The Applied Superconductivity Conference (ASC 2024) is a biennial event that provides a forum for researchers to discuss the latest developments and news in applied superconductivity. Held in Salt Lake City from September 1-6, 2024, this year’s conference included a series of short courses. The courses are part of the ELEVATE Program, which promotes educational opportunities and professional and leadership development opportunities in the field and covers different topics related to applied superconductivity. They are aimed at undergraduate or graduate students interested in superconducting applications and physicists or engineers working in related fields who wish to broaden their backgrounds.

Tengming Shen, a staff scientist from the  Superconducting Magnet Program (SMP) at Berkeley Lab’s Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics Division, joined Teresa Puig, who heads the Department of Superconducting Materials at the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona, Spain, in teaching “High-Temperature Superconductors: From the Materials to Magnet Technology.”

“This is my fifth time teaching this course since 2016,” says Shen, “and provides an excellent forum to interact with graduate students, early career researchers, and entrepreneurs who are interested in applied superconductivity and enthusiastic about developing high-temperature superconductors and magnets for frontier physics facilities such as a muon collider, fusion energy reactors, and nuclear resonance spectrometers.”

SMP is a leader in superconducting magnet research and applications, providing innovative technology that enables new science and a wide range of applications, including exciting new advanced magnetic fusion concepts and many other applications. It also leads the U.S. Magnet Development Program, supported by the Department of Energy Office of High Energy Physics. The Program also serves as the leading research element of the Berkeley Center for Magnet Technology.

“I always find the conference extremely stimulating,” says Paolo Ferracin, deputy director of SMP, who has been organizing short courses for the ASC conference since 2012, “primarily because the classes cover all the aspects of applied superconductivity, including, for example, power applications and electronics, which is not part of the expertise at SMP.”

He adds that this aspect of the event provides the opportunity to learn about research in scientific fields that are somewhat different from SMP’s focus. “The short courses make it possible to reach a vast and diverse group of students, postdocs, and researchers. He notes that this year’s courses attracted 138 attendees (a record for ASC) and 15 instructors, providing a “unique opportunity for teaching and outreach.”

 

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The Applied Superconductivity Conference (ASC 2024)

 

 

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