About the Institute
The Institute for Fusion Studies (IFS) is a national center for plasma physics and fusion energy science based at the University of Texas at Austin. Fusion is the reaction that powers our sun and other stars. It promises a nearly limitless source of energy that is safe and environmentally benign. There is no doubt that harnessing nuclear fusion for energy production will have tremendous economic and social consequences worldwide. The mission of the Institute emphasizes scientific discovery and innovation of direct impact to fusion, performing fundamental research of originality and rigor, and exchanging scientific developments with other academic fields. The overarching objectives of the IFS are to conduct research on plasma phenomena of direct relevance to fusion; to serve as a center for fusion science exchange activities; to engage with the private sector and DOE national laboratories; to contribute to the fusion workforce expansion by training students and postdoctoral scientists; and to advance our understanding of fundamental plasma physics, space plasmas, and astrophysics.
The IFS is fully engaged in building bridges with industry and developing partnerships to accelerate the science needed to realize fusion and mitigate risks to commercial fusion. The IFS participates in the “Advanced Profile Prediction for Fusion Pilot Plant Design” DOE FIRE collaborative focused on high-fidelity whole-device predictions of density, temperature and impurity profiles for fusion power plants, including gyrokinetic turbulence and plasma-wall interactions via high-performance computing and AI/ML techniques. The IFS is also a member of the “Mitigating Risks from Abrupt Confinement Loss” FIRE collaborative with the goal of creating advanced simulation and engineering workflows to quantify potential damage due to the abrupt loss of plasma confinement and partner with industry to develop solutions for mitigating these risks. To harness the exponential growth of AI/ML technology, the IFS is contributing to the development and implementation of AI/ML tools in fusion research. Beyond fusion, the IFS is also engaged in research on fundamental plasma physics, space plasmas, and astrophysics.
Towards the fulfillment of the above objectives, the IFS carries out a comprehensive research program on turbulence and transport, energetic particles, magnetohydrodynamics, computational physics, experimental plasma physics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, theoretical plasma physics, space plasmas and astrophysics.
