UC San Diego is a great place to earn an advanced degree that prepares you for a career in fusion science and engineering. UC San Diego is also a great place for undergraduates to get research experience that opens doors to advanced degrees.
Faculty across UC San Diego are working on some of the most difficult and most important problems that must be solved in order to make fusion energy a practical reality. These professors lead experimental and theoretical research labs that cover a wide range of subject areas within engineering, computer science, materials science, artificial intelligence and data science. Together, these teams form a dynamic community of innovators working to solve many exciting fusion engineering challenges that stand in the way of practical rollout of fusion energy technologies.
Graduate Education Opportunities
If you are interested in working on fusion energy research as part of your graduate school experience, please apply to our graduate programs. We are looking for motivated students who are interested in getting involved in some of the most important challenges in fusion engineering research.
In fact, UC San Diego offers a variety of graduate degrees that can serve as powerful pathways to a career in fusion engineering.
Below are links to UC San Diego graduate programs that include faculty who offer students world-class opportunities to prepare for a career in fusion engineering.
In addition, interested PhD and Masters students, please consider reaching out directly to fusion engineering faculty. We have faculty from many different disciplines working on exciting research in areas relevant for fusion engineering.
Mechanical Engineering
Graduate Admissions Information / Masters / PhD
Materials Science
Graduate Admissions Information / Masters / PhD
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Graduate Admissions Information / Masters / PhD
Computer Science and Engineering
Graduate Admissions Information / Masters and PhD programs
Continuing Education
The Institute plans to offer seminars, short courses and summer schools for industry partners and for the larger fusion engineering community that is interested in addressing critical fusion engineering challenges.
Undergraduates
Our goal is to provide research experiences in fusion-related labs to as many undergraduate students at UC San Diego as possible. Providing positive real-world experiences enhances the undergraduate experience. These kinds of learning opportunities are important for increasing the overall numbers and breadth of academic backgrounds of undergraduate students who are interested in graduate degrees – and later on, careers – focused on fusion-engineering challenges. This is the fusion engineering workforce that is needed for building and operating fusion power plants and other fusion energy infrastructure.
To drive undergraduate interest in engineering fusion careers, the Institute leverages a series of successful undergraduate research, outreach, mentorship, and student success programs.