Resource: Plasma Lab Outreach, MIT, Mass.
PSFC Tours
The MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) is dedicated to teaching science through direct experience, whether it is addressing students, political representatives or the general public. To illustrate scientific and engineering principles, graduate students at the Center have helped create hands-on educational tools, including a plasma demonstration device and an interactive tokamak video game. Through such demonstrations and tours of working experiments, MIT students and staff share the excitement of plasma research.
Tours of the PSFC are recommended for students in middle school or high school, and typically include an overview about plasma and fusion, as well as a tour of MIT’s fusion experiment, the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. For a quick video overview and tour of Alcator C-Mod, click here. Other plasma experiments may be toured, depending on time and availability.
- Two weeks advance notice required
- Tours last 60 – 90 minutes
- Ideal tour size is 20 people or fewer. Larger tours are possible, but may require more time to plan.
Contact: Paul Rivenberg, rivenberg@psfc.mit.edu
High School and Middle School Outreach Days
Twice a year the PSFC reaches out to High Schools or Middle Schools around Massachusetts, inviting one teacher and two students to a spend a day at the Center. Through tours, talks and demonstrations, attendees learn about plasmas, their behavior, and their role in harnessing fusion energy. Students will have the opportunity to see how plasmas are confined, to perform hands-on demonstrations with electromagnetism, and to review the progress of MIT’s Alcator C-MOD tokamak, one of two working U.S. magnetic fusion devices currently funded by the Department of Energy. Other experiments may also be available for viewing.
Contact: Paul Rivenberg, rivenberg@psfc.mit.edu
Please visit the PSFC Website Outreach page for more information.
Filed under: For Teachers, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, K-12 Outreach Programs
