Miklos Porkolab
professor
Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Poland
Biography
"Professor Miklos Porkolab received his Ph.D. at Stanford University in 1967, and thereafter joined the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory where he rose to the position of Senior Research Physicist and Lecturer with the rank of Professor in the Astrophysical Sciences Department in 1975. While at Princeton University, Professor Porkolab carried out pioneering experimental research in the area of nonlinear wave-wave and wave-particle interactions, parametric instabilities and high power RF wave-plasma interactions in tokamak fusion plasmas. Professor Porkolab spent 1976 at the Max Planck Institute in Garching, Germany, under the auspices of the Humboldt Foundation as a winner of the ""US Senior Scientist Award."" In 1977, he joined MIT as a professor in the Physics Department and since then he has led several pioneering experiments in radio frequency heating and noninductive current drive on the Versator II, and the Alcator C and C-Mod tokamaks. For this work, Professor Porkolab shared the 1984 American Physical Society Excellence in Plasma Research Award (now the John Dawson Award)."
Research Interest
Controlled fusion research, radio frequency heating of plasma, experimental studies of plasma turbulence, and basic plasma physics, including magnetic reconnection.
