Session : SURVIVAL GUIDE: BIG TECHNICAL CHALLENGES, BIG OPPORTUNITIES

anne white

School of Engineering Distinguished Professor of Engineering

Head, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT

Anne E. White is the School of Engineering Distinguished Professor of Engineering at MIT. She received her PhD in Physics at UCLA and performed research at the Electric Tokamak (UCLA), NSTX (PPPL) and DIII-D (General Atomics) before joining MIT as a faculty member in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE). At MIT, Prof. White has served on a number of Institute-wide committees and currently co-chairs the MIT Climate Nucleus, charged with managing and implementing MIT’s new climate action plan. Prof. White's research focuses on magnetic fusion energy (MFE). Her work has included research in diagnostic development, turbulence and transport physics, and transport model validation on four tokamaks; Alcator C-Mod, ASDEX Upgrade, DIII-D, and NSTX-U. At MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Prof White had served as Assistant Division Head for MFE Collaborations and ran the Gyrokinetic Simulation Working Group, and the Alcator C-Mod Transport Group. She currently sits on the federal advisory board, Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC), and serves as Chair. She helped write the 2018 FESAC Report “Transformative Enabling Capabilities for Efficient Advance Toward Fusion Energy” and the recent 2021 FESAC Report “Powering the Future: Fusion and Plasmas. The reports define the role of fusion as a transformative technology and lay out strategic actions and recommendations for the future of the US fusion program. Anne was recently one of a select group of speakers to attend a White House Summit on a Bold Decadal Vision for Fusion Energy.