2021 Workshop on Plasma Science Facility Networks

This award supports organization of the 2021 Workshop on Plasma Science Facility Networks planned to be held in November, 2021 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The workshop will bring together representatives of the plasma science and scientifically related communities to address the following questions:

(1) What is required to establish and operate a network of plasma science user facilities? What facilities or instrumentation can be leveraged, expanded or upgraded?

(2) What is the estimated user base for the proposed facilities? Will expansions or upgrades to existing facilities increase the user base or expand to new plasma science or other sub-fields?

(3) What are the best practices for managing transparent and effective operation of user facility networks for plasma science?

(4) How can networks broaden access to user facilities, specifically to Minority Serving Institutions and Primarily Undergraduate Institutions?

The workshop participants will be identified and will begin to prepare structured responses to the above questions well ahead of the workshop meeting dates via virtual meetings or townhalls. The workshop presentations will be webcast with the opportunity for online commentary and questions and answers with offsite participants.

This workshop is being held in response to recommendations made by the National Academies Plasma 2020 Decadal Survey and other recent community reports which have advocated for inter-agency and inter-program collaboration on networks of plasma science facilities in order to leverage and maximize their scientific and programmatic impact. The goal of the workshop is to discuss the opportunities and the challenges associated with establishing and operating networks of plasma science user facilities across the spectrum of plasma science sub-fields.

The workshop will produce a report addressing the above questions and will aim to publish the report or some appropriately modified version in a scientific journal.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.