Prager new director of PPPL.

Prof. Stewart Prager, director of the Madison Symmetric Toms experiment at the University of Wisconsin and an internationally recognized leader in the field of fusion energy research, has been named director of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), effective this fall. Prager is also currently the chair of the DOE's Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC).

Prager, who also is the Dexter Professor of Physics at Wisconsin, will become the sixth director of the laboratory, which is funded by the DOE and managed by the University. His appointment as a professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton is expected to be acted on in the fall.

"We believe that there is no better person than Stewart Prager to lead the Plasma Physics Laboratory as it moves into the next phase in its distinguished history," said Princeton President Shirley M. Tilghman. "The need for safe, abundant and environmentally benign sources of energy has never been greater, and we are confident that under his leadership PPPL will continue to make exceptional contributions to the field of fusion energy."

Prager joined the Wisconsin faculty in 1977 after conducting research for two years with the Fusion Energy Group at the General Atomic Co. (now known as General Atomics) in San Diego. He is a pioneer in the field of plasma physics and is internationally known for experiments that have contributed to both fundamental knowledge and the design of future reactors.

On the Wisconsin "Levitated Octupole" experiment, Prager worked with a graduate student, Michael Zarnstorff, now a principal research physicist at PPPL, detecting for the first time the so-called bootstrap current, named because the electrical current is generated by the plasma itself. Prager and Zarnstorff will receive the American Physical Society's Dawson Prize for Excellence in Plasma Physics this November.

Prager has led research on another experimental device, the DOE-funded Madison Symmetric Toms, directing a group that was the first in the world to completely characterize the chaotic flow of the charged gases swirling within. Shaped like a donut, the MST holds plasma heated to 10 million degrees. But instead of using a strong magnetic field to hold the plasma, Prager and his team have explored whether weaker--and therefore more economical--magnetic fields could accomplish the same task. The work has led to new insights about the properties of plasma.

Prager also has led the Center for Magnetic Self-Organization in Laboratory and Astrophysical Plasmas. Funded by the National Science Foundation. The "physics frontier center" involves Wisconsin, Princeton and five other institutions.

In addition, Prager has provided exemplary service to the plasma physics community through his role on many prominent national panels and advisory committees. He has served as chair of DOE's Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee, chair of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society, president of the University Fusion Association and a member of the fusion review panel of President Clinton's Committee of Advisers on Science and Technology.

Prager holds bachelor's degrees from Queens College of the City University of New York and from Columbia University. He earned his Ph.D. in plasma physics from Columbia.

Prager will succeed Robert Goldston, who has been director of PPPL since July 1997. Goldston, who also is a professor of astrophysical sciences, announced last December that he would step down as director when a successor was in place to focus on a broad range of domestic and international fusion energy initiatives.

Prager's appointment, which concludes an international search, comes at a time of transition for PPPL. At the direction of DOE, the lab is in the process of phasing out construction of the National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) and enhancing its flagship program, the National Spherical Toms Experiment (NSTX). This approach is intended to ensure the lab's future as a world-leading center of fusion, energy and plasma sciences.