Transfer of academia and industry knowledge to Science Education: Addressing the workforce shortage in plasma industries and the absence of plasma physics from scholar curriculums.

Sustainable development and plasma physics go hand in hand. While its popularity increased significantly over the past two decades, plasma remains niche among the scientific community and tech enthusiasts. One shortcoming of such exclusivity is the shortage of workforce in many industries, most notably fusion energy.

The Science Education department (SciEd) at PPPL is a leading voice in bringing awareness to plasmas and their applications. SciEd programs introduce students at different stages of their development to plasma physics and fusion energy, as well as a network of national and international laboratories and scientists. Additionally, SciEd is leading efforts to help schools from marginalized and underrepresented communities integrate plasma science into their curriculum.

With experience in microwave plasmas for methane reformation, DC and AC discharges for bacterial inactivation, and plasma torches for electric aviation, the lead author will support and help expand SciEd’s programs. This will be accomplished, in part, by crafting new educational material around the applications of thermal and non-thermal plasmas. The design of a new experimental setup of a cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is also envisioned. CAPs have the advantage of simplicity and help cover a wide range of applications such as plasma-medicine and surface activation, to name a couple.