Physics student obtains DOE SCGSR fellowship

Graduate student Kyle Rockwell received a fellowship under the prestigious Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program to pursue research on inertial confinement nuclear fusion at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The SCGSR is a unique program that allows graduate student to advance their PhD thesis in a DOE National Laboratory, being a unique opportunity to access their world-class facilities and expertise.

Efficient nuclear fusion is an open problem that requires the use of complicated and time consuming simulations. Kyle has proposed an alternative based on fractional calculus as he points out his work “involves the application of fractional calculus to physical systems with complex and intricate nonlinear dynamics. For this award, I plan to apply this field of mathematics to help solve a problem in inertial confinement nuclear fusion simulations (ICF).” This proposal was envisioned by Kyle based on his research work: “In one of our recently published works, we applied fractional calculus to produce an analytic model for simulating complex nonlinear systems, which can enable significant improvements to the study of these complex systems and the potential technology of the future; this awarded research idea culminated from our previous paper.”

In addition to research, the SCGSR provides a unique career development opportunity for students. As Kyle mentions: “I'm exceptionally excited to work on this project! Not only will this research be fun and difficult, but this award substantially opens the door for a long and fruitful career!”

Finally, Kyle is optimistic on the potential impact of his research: “this research has the potential to improve the computational capacity of problems in ICF. Considering nuclear fusion power has the capacity to solve humanity's clean energy crisis for all time, better simulations are key to guide experimental science to crack the secrets to harness this awesome source of electric power!”