About MagNetUS

The MagNetUS program committee is pleased to announce the inaugural MagNetUS meeting this summer, August 2-4, 2021, in a hybrid format with virtual sessions and a restricted size in-person meeting at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. MagNetUS is a community-based organization of researchers and institutions studying magnetized plasmas on a group of small to midscale, primarily university-based experimental facilities. This first meeting is an opportunity for this community to gather and share research highlights, discuss collaborative possibilities, and shape future coordination and development of the field.

The meeting will be primarily scientific in scope, and will highlight frontier research conducted in facilities studying broad questions in basic plasma science in magnetized plasmas such as that found on experiments at BaPSF, WiPPL, MPRL, and the Frontier experiments on DIII-D, as well as on planned new facilities (such as FLARE) and other university or college-affiliated laboratories. The meeting will include opportunities for community input and discussion with the aims of encouraging increased and expanded collaboration among institutions; building the user base for these plasma facilities through connections to the space, astrophysical and fusion communities; and soliciting feedback on the formation of this new community-focused network on magnetized plasma research.

The organization has been in development for a number of years, but momentum for this initiative has increased substantially with the recent release of the Plasma 2020 decadal survey, the FESAC Long Range Planning Report, and the Community Plan for Fusion Energy and Discovery Plasma Sciences, (see Motivation page) as well as the early success that LaserNetUS has achieved for the high energy density plasma community. The higher level goals of MagNetUS are to allow for streamlined coordination among existing collaborative research facilities and university-based experiments; include Frontier Center-like synergy amongst experimental, theoretical, and computational efforts along scientific themes; increasing visibility of the research in this community; and providing a foundation for student education, workforce development, and public outreach.

Over the next few weeks, the MagNetUS program committee will be inviting members of the community to provide presentations for this workshop. The program committee strives to generate a broad and diverse slate of speakers. Though there is not a formal presentation solicitation, please indicate your interest to present by emailing the program committee at magnetusworkshop@gmail.com.

As we are still emerging from COVID restrictions, a limited size group will be able to attend the workshop in person at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, hosted by WiPPL and BaPSF. However, the presentations and subsequent discussions will be made open and inclusive through virtual synchronous and asynchronous means. Announcements regarding the free registration to this workshop and meeting agenda will be forthcoming.

Please feel free to spread the word to colleagues, and especially graduate students and postdocs!