A seminar by Laura Berzak Hopkins
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In real time, the fusion community is shaping, defining, and enabling the next chapter for research that will bring fusion energy to the grid. This chapter builds upon decades of knowledge generation that has culminated in generational experimental achievements – at NIF, JET, EAST, and WEST. These achievements are predicated on high-fidelity simulation tools that capture unprecedented depth of theoretical understanding through algorithms that leverage the world’s fastest supercomputers. And now, the fusion community is beginning to leverage AI to accelerate what comes next. Considering AI as “augmented intelligence”, researchers are testing and implementing AI toolsets throughout the fusion ecosystem – code surrogates, device digital twin development, and device performance real-time control and optimization. These toolsets are evolving and maturing with the potential to be key enablers for a fusion pilot plant. With AI emerging as a central character, the fusion community is equipped to write a next, definitive chapter, realizing the promise of fusion on the grid.
Dr. Laura Berzak Hopkins is a plasma physicist and the Associate Laboratory Director for Strategy and Partnerships and Deputy Chief Research Officer for the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), a US Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory. At PPPL, Laura focuses on long-range strategic planning for future laboratory capabilities, striving to leverage institutional legacy while responding to the broadening mission space of plasma science.
Prior to joining PPPL in 2024, Laura was an Associate Program Director at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), a US DOE National Nuclear Security Administration national laboratory. While at Livermore, she led multi-disciplinary research teams pursuing efforts to build integrated modeling, simulation, and experimental platforms. Laura was also a design physicist within the inertial confinement fusion program and in this role developed laser-target concepts that became the foundation for the ignition design at the National Ignition Facility. She has served as a scientific advisor in the US Congress and has pursued policy research efforts focused on arms control and non-proliferation issues. Laura is a fellow of the American Physical Society, holds a doctorate degree in Plasma Physics from Princeton University, and undergraduate degrees in Physics and Chemistry from Dartmouth College.
