Computational and theoretical plasma physics with the focus on high-intensity laser-plasma interactions, high energy density physics, and kinetic plasma phenomena; Numerical algorithms for kinetic plasma simulations.

High-energy-density physics for applications in inertial confinement fusion and laboratory astrophysics,  including warm dense matter generation and characterization, magnetized plasmas and magnetized laser implosions, shocks, particle acceleration and transport, proton heating, and electron/ion fast ignition. 

Plasma materials interaction research on numerous candidate materials considered for the nuclear fusion plasma material boundary; ITER environment

Diagnostic development for plasmas; plasma drifts; intermittent plasma transport in the peripheral region of tokamaks; investigates the physics of intrinsic rotation in tokamaks and the realization that asymmetric, thermal ion loss is a significant mechanism on determining a source of rotation at the edge of the plasma that then is transported into the core

Research in pulsed power-driven plasmas, including the development of Magnetic Drive Inertial Fusion Energy (MD-IFE) based on magnetized liner inertial fusion schemes and compact pulsed power technology.

Exploiting the fundamental heat transfer science and engineering at the micro and nano scale; developing materials and devices for thermal energy transport, conversion, storage and management, including applications for high temperatures and high heat flux

Theoretical plasma physics; plasma and fluid turbulence, transport, magnetic confinement physics, dynamo theory, and plasma astrophysics

Turbulent transport in tokamaks; predictive modeling and design tools needed for development of economically attractive fusion energy power plants; verification and validation studies of plasma turbulence using both massively parallel gyrokinetic codes and reduced gyrofluid models

Magnetic fusion energy research, with a primary focus on tokamak disruptions and their mitigation, especially runaway electron formation, amplification, and loss to the tokamak wall. Secondary interests include novel first wall material development, diagnostic development, and plasma-materials interactions. 

Plasma turbulence and transport; atomic physics in plasmas; plasma-material interactions and the physics of materials of plasma facing components in fusion devices; laser-plasma interactions and generation of intense relativistic electron beams; gas discharge physics and plasma chemistry.

High performance computing (HPC); computational science; cyberinfrastructure software and services; Fusion Data Platform (FDP) development with reactor-relevant AI/ML workflows; AI-focused supercomputing

Magnetically controlled nuclear fusion; plasma turbulence; advanced modeling tools for data analysis; development of diagnostic systems

Control of the edge instabilities in high-confinement regimes in present-day tokamaks and future burning plasma devices; transport in the core and edge of tokamaks under 3D non-axisymmetric perturbation fields; heat and particle transport to the divertor surfaces; ablation of plasma-facing materials under extreme heat fluxes and dynamics of PCF slag; plasma control with AI/ML.

Fundamental studies of plasma-material interactions in burning plasma conditions. Development of radiation-damage resistant materials for controlled fusion. Basic and applied plasma physics; fundamental physics of turbulent transport in hot confined plasmas using both smaller scaled laboratory plasma devices as well as large scale fusion experiments. 

High-throughput Discovery and Experimental Validation of Metallic Alloys across many application fields; Fabrication and Experimental Validation of Ceramic materials, specifically High-Entropy Ceramics, such as Carbides, Borides, Nitrides, Oxides, and many others.

Distributed systems; data infrastructure; cyberinfrastructure

Machine Learning, Physics-Guided Deep Learning, AI for Science