Fusion Research Symposium: Optimizing Symmetry in Fusion Plasmas

Josefine Henriette Elise Proll

Associate professor at Eindhoven University of Technology and Group leader at the Max Planck IPP

Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics

Josefine Proll leads the Stellarator Transport Modelling group at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, Germany, and is a part-time associate professor at Eindhoven University of Technology. Her research explores how magnetic field design can reduce turbulence and improve confinement in stellarators, advancing their potential as fusion power plants. She combines theory and numerical simulations with collaboration with the Wendelstein 7-X experiment. A former fellow of the Max Planck–Princeton Center for Plasma Physics, she joined Eindhoven’s faculty in 2017 before taking up her current group leadership role at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in 2024.

Tim Happel

Director at Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics / Professor at Technical University of Munich

Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics / Technical University of Munich

David Spergel

President

Simons Foundation

David Spergel is an astrophysicist and philanthropic leader. Since July 2021, he has served as president of the Simons Foundation, leading the foundation in its mission to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences. In his decades-long career, Spergel has helmed major astrophysics research projects and advocated for government investment in science. Before becoming Simons Foundation president, he chaired the astrophysics department at Princeton University and was the founding director of the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute. Spergel has been the primary mentor for more than 100 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Many of his mentees are now academic leaders.

Spergel’s work has been recognized with a MacArthur Fellowship, the Shaw Prize, the Breakthrough Prize, and memberships in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. 

Najat Mokhtar

Deputy Director General and Head of the IAEA’s Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications

International Atomic Energy Agency

Dr. Najat Mokhtar is Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Trained as a biologist, she holds doctorates in Nutrition and Endocrinology from Université Laval and University of Dijon, and completed postdoctoral training as a Fulbright Fellow at Johns Hopkins University. Following a distinguished career in research and higher education in Morocco, she joined the IAEA, where she leads the Departments that spans programmes in nuclear science across human health, nutrition, food and agriculture, the environment and fusion.

David Allen Gates

Co-Founder and CTO

Thea Energy, Inc.

Department of PPPL. He also was a Senior Research Scholar at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. David led collaborations with Wendelstein 7-X in Germany and LHD in Japan. David did his BS (Physics and Mathematics) at the University of Wisconsin and did his Masters and Ph.D. in Applied Physics at Columbia University. He worked at Culham Laboratory in Oxfordshire, England from 1993-1997. David was a visiting professor at NIFS in 2010 and 2011. He became a Fellow of the APS in 2013.

Ellen Smeele

Chief of Staff

Proxima Fusion

As Chief of Staff at Proxima Fusion, building stellarators to power human ambition with clean energy. Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), the most advanced stellarator in the world, is showing the clearest and most robust path to fusion energy and Proxima is turning that breakthrough into commercial fusion power plants. My career has taken me from financing massive wind farms and investing in energy-tech startups to a memorable stint at a Rwandan mushroom startup.

Thomas Klinger

Director and Professor

Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics

Thomas Klinger studied physics at the Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel and obtained his PhD in 1994 with a thesis on non-linear plasma dynamics. His expertise is plasma turbulence and nonlinear dynamics in plasmas. In 1998 he was appointed as Professor at the University of Greifswald and in April 2001 he became Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics. Since 2005 he leads the large superconducting stellarator project “Wendelstein 7-X”

Angela Olinto

Provost

Columbia University

Angela V. Olinto is Provost of Columbia University and the Rutherfurd Professor of Astronomy and Professor of Physics. As Provost, Olinto is Columbia’s chief academic officer, and works to advance the academic distinction, intellectual richness, creativity, and integrity of the many facets of Columbia University. She supports the President in the development and implementation of the University’s strategic academic priorities, and leads the deans and faculty in their pursuit of research and teaching excellence.

Thomas Pedersen

Chief Technical Officer

Type One Energy

Phil Snyder

VP of Plasma Physics

Commonwealth Fusion Systems

Philip Snyder serves as Vice President of Plasma Physics at Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), leading a world class team of physicists at the world’s largest fusion company.   He previously served as Program Director for Fusion Energy Research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and as Director of Theory & Computational Science at General Atomics.    Snyder’s research has focused on electromagnetic plasma turbulence, along with the stability and dynamics of the edge region of magnetic fusion plasmas, particularly the physics of the edge transport barrier (“pedestal”) and edge localized modes (ELMs). He played a key role in the development of the peeling-ballooning model of ELMs, and later developed a predictive model of the pedestal structure (EPED).  Snyder predicted the existence of a high fusion performance regime known as Super H-Mode, and engaged in record-breaking experiments to discover and explore it.   Snyder received his BS in computational physics from Yale University and a PhD in plasma physics from Princeton University.  He is an APS Fellow, and has been recognized by the Rosenbluth Award for Fusion Theory (2004), the APS Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research (2013), the IAEA Nuclear Fusion Prize (2014), and ORNL Corporate Fellowship (2022).  He has engaged in numerous fusion community planning activities including serving as a member of the National Academies Committees on a Strategic Plan for U.S. Burning Plasma Research (2017-19) and Key Goals and Innovations Needed for a U.S. Pilot Plant (2020-21).