Plasma Chemistry in Montréal, Canada.

Paul Drake wins the Teller Medal

2017-08-02 R. Paul Drake received the American Nuclear Society Fusion Energy Division’s Teller Medal for his seminal work in radiation hydrodynamics, hydrodynamics, and laser-plasma interactions, and for educational contributions, advancing fundamental high-energy-density physics and its applications to astrophysics. The Edward Teller Medal recognizes pioneering research and leadership in the use of laser and ion-particle beams to produce unique high-temperature and high-density matter for scientific research and for controlled thermonuclear fusion.

Chad Huard receives Best ALE 2017 Student Oral Award

2017-07-18 The Atomic Layer Etching 2017 Workshop (ALE 2017) presented Chad Huard with a first-time Best Student Oral Award for his talk “Reactor Scale Uniformity Enabled by Atomic Layer Etching”.

Ron Gilgenbach receives IEEE 2017 Peter Haas Award

2017-04-27 Ronald Gilgenbach was named the recipient of the IEEE 2017 Peter Haas Award for outstanding contributions to education in pulsed power technology. The award will be presented and an Invited Plenary talk will be given at the IEEE Pulsed Power Conference in June, 2017 (Brighton, United Kingdom).

Y. Y. Lau receives IEEE 2017 John R. Pierce Award

2017-04-27 Y. Y. Lau was named the recipient of the IEEE 2017 John R. Pierce Award for seminal contributions to our understanding of the technical foundations of vacuum electronics, and for training generations of talented engineers and scientists in the field (press release).

Mark Moldwin named Arthur F. Thurnau Professor

2017-02-17 Mark Moldwin is one of six faculty members who have been honored for outstanding contributions to undergraduate education as this year's recipients of Arthur F. Thurnau Professorships.

Carolyn Kuranz receives 2017 Laboratory Astrophysics Division Early Career Award from American Astronomical Society

2017-01-22 The 2017 Early Career Award, given to an individual who has made significant contributions to laboratory astrophysics within 10 years of receiving a PhD, goes to Carolyn Kuranz (University of Michigan) for seminal laboratory experiments in hydrodynamic and radiation processes relevant to astrophysical dynamics (press release).

Thomas Zurbuchen named head of NASA Science Mission Directorate

2016-09-27 NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has named Thomas Zurbuchen as the new associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, effective Monday, Oct. 3 (press release).

Tamas Gombosi, Gábor Tóth develop next-generation space-weather model

2016-09-22 Featured in Nature: Tamas Gombosi and Gábor Tóth developed a next-generation space-weather model for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to better predict how incoming solar storms could fry electrical power grids.