Soren Prestemon

Soren Prestemon heads ATAP’s Superconducting Magnet Program and serves as Director of the multi-institutional U.S. Magnet Development Program and the ATAP-Engineering Division Berkeley Center for Magnet Technology.

Prestemon says as DPB Vice-Chair, he will work “to support the advancement of the field, work to enhance the broader communities’ recognition of its importance to society, and support a strong educational foundation to foster the next generation of physicists and engineers who can rapidly advance the field.”

“Advancing this field can open new windows into the fundamental nature of the universe and can support society in innumerable ways, from medical therapy to energy and environment solutions,” he says.

Marlene Turner

A research scientist in ATAP, Marlene Turner works on high-energy electron acceleration in laser-driven plasma wakefields and the next generation of particle colliders.

“I am honored to be part of the APS DPB,” she says, “and am excited to help reinforce and continue to enable strong scientific communication within the community by, for example, helping with the organization of conferences or the writing of the DPB newsletter and adapting them to meet the challenges of the current environment.”

Earlier this year, Turner was also one of three Berkeley Lab scientists selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science to receive funding through the Early Career Research Program (ECRP). Her ECRP project, “Energy Recycling for a Green Plasma Based Collider,” seeks to develop a path toward significantly decreasing future colliders’ energy consumption and operating costs.

“I understand how important passionate engagement of early-career scientists is for the future of our field, and I would work to ensure that we are diversely represented, given the right opportunities to grow, and included in important processes,” she says.

Cameron Geddes

Geddes leads a wide range of plasma and related activities and collaborations, from accelerator physics to high energy density science to low-temperature plasmas and quantum information science, as well as supporting technologies such as superconducting magnets, exascale simulations, and lasers and diagnostics.

“This an exciting time for plasma physics, with renewed interest in fusion both public and private, a new understanding of fundamental processes and how they shape the cosmos, and the emergence of new accelerators and low-temperature plasma methods with strong social applications,” he says. The DPP appointment, says Geddes, will allow him “to further ATAPs role in planning and communication with funding agencies and the scientific world, and to ensure that our whole community has opportunities to contribute.”

The DPP’s meetings and activities will be “crucial in helping us learn from each other’s subareas and build a strong plasma physics field,” he says, adding that he “will strive to adapt the DPP’s programs to expand access, especially for early career researchers and others facing challenges participating, while looking for ways to build the personal connections that are a key part of meetings.”

Geddes also acknowledged the vital role that the APS plays “in growing our field into a more diverse population, which is crucial both to equity and to scientific progress.”