In This Issue:

Galileo, Science and Art: New Discoveries

Building a Diverse Faculty at SEAS

2020 Vision for SEAS

The Decade by the Numbers

Fusion Energy, Soon?

Nobel Laureate in Economics Speaks on War and Peace

MechE goes Nano

Faculty Notes

Engineers Without Borders in Ghana

Students Choose Careers

Students Thank Alumni

Sun Day on Thursday

Class Notes

In Memoriam

Reunion

Marconi Society

Con Edison Lecture:
ITER for Fusion Energy

The elusive power source of fusion energy is becoming more possible with the scheduled construction of an experimental facility by seven international partners [China, Europe, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the U.S] that comprise the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) Project slated for Cadarache, France. Gerald A. Navratil, Thomas Alva Edison Professor of Applied Physics, internationally recognized for his work in plasma physics as it relates to fusion energy, summarized the history of the search for fusion energy and the prospects for its future production when he delivered the 2006 Con Edison Lecture.

Shown, left to right, Chris Olert, Assistant Director, Media Relations, Con Edison; Professor Gerald A. Navratil, Thomas Alva Edison Professor of Applied Physics and 2006 Con Edison Lecturer, and John C. Isecke, Chief Engineer, Equipment and Field Engineering, Con Edison.

The ITER project began as a joint US/USSR Cold War project in the 1980s era of detente and, said Prof. Navratil, "will achieve the first sustained fusion power production on earth," when it begins operation in 2016. This new fusion reactor in France will be for fusion as significant as Fermi's self-sustained fission chain reaction in uranium at the University of Chicago was for fission power plants. The results from ITER are expected to establish the scientific & technical basis for a practical fusion demonstration power plant that could be operating about 2035.

Prof. Navratil directs $1.6 million in fusion energy research annually, including work at Columbia's Plasma Physics Laboratory, the DIII-D National Tokamak Facility in San Diego, and the NSTX Experiment at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. He is president of the University Fusion Association and has been a member of the U.S. Department of Energy Fusion Energy Advisory Committee. Professor Navratil received the B.S. in physics from California Institute of Technology and Ph.D., in plasma physics from the University of Wisconsin. He joined the Mechanical Engineering Department in 1977 and, in 1978, became a founding member of what is now the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics.