Plasma NET: A Community for Engagement, Informal Education, and Workforce Development in Plasma Sciences

Plasma Science and Fusion Energy (PS&FE) public engagement serves to disseminate the research, build awareness and support, diversify the workforce, and allow scientists to learn about the concerns and interests of those outside their field. Here we propose to shift from a deficit model of "outreach," experts reaching out to novices, towards a model of mutual contribution and benefit enabled by a network, with the goal of building experiences based on research and robust evaluation. The recently published US Community Plan for Fusion Energy and Discovery Plasma Sciences recommends that "we must increase pathways for undergraduates and technical workers and increase science literacy by developing community outreach." To address this and similar recommendations, such those found in the 2020 US National Academies' Decadal Assessment of Plasma Science, we have established Plasma NET (Network for Engagement and Training). Plasma NET is an ecosystem for colleagues working in public engagement, education, broadening participation, and workforce development for plasma, connecting practitioners ranging from scientists to educators and communicators. In a mini-conference held at the 2022 American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics annual meeting, the Plasma NET ecosystem began to take shape as the participating members of the community gave presentations on best practices, supporting research, and tools for PS&FE engagement. Based on the success of this mini-conference, Plasma NET has helped coordinate other focused sessions at plasma-related conferences, such as the 2023 MagNetUS meeting, 2023 and 2024 APS DPP annual meeting, and a Plasma NET workshop co-located with MagNetUS in April of 2024. Plasma NET is also advocating for integrating plasma language in the US school curriculum through the Next Generation of Science Standards and developing a shared repository of resources and opportunities for teachers, students, and community members. In the spirit of the mutual contribution that Plasma NET espouses, the authors hope to learn from and share resources with others in the physics education research community.