11 November 2005 (To download a print-quality photo file of Dr. Phillips, go to the end of this article.)

PPPL's Phillips Receives American Physical Society Honors

Plainsboro, New Jersey — Cynthia Phillips, a scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), has been named a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). Phillips received the lifetime appointment in recognition of "her theoretical and experimental contributions to the understanding of radio frequency wave-particle interactions in fusion plasmas." Plasma is a hot, ionized gas used as the fuel for the production of fusion energy. In fusion experiments, radio waves are used to heat and drive current in the plasma. Researchers choose waves with characteristics for interacting with the ions or electrons in the plasma that cause the ions or electrons to move faster and thereby raise the temperature. APS officials made the announcement about Phillips during the society's Division of Plasma Physics annual meeting in Denver last month. The APS rules limit the maximum number of Fellows selected each year to be no more than half of one percent of the Division membership. Phillips is the Head of the Wave-Plasma Interactions Science Focus Group at PPPL and is a lecturer with the rank of professor at Princeton University's Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Program in Plasma Physics. She joined PPPL's research staff in 1983 after receiving a B.S. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1976 and an M.A. in 1977 and a Ph.D. in 1982 in physics, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For more than two decades her research has focused on radio-wave propagation in plasmas, doing research on the National Spherical Torus Experiment at PPPL, a collaboration at MIT, and the Department of Energy's multi-disciplinary program in advanced scientific computing applications, Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC). Phillips is a resident of Princeton Township. PPPL, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and managed by Princeton University, is a collaborative national center for science and innovation leading to an attractive fusion energy source. Fusion is the process that powers the sun and the stars. In the interior of stars, matter is converted into energy by the fusion, or joining, of the nuclei of light atoms to form heavier elements. End For further information, please contact: Anthony R. DeMeo Head, Information Services Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (609) 243-2755 ademeo@pppl.gov Patricia Wieser Information Services Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (609) 243-2757 pwieser@pppl.gov Downloadable print-quality photo of: Dr. Cynthia Phillips Resolution is 300 dpi, print size is approximately 4 inches wide by 4.8 inches high, file type is jpeg, and file size is 868 KB. Photo by Elle Starkman.

PPPL is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and managed by Princeton University.

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Created: 19 October 2005 Send questions or comments to: Anthony R. DeMeo at ademeo@pppl.gov