BPA NEWS Board on Physics and Astronomy • the National Academies • Washington, D.C
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
BPA NEWS Board on Physics and Astronomy • The National Academies • Washington, D.C. • 202-334-3520 • national-academies.org/bpa • Winter 2005-2006 Plasma 2010: An Assessment of and Outlook for Plasma Science n assessment of plasma science in vanced understanding, scientists are opportunities well to policy makers and the United States is being con- poised to address key questions in the scientists in other fields: Aducted as part of the decadal areas of plasma turbulence and self- 1. Assess the progress and achieve- assessment and outlook Physics 2010. organization, plasma dynamics with ments of plasma science over the past Since publication of the previous asymmetric magnetic fields, extreme decade. decadal study of this area in 1995, the and unusual plasma states, and nonlin- 2. Identify the new opportunities and field has undergone rapid advances and ear plasma interactions with intense the compelling science questions for significant changes—ranging from a electromagnetic fields. One of the areas plasma science, frame the outlook for refocused mission of the DOE fusion of greatest promise is the effort to the future, and place the field in the science program to new plasma pro- achieve sustainable fusion power; this context of physics as a whole. cessing technologies arriving in the goal cannot be realized without an 3. Evaluate the opportunities and commercial marketplace to significant integrated approach to the science and challenges for the applications of plasma advances in understanding how to technology challenges. science to fusion and other fields. confine plasmas. A new field called With support from DOE, NSF, and 4. Offer guidance to the government high-energy-density physics has been NASA, the National Research Council research programs and the scientific defined that foretells new connections formed a committee with broad exper- communities aimed at addressing these between astrophysical phenomena and tise in plasma science and neighboring challenges and realizing these opportu- laboratory experiments. It is timely and areas. The Plasma 2010 Committee will nities. important to identify the compelling address the following tasks in a report The committee met for the first time science opportunities in plasma science that will communicate the scientific on September 30-October 1, 2005, in and to frame a strategy for realizing See “Plasma 2010” on page 10 them. Also, recommendations from the last decadal study have been imple- mented by the agencies and an assess- Innovation and U.S. Competitiveness ment to provide feedback is now appro- Natalia J. Melcer, NRC Staff implement each of those actions? priate. To answer these questions, the Na- Previous NRC studies played an n October 12, 2005, the National tional Academies convened a committee important role in defining the fields of Academies released a report of 20 members consisting of CEOs, uni- plasma and fusion science and identified focused on a comprehensive, versity presidents, Nobel prize winners, research opportunities at the frontier. O coordinated federal effort to bolster U.S. and former presidential appointees. In On the basis of new insights and ad- competitiveness and preeminence in science only 10 weeks, the committee collected and technology. The report, titled Rising data and information, heard from experts, Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and and prepared a lengthy report on the Employing America for a Brighter Economic topic. The recommendations from 13 In this issue: Future, was requested by Senators Lamar issue papers related to the present study • Plasma 2010. Page 1 Alexander (R-TN) and Jeff Bingaman (D- were collected in advance of the first and NM) of the Senate Energy and Natural only meeting to review the work of others. • Innovation. Page 1 Resources Committee, with endorsement by At that meeting, the committee held five Representatives Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) focus groups in K-12 education, higher • Highlights of the Autumn and Bart Gordon (D-TN) of the House education, research, innovation and BPA Meeting. Page 2 Science Committee. The senators requested workforce issues, and national and home- answers to the following: What are the top land security. The contributions of more • AMO 2010. Page 5 10 action items, in priority order, that federal than 60 experts at the focus group ses- policy makers could take to enhance the sions were combined with the literature • Radio Frequencies. Page 7 science and technology enterprise so that and committee interviews to afford more the United States can successfully compete, than 150 recommendations and imple- • NSF Materials Research prosper, and be secure in the global com- mentation steps. However, following its Centers. Page 9 munity of the 21st century? What strategy, own discussions, each focus group identi- with several concrete steps, could be used to See “Innovation” on page 6 2 BPA News • Winter 2005-2006 Board on Highlights of the Fall Meeting of the Board on Physics and Astronomy Physics and Astronomy Burton Richter, Chair Stanford University he Board on Physics and As- meeting, the Board met in three separate tronomy met for its annual autumn groups to address these different areas. Anneila I. Sargent, Vice Chair California Institute of Technology Tmeeting on November 6-7, 2005, at Reconvening as a group, the Board Elihu Abrahams the Beckman Center of the National heard a presentation from Michael S. Rutgers University Academies in Irvine, California. Calling Turner, Assistant Director for Math- Jonathan Bagger the meeting to order, chair Burton Richter ematical and Physical Sciences at NSF. The Johns Hopkins University thanked everyone for making the trip; he Dr. Turner described the broader Ronald C. Davidson then provided some perspectives on the landscape surrounding physics and Princeton University meeting agenda. Organized around a set astronomy and commented on the Raymond J. Fonck of three working groups, this Board meet- impact of the physical sciences during University of Wisconsin at Madison ing would focus on developing new strate- the 20th century. Commenting that Andrea M. Ghez gic thrusts for the Board as well as identi- “the 20th century is a hard act to fol- University of California at Los Angeles fying important connections to other low,” he shared his personal articualtion Peter Green activities within the National Research of bold dreams for science in the next University of Michigan Council. century. His list included topics ranging Laura H. Greene Before breaking out into the three from providing sustainable energy to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign groups, the Board discussed its current power our planet to reconciling quan- Wick Haxton portfolio of activities. tum theory and general relativity to University of Washington C. Megan Urry, co-chair of the Com- revealing new mysteries of the quantum Frances Hellman mittee on Astronomy and Astrophysics, world and new states of matter. He University of California at Berkeley led a preliminary discussion on the out- then characterized some of the ob- Erich P. Ippen Massachusetts Institute of Technology look for astronomy and astrophysics. She stacles that science will likely face, described the growing challenge of sup- including the need for priority-setting Marc A. Kastner Massachusetts Institute of Technology porting large-facility operations at the and global coordination in an increas- Christopher F. McKee National Science Foundation’s Astronomy ingly interconnected world. University of California at Berkeley Division. Because maintaining and oper- On the second day of the meeting, the Jose Onuchic ating the current suite of capital invest- three working groups reported back to University of California at San Diego ments occupies nearly 80 percent of the the full Board, followed by an extended Julia M. Phillips division’s budget, it is difficult to identify discussion. Sandia National Laboratories resources to exploit cutting-edge opportu- Meg Urry summarized the discussions William Phillips nities. NASA is still developing a new of the astronomy breakout session. In National Institute of Standards and Technology strategic approach to astronomy and terms of the NSF’s role in supporting the Thomas N. Theis astrophysics, she said, and therefore it was field, the group discussed the in-progress IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center difficult to predict what level of resources senior review and the process by which C. Megan Urry could be carried forward. large research facilities are identified, Yale University Jonathan Bagger presented some prioritized, and proposed for construc- BPA Staff preliminary remarks about the physics tion in NSF’s Major Research Equipment Donald C. Shapero, Director side of the Board’s portfolio. He noted and Facilities Construction Account. In Van An, Financial Associate that while the Board’s decadal survey of thinking about NASA, the group consid- Brian D. Dewhurst, Senior Program Associate David B. Lang, Research Assistant physics (Physics 2010) was well under way, ered the existing advice on relative science Pamela Lewis, Program Associate there were a number of important issues priorities and implementation strategies. Phillip D. Long, Senior Program Assistant to consider, such as interdisciplinary As science demands larger and more Natalia J. Melcer, Program Officer Timothy I. Meyer, Senior Program Officer research, international benchmarking, a complex facilities to explore the frontiers, Robert L. Riemer, Senior Program Officer holistic view of physics,