MagNetUS creates an ecosystem for a broad scientific community interested in experimental magnetized plasma research. MagNetUS ecosystem objectives include:

• Broaden participation in magnetized plasma research through expanded partnerships with predominantly undergraduate institutions, institutions with smaller plasma science and engineering programs, and a broad range of institutions from historically excluded groups.

• Form a broad consortium of affiliated facilities, computational systems, and theory labs that support experimental magnetized plasma research projects.

• Foster and maintain a broad and diverse collaborator base through support for experiments, modeling, diagnostic and software development, and data management projects.

• Establish a strong program for education and training of new collaborators, participants, and the next generation of scientists working in magnetized plasmas.

News

September 25, 2025

MagNetUS Quarterly Newsletter – Issue #2 Now Available

The second issue of the MagNetUS Quarterly Newsletter is out now! This edition includes updates on the Joint Call, a call for Executive Committee nominations, a community highlight on the CHIMERAS project’s design framework in Journal of Plasma Physics, an early-career spotlight on Jim Schroeder (Wheaton College), our featured plasma image (“density snake” in MST), upcoming events around APS DPP in Long Beach (including Student Day and the DIII-D tour), and links to recordings from our tutorial webinar series.  

Read it here: MagNetUS Newsletter #2

We welcome contributions for future issues—please send news, events, opportunities, or images to orlov@magnetus.net. 

August 15, 2025

MagNetUS and the directors of five leading U.S. plasma science facilities announce the 2025 Joint Call for Collaborative Research Facilities, with proposals due September 15, 2025. Full details, including facility descriptions, proposal templates, and application instructions, are available at https://www.callforruntimeproposals.org. This initiative offers researchers the opportunity to pursue frontier plasma science at the Basic Plasma Science Facility (University of California, Los Angeles), Wisconsin Plasma Physics Laboratory (University of Wisconsin–Madison), Magnetized Plasma Research Laboratory (Auburn University), DIII-D National Fusion Facility (General Atomics), and the PHASMA device at West Virginia University. Proposals, which will run on a two-year cycle, may request runtime starting in 2026 and should focus on advancing the frontiers of plasma science and engineering, guided by reports such as the NASEM Plasma 2020 Decadal Report (https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/a-decadal-assessment-of-plasma-science) and the DOE FESAC Long Range Planning Report (2021) (https://usfusionandplasmas.org/).

Proposals will be evaluated in an anonymized peer review process based on three main criteria: Intellectual Merit, Technical Approach, and Record of Discussion (ROD) with the facility, which addresses feasibility, resource requirements, and team preparedness. Awards provide experimental runtime and facility support, but not direct funding. Researchers may later apply for funding from agencies such as DOE FES (https://www.energy.gov/science/fes/fusion-energy-sciences), NSF (https://www.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/plasma-physics), or NASA, some of which may require an awarded runtime allocation to qualify.

Each facility offers different runtime opportunities: DIII-D allocations from Fall 2026 in half-day increments; MPRL access to MDPX, ALEXIS, and related platforms; WiPPL use of MST and BRB devices; PHASMA’s two weeks of runtime in 2026; and BaPSF’s LAPD with up to three weeks annually. Applicants are encouraged to engage relevant facility experts during proposal development to ensure feasibility and maximize scientific impact.

Questions and proposals should be sent to Steve Vincena (vincena@physics.ucla.edu). This is a unique opportunity to collaborate with leading experimental teams, leverage world-class plasma facilities, and contribute to cutting-edge research shaping the future of plasma science and engineering.

July 21, 2025

Dear MagNetUS community,

Welcome back for another MagNetUS seminar, this time a two-part series of live coding tutorials to level up your Python! These tutorials will be led by Nick Murphy, in a partnership between MagNetUS and PlasmaPy. 

Zoom link for both sessions: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/92914173920?pwd=Zafbal0m2AxAWk0ezIcEJUOJOY5gde.1

To follow along with either of these tutorials, please follow these instructions to install uv.

Creating your first Python package with uv

Tuesday, July 22 at 2 pm ET

One of the most exciting recent additions to the Python ecosystem is uv: an extremely fast Python package and project manager. In addition to serving as a drop-in replacement for pip, we can use uv to run scripts and create Python packages. This live coding tutorial will introduce how to use uv to create & manage Python projects, ranging from individual scripts to full libraries.

Writing your first software test with pytest

Wednesday, July 23 at 2 pm ET

Software testing is the best thing since sliced arrays. Automated software tests help us determine whether our code is producing the intended results much more quickly and reliably than manual testing. With well-written software tests, we can change code with confidence that we are not unknowingly introducing bugs anywhere else in the program. This live coding tutorial will go through the process of creating an automated software test with pytest — the most frequently used package for testing Python software.

July 1, 2025

MagNetUS Launches Quarterly Newsletter – First Issue Now Available

We’re excited to announce the launch of the MagNetUS Quarterly Newsletter, a new initiative to keep our community informed and connected. Each issue will feature community news, facility highlights, upcoming deadlines, opportunities, and profiles of our members and labs. The first issue (June 2025) includes a recap of the 2025 MagNetUS meeting at WVU, a feature on the new MagNetUS overview paper in JPP, updates on the Joint Call, and the launch of our tutorial webinar series.

You can read the newsletter here: MagNetUS Newsletter #1

We welcome contributions for future issues—please send news, events, or opportunities to orlov@magnetus.net.

June 9, 2025

Dear MagNetUS25 Participants,

Thank you all for attending the MagnetUS25 workshop. I hope you found the sessions valuable and enjoyed the discussions throughout the week.

We’re currently working on summarizing the notes and links from the discussion sessions and will share them with you once they are available.

Looking ahead, the joint call for machine run-time white papers will open soon, with a tentative submission deadline of September 1, 2025. Please stay tuned for the formal announcement and submission details.

Finally, we’ll be seeking volunteers for next year’s MagnetUS—including the role of Workshop Program Chair and other organizing positions. If you’d like to get involved, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the current MagNet excom members.

Thank you again for your participation and contributions. We look forward to staying connected and seeing you next year!

Jia Han
Workshop Program Chair, MagnetUS25

May 23, 2025

MagNetUS is now on YouTube

We’re excited to launch the official MagNetUS YouTube channel, and we invite you to subscribe.

Our first video is now live: a recording of this week’s webinar, “Foundations of Machine Learning for Physicists” by Nat Matthews. Nat delivered a clear and engaging introduction to the topic, and we hope to welcome him back for future talks.

Watch the recording here: https://youtu.be/P7uidiRR_d8

This is just the beginning. Our goal is to host monthly MagNetUS webinars, with all recordings published on our YouTube channel.

Subscribe to the channel to stay updated: https://www.youtube.com/@MagNetUSplasma

February 19, 2025

We are pleased to announce the results of the MagNetUS 2025 Election, which the MagNetUS Executive Committee officially approved at our last monthly meeting. Please join us in congratulating the newly elected leaders who will help guide our community forward:

MagNetUS 2025 Election Results

•    Vice-Chair: Dr. Garima Joshi

•    Chair of Facilities Working Group: Dr. Peiyun Shi

•    Chair of Annual Meeting: Dr. Jia Han

•    Chair of Software Working Group: Dr. Jimmy Juno

A heartfelt thank you to the MagNetUS Nomination Ad-Hoc Committee Members - Noah Hurst, Derek Schaffer, and Carlos Paz-Soldan - for their dedication and efforts in organizing this election.

MagNetUS continues to grow as a vibrant and collaborative community dedicated to advancing magnetized plasma physics. Our research is critically important to understanding fundamental plasma processes and developing applications in fusion energy, space physics, and laboratory plasma experiments. We are excited to continue our collaborative efforts under the leadership of our newly elected officers, fostering innovation, inclusivity, and scientific progress.

Congratulations to our newly elected leaders, and thank you to everyone who participated in the election! We look forward to another exciting year of scientific discovery and collaboration.

Dmitri Orlov

On behalf of the MagNetUS Executive Committee

February 10, 2025

The MagNetUS executive committee, in collaboration with representatives from several facilities studying fundamental plasma science, has published a review article in the Journal of Plasma Physics entitled MagNetUS: a magnetized plasma research ecosystem. It contains information about the motivation for and functions of the MagNetUS organization, as well as details of associated experimental facilities and numerical projects, and a list of projects recently awarded run-time through the Joint Call for facility run-time. It can be used as a resource for prospective facility users to determine the appropriate platform for a project, or to develop ideas for projects.

February 6, 2025

In response to a Presidential Executive Order, the Department of Energy has issued a directive to remove all PIER Plans from consideration for DOE related proposals, including the MagNetUS joint call for runtime proposals. PIER Plans that were originally included in the proposal package will no longer be provided to the review panel for evaluation. In addition, the PIER Plan section will also be removed from the full proposal package that is forwarded to each facility and will not be included in the facilities' final decisions for runtime allocation.

Sincerely,

Joseph Olson

MagNetUS Facilities Coordination Working Group Chair

November 20, 2024

The deadline for submissions to the MagNetUS Joint call for runtime proposals on magnetized plasma facilities has been extended to December 13, 2024.

This extension is to alleviate some of the pressure from the upcoming holiday weekend as well as provide adequate time to complete the required discussions with the facilities. 

Sincerely,

Joseph Olson

MagNetUS Facilities Coordination Working Group Chair

October 7, 2024

The MagNetUS Joint call for runtime proposals on magnetized plasma facilities is now open!

We are pleased to announce an exciting opportunity to explore the frontiers of plasma science using the Basic Plasma Science Facility (University of California Los Angeles), Wisconsin Plasma Physics Laboratory (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Magnetized Plasma Research Laboratory (Auburn University), DIII-D National Fusion Facility (General Atomics), and the PHASMA device at The Center for KINETIC Plasma Physics (West Virginia University). This Joint Call is a service designed to gather peer-review feedback on proposals for collaborative research on the above participating magnetized plasma facilities. This process is designed to be generally applicable to research projects in the area of fundamental magnetized plasma science, and participation is welcome from any research facility relevant to this field.

More details about the facilities, application process, and the necessary document templates can be found in the appropriate section on the Joint Call webpage (https://www.callforruntimeproposals.org), also linked in the menu to the left. Applicants are encouraged to engage relevant experts from the DIII-D, BaPSF, WiPPL, MPRL, and PHASMA programs to assist in developing proposals and carrying out experiments.

Questions regarding this call may be sent to Joseph Olson (joseph.olson@wisc.edu). 

Proposals are due by December 1, 2024.

Sincerely,

Joseph Olson

MagNetUS Facilities Coordination Working Group Chair

December 23, 2023

Save the date: MagNetUS 2024 meeting

Season’s greetings from your friendly, community MagNetUS meeting program committee! While we are busy creating the program (and checking it twice), we wanted to remind you that the 2024 meeting is April 14-18th at Lake Arrowhead, CA. This meeting is much earlier than in previous years, so please mark your calendars accordingly. We look forward to seeing you all. Have a lovely holiday!

Sincerely,

Jason Tenbarge

MagNetUS 2024 Program Committee Chair

November 19, 2023

DOE Collaborative Research Facilities Webinar, November 29, 2023 at 3:00 PM EST

The US Department of Energy (DOE) supports Collaborative Research Facilities (CRFs) which are available to the US and international communities. The CRFs provide plasma sources, diagnostics and computations to enable investigations that support and expand upon what individual researchers can accomplish at their home institutions.

A Webinar will be held to describe the opportunities available at all of the DOE CRFs and the process to submit a proposal to use the facilities. The DOE Webinar is scheduled for November 29, 2023 at 3:00 PM EST. 

Please register in advance for this webinar: https://pppl.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gL1q7nuCQa6KW1w8wvcB7g

Directors of the CRFs:

Prof. Troy Carter, Basic Plasma Science Facility (BaPSF/LAPD), University of California – Los Angeles

Prof. Cary Forest, Wisconsin Plasma Physics Lab. (WiPPL/BRB/MST), Univ. of Wisconsin Madison

Prof. Ed Thomas, Magnetized Plasma Research Laboratory (MPRL/MDPX), Auburn University

Dr. Richard Buttery, DIII-D Frontier Science Campaign, General Atomics

Dr. Yevgeny Raitses, Princeton Collaborative Research Facility (PCRF), Princeton Plasma Physics Lab.

Dr. Shane Sickafoose, Sandia Plasma Research Facility (PRF), Sandia National Laboratory

Dr. Nirmol Podder, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

October 31, 2023

MagNetUS Announces 2023 Election Results and Bylaw Amendments Approval

MagNetUS is excited to announce the results of the 2023 election and the approval of proposed amendments to its bylaws. We extend our gratitude to the 50 members who participated in this year's election, making their voices heard and shaping the future of the organization.

Election Results:

Here are the newly elected officers who will play pivotal roles in MagNetUS:

1. Chair-Elect of the Executive Committee:

   - Dmitri Orlov, University of California San Diego

2. Chair of the Annual Meeting Working Group:

   - Jason TenBarge, Princeton University, PPPL

3. Chair of the Facilities Working Group:

   - Joe Olson, University of Wisconsin - Madison

4. Chair of the User Base Working Group:

   - Mel Abler, Space Science Institute

5. Chair of the Education, Outreach, and Workforce Development Working Group:

   - Saikat Chakraborty Thakur, Auburn University

6. Chair of the Software and Data Management Working Group:

   - Nick Murphy, Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

These elected officers will play key roles in advancing the mission and objectives of MagNetUS in the coming year. Their diverse backgrounds and expertise will contribute to the growth and success of the organization.

Bylaw Amendments Approval:

In addition to the election results, MagNetUS members voted overwhelmingly in favor of proposed amendments to the organization's bylaws. The vote count was 45 in favor and 3 against, with 94% of members supporting the changes.

Details of the approved amendments can be found on the MagNetUS website here. These amendments will help streamline and improve the governance and operations of MagNetUS, ensuring a more effective and responsive organization.

Get Involved:

We invite all MagNetUS members to join us in congratulating the newly elected officers and to consider getting involved in one of the working groups. If you're interested in participating, please reach out to the chair of the specific group you'd like to contribute to. Your active participation can help shape the direction and success of MagNetUS in the field of frontier science.

Stay tuned for more updates and exciting developments from MagNetUS as we continue to push the boundaries of scientific discovery. Thank you for your continued support and involvement in our community.

August 17, 2023

The 2023 MagNetUS Nominations Committee is now soliciting nominations (including self-nominations) of candidates for all working group chairs (Regular Meeting; Facility Advisory; User Base; Outreach, Education and Workforce Development; Software and Data Management) as well as the Chair-Elect. Duties and terms of office for each position (as outlined in the Articles V, VI and VII of the MagNetUS Bylaws) are:

• Chair-Elect: stand in for the Chair if the Chair is unavailable, prepare meeting notes, oversee elections, oversee financial matters. Term is 1 year as Chair Elect, followed by 1 year as Chair, followed by 1 year as Past Chair (3 years total)

• Regular Meeting: Organize the scientific agenda of the Annual Meeting, including convening the Program Committee and communicating with the Local Organizing Committee. Term is 1 year

• Facility Advisory: coordinate communication across facilities, including managing the annual joint solicitation of proposals for runtime and overseeing hardware development for the organization. Term is 1 year (only for this election, 2 years in all future elections)

• User Base: manage new user/collaborator onboarding, development of a broad and diverse group of users/collaborators, and advocate for user/collaborator/participant needs. Term is 2 years

• Outreach, Education, and Workforce Development: coordinate outreach and educational programs, including internships and possible summer/winter schools. Term is 2 years

• Software and Data Management: support development of computational resources around MagNetUS facilities, establish consistent metadata standards across facilities, and promote cross-device modeling. Term is 1 year (only for this election, 2 years in all future elections)

The nomination committee aims to generate a broad and diverse slate of candidates and nominations (including self-nominations) of early-career members and members from traditionally under-represented groups are encouraged.

Please submit your nomination (including the name and email address of the person being nominated) to the Nomination Committee Chair, Saikat Chakraborty Thakur, at szc0199@auburn.edu, no later than Friday, August 25th, 2023.

Nominees will then be contacted to confirm their willingness to serve if elected and to provide a candidate statement.

Cheers,

MagNetUS 2023 Nominations Committee
Mel Abler
Alexander Batty
Jeremiah Williams
Saikat Chakraborty Thakur

June 12, 2023

The third annual MagNetUS meeting starts today hosted at Auburn University. For more info, see the meeting site: https://sites.google.com/view/magnetus2023/home?authuser=0