Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
Advances in Fusion Engineering
Speaker
Professor Javier E. Garay
Coordinator
Jeff Sakihara
With recent advances in plasma physics, lasers, material science, fusion science and technology, AI and high performance computing, fusion energy is tantalizingly close to commercialization. As of 2025, 53 fusion companies have been funded to a total of almost $10 billion. The UC San Diego Fusion Engineering Institute (FEI) was established in October 2024 to advance the science and technology of this field toward commercialization. This lecture will discuss the status of fusion research today, and the contributions of the FEI to bringing this technology to fruition.
Speaker Bio
Presenter: Javier E. Garay is founding director of the UC San Diego Fusion Engineering Institute. He is professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and principal investigator of the Advanced Material Processing and Synthesis (AMPS) Lab at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Prior to joining the UC San Diego faculty, he was a professor of materials science & engineering and mechanical engineering at UC Riverside where he also served as chair of the materials science & engineering program from 2012–2015. He received his PhD in materials science and engineering from the University of California, Davis.
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