Jerry has worked in experimental physics on magnetic fusion devices since the late 1990’s, specifically focusing on accessing and sustaining high edge pedestals in tokamaks. For over a decade, he led the Pedestal Physics topical research area on Alcator C-Mod. During this time, C-Mod was instrumental in documenting and understanding the influence of high magnetic fields on the access the high confinement regimes, governed by changes in plasma transport and MHD stability, in the edge pedestal region. Access to high performance regimes without destructive edge instabilities was greatly expanded during this period, helping to pave the way for developing the means to operate future burning plasma devices at high field.
Today Jerry continues to lead Pedestal Physics research for the Magnetic Fusion Energy group at the PSFC, identifying exciting research opportunities for students and postdocs through our collaborations. A major host facility for our MFE research is the DIII-D tokamak in San Diego, CA. Key research areas for our Pedestal team include edge transport regimes which offer good energy confinement but lack destructive instabilities, the processes of fueling plasma through a particle transport barrier, and the feedback between core and edge physics in setting tokamak parameters.