The Max-Planck-Institute is the host of the IPP Summer University for Plasma Physics and Fusion Research in Garching. FuseNet funds educational activities and has supported George-Cristian Potrivitu, Raheesty Devi Nem, Carlo Poggi, Giulio Gambetta, Emanuele Di Palma, Giulio Rubino and Andrea Dal Molin to enable them to join the summer university.
2015 IPP Summer University Group
'Lectures were given on plasma physics and nuclear fusion and we were able to discuss with the lecturers, who were specialists in their field', explains Raheesty. 'Also, the safety and environmental aspects of fusion and ITER, which are not always covered during the lectures at my university, were fully described and explained.' Emanuele and Giulio Gambetta agree, but also stress that 'it were not only the lectures that made it worthwhile, the discussions during the coffee breaks with the participants from all over the world were very fruitful as well.'
Raheesty Devi Nem Emanuele Di Palma Giulio Gambetta
During the summer university the students also had the chance to visit the tokamak ASDEX Upgrade and were treated with a visit to the Deutsches Museum. Since the IPP laboratory is situated near Munich, the students spend most of their spare time discovering the city and its surroundings. Carlo: 'We always ended our days talking and cheering with mugs full of great German beer (just for the sake of science, of course).'
Carlo Poggi George-Cristian Potrivitu Andrea Dal Molin Giulio Rubino
Unanimously, the students agreed that the summer university enhanced their motivation to pursue a career in Nuclear Fusion and Giulio Rubino recommends all students to take part in this exciting experience. Andrea told us that meeting different people from all over the world made him realize 'how fusion is indeed a multigenerational and international effort'. Adding to this, George even stated: 'I got to know many extraordinary well prepared young professionals from all over Europe, full of devotion and passion for fusion and plasma physics research. Those young people are a strong source of inspiration for me and they gave me, for sure,another important quantity of “fuel” that will help follow my dreams.'
3D printed models of tokamak and stellarator plasmas (to scale) to get a feeling for Fusion
To read more about the experiences of the students, please check the following links: