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ORNL's Peng awarded fellowship

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Dec. 9, 1996 — Dr. Martin Peng, from the Fusion Energy Division of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), will soon be awarded fellowship in the American Physical Society.

Peng was selected by the society "for the development of the low aspect ratio spherical tokamak concept." About 10 years ago at ORNL, Peng began working on this concept which helps improve the magnetic field line shape to contain high temperature plasmas efficiently. The spherical tokamak, which is often called the spherical torus, is considered a breakthrough because it may make fusion machines smaller and simpler, Peng said.

The award will be presented at the American Physical Society/ Division of Plasmic Physics annual meeting on November 13 in Denver.

In 1974, Peng joined the Fusion Energy Division after receiving his doctorate. In 1996, he was appointed National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) Program Director.

The mission of NSTX is to prove the scientific principles of the spherical torus plasma. The NSTX research program plans to have a broad participation from fusion research laboratories and universities in the U.S. Possible applications of the spherical torus in the near future include testing fusion burn physics, developing fusion technology and material and eliminating fission waste.

Peng obtained a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from National Taiwan University and a master's degree and doctorate in applied physics from Stanford University.

He is a member of the American Physical Society and the American Nuclear Society.

Peng resides near Princeton, N.J. with his wife, Michelle, and three children.

ORNL, one of DOE's multiprogram national research and development facilities, is managed by Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corp.