Felix Parra is the winner of the 2011 Marshall N. Rosenbluth Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award. Parra, who will join the MIT faculty this summer as an assistant professor in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, conducted the research for his thesis at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
Given annually by the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics (APS-DPP), the Award recognizes exceptional young scientists who have performed original doctoral thesis research of outstanding scientific quality and achievement in the area of plasma physics.
Parra wins the award for his thesis titled, “Extension of Gyrokinetics to Transport Time Scales." The award citation notes the contributions of the thesis in "demonstrating limitations in the gyrokinetic theory of the radial electric field for plasmas in an axisymmetric magnetic field and formulating an alternative procedure-insights that have inspired research around the world." The award will be presented at the Award Ceremony at the APS-DPP Annual Meeting banquet on Wednesday, Nov. 16.
This is the second time in three years that a nuclear science and engineering faculty member has been recognized with the Rosenbluth Award. In 2009, Assistant Professor Anne White won this award for her thesis on electron temperature and density measurements in high-performance tokamak plasmas.
An artist's impression depicting a network of neurons of the nervous system.Image: Maurizio De Angelis/Wellcome Images
Complex brain function depends on flexibility
Neurons that can multitask greatly enhance the brain’s computational power, study finds.
