We are now accepting applications for all of our 2009 programs. Undergraduates are invited to apply for either a National Undergraduate Fellowship or a Summer Undergraduate Laboratory Internship. High School Students are invited to apply to our Summer Internship Program. High School and Middle School teachers are eligible for our Plasma Camp professional development workshop. Registration for our Young Women's Conference is also available. Further information and eligibility requirements are available by following the "Programs" link above.

The 25th annual Science-on-Saturday program -- a series of eight talks on topics ranging from microplasmas to contact lens care -- is scheduled for Jan. 10 through March 14.The talks begin at 9:30 a.m. on designated Saturdays and usually run about two hours. The program is geared toward high school students, but all campus and local community members are invited to attend the free lectures in the Gottlieb Auditorium on the Forrestal Campus. A link to the schedule and brochure can be found here.

At the American Physical Society's Division of Plasma Physics conference in Dallas, TX, six awards were given to students for "Outstanding Undergraduate Poster." Four of the students were participants in the National Undergraduate Fellowship Program (NUF), one was a Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) student, and one did his research at PPPL.
They were:

• NUF
  • Adam Jacobs, Hendrix College
  • James Schroeder, Wheaton College
  • Nikolas Logan, Brown University
  • Jens vond der Linden, University of PENN
• SULI
  • Brendan Lyons, Princeton University
• OTHER
  • David Liu, Rutgers University

Rachel Sherman (left) and Mike Hvasta (right).

Four students from The College of New Jersey who are collaborating with PPPL took their Dusty Plasma Experiment (DPX) on a special zero gravity flight in June. Team DPX went to NASA's Microgravity University in Houston to carry out, "Using Fluorescent Dust to Obtain a Three-Dimensional Analysis of a Dusty Plasma," in a weightless environment aboard a DC-9 plane affectionately known as the "Vomit Comet." Team DPX includes Brandon Bentzley, leader Mike Hvasta, Justin Nieusma, and Rachel Sherman. PPPL Science Education Program Head Andrew Zwicker is one of the team's advisors. The DOE Office of Science-Fusion Energy Sciences provided some funding. For mroe information go to the team's personal website here.