Colloquium Schedule

Spring 2025

The Physics of Sand: How Granular Materials Creep, Jam, and Shear

Cacey Bester, Swarthmore College
Friday, February 21, at 12:45

Examples of granular materials exist in abundance, from rice and cereal to sand and rocks. These particulate systems seem simple; they consist of dry, rigid grains that interact by contact force. However, granular materials present many questions to address, such as how force distributes heterogeneously among grains and how flow behavior can readily change between solid-like and fluid-like. Our experimental lab uses an imaging technique to probe this behavior of granular materials at the scale of a single grain. In this talk, I will describe the use of this technique and our experiments to better understand the fundamental physics of granular materials.

The National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade – Advancing the Physics of Fusion Energy

Manjit Kaur, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Friday, February 7, at 12:45

Controlled nuclear fusion holds the promise of supplying nearly limitless energy to satisfy mankind’s electricity needs. At the heart of a nuclear fusion reactor occurs the same process that powers our Sun. In this talk, I will provide a simplified overview of several decades of nuclear fusion research in the United States, highlighting the significant advancements in plasma physics which are crucial for achieving controlled nuclear fusion. I will mention the unique capabilities of the upcoming National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade (NSTX-U) at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and discuss how those capabilities make NSTX-U a unique testbed for next generation science and technology related fusion research.