Matthew Cufari receives the prestigious Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship

Johan Frenje

April 3, 2024

Matthew Cufari, a first-year graduate student in the Department of Physics has been awarded the prestigious 2024 Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE NNSA SSGF).

Under supervision of Dr. Johan Frenje, the Division head of the High-Energy-Density Physics Division of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Cufari studies an advanced inertial confinement fusion (ICF) concept that uses external magnetic fields applied to an ICF implosion. His work primarily focuses on better understanding the underlying physics governing the energy confinement of a magnetized ICF implosion.

For his SSGF residency, Cufari will spend time at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where he will study magnetized implosions and the resulting plasmas under the supervision of Laboratory scientists as part of an ongoing effort to increase fusion yields on the National Ignition Facility. Cufari will be mentored by MIT alumni John Moody who is Deputy Director for experiments in the ICF program at LLNL.

The DOE NNSA SSGF aims to ensure a continuous pipeline of highly trained scientists and engineers in areas of study related to high energy density physics, nuclear science, and materials under extreme conditions and hydrodynamics; to give fellows opportunities to work with some of the nation's most sophisticated and powerful experimental and computational facilities; and to build the next generation of leaders with expertise in stewardship science in support of national defense.