UC San Diego Launches Fusion Engineering Institute

The University of California San Diego has launched a new engineering institute led by the Jacobs School of Engineering focused on making sure humanity’s recent advances in fusion science translate into safe, abundant and affordable clean energy for California, the nation and the world.

The new campuswide effort is called the Fusion Engineering Institute – and it is the term “engineering” that makes this project unique and compelling. fei.ucsd.edu/

In recent years, the international fusion research community has made significant advances in its understanding of the science of fusion. At the same time, a series of fusion energy pilot projects have produced exciting preliminary results.

But there are still significant gaps – many directly tied to the engineering challenges that must be addressed for commercially attractive fusion. These gaps are between where different fusion-related technologies are now – and where they will need to be to realize the positive benefits of cost-competitive fusion energy power plants that can be deployed at scale to make a positive impact on the world’s energy needs.

It is these engineering gaps and related workforce training that UC San Diego aims to help fill, and the launch of this new institute is an important step in that direction...

Read about the launch: today.ucsd.edu/story/uc-san-diego-launches-fusion-engineering-institute