Bryn Mawr Plasma Laboratory (BMPL)

Summer ResearchGalleryPlasmaPy Project

The Bryn Mawr Plasma Laboratory is an intersection of the study of plasma physics, turbulence, and fusion energy. The Bryn Mawr Experiment (BMX) is the flagship experiment of the lab, featuring a plasma-gun generated turbulent plasma launched into a flux-conserving cylindrical chamber. With long current discharge pulses, the experiment can simulated constant injection of turbulent plasma much like a traditional wind-tunnel but with magnetized plasmas as the fluid under study.

The BMPL is highly active in the PlasmaPy Project and is a founding member of the Small College Plasma Consortium (SCPC). The BMPL is also an affiliated facility of MagNetUS and a supporter of the Computational Research Access Network (CRANE).

Research in the BMPL is supported by an NSF CAREER award as well as funding from the NSF-DOE Partnership program in Basic Plasma Science and Engineering and NSF CSSI. Past funding has also been received from DOE ARPA-E.

Current Group Members:

P.I.
David Schaffner, Associate Professor

Current Undergraduates:
Lana Maizel '26
Amelia Stevens '25 (Haverford)
Celeste Cubbage '24 (Haverford)

​Current Graduate Students:
~

Past Undergraduate Students
Amina Ahmed '25 (BMC CS)

BMPL Alums:
Graduate:
Carlos Cartegena-Sanchez, Ph.D. - Beloit College
Josh Carlson, M.A. - U.S. Patent Office
Hayley Johnson, M.A. Thesis: Mode Characterization During Biased
Rotation on the Large Plasma Device

Undergraduate:
Liam Douglas-Mann '18 (University of York, Ph.D 2023)
Codie Fiedler-Kawaguchi '18
Hayley Johnson '18
Leyla Fahim '18
Chelsea Thangavelu '18
Leah Baker '19
Maise Shepard '20
Nina Inman '20
Fariha Tamboli '21
Cat Slanski '21
Shiksha Pandey '22
Hurum Tohfa '22
Genevieve Love '22
Rebecca Long '22
Nitisha Bhandari '22 (BMC CS)
Faryal Khan '22 (BMC CS)
Lily Li '23
Rachel Langgin '23
Stefany Fabian-Dubon '23
Julia Moylan '23
Lily Goltz '23
Emmy Wisz '23
Maxwell Brenton '23