Troy Alan Carter (born July 31, 1973) is an American plasma

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and the Director of Fusion Energy Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He was formerly a professor at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. He was co-awarded the 2002 John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research for his work on driven

magnetic reconnection Magnetic reconnection is a physical process occurring in electrically conducting Plasma (physics), plasmas, in which the magnetic topology is rearranged and magnetic energy is converted to kinetic energy, thermal energy, and particle accelerati ...

in a laboratory plasma.

Early life and Career

Carter received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

(B.S.) in physics and a B.S. in

nuclear engineering Nuclear engineering is the engineering discipline concerned with designing and applying systems that utilize the energy released by nuclear processes. The most prominent application of nuclear engineering is the generation of electricity. Worldwide ...

from

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

in 1995. He then received a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

in Astrophysical Sciences from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1997 and 2001 respectively, where he was supervised by Masaaki Yamada and Russell Kulsrud. Upon graduation, Carter was awarded a Fusion Energy Postdoctoral Fellowship from the

US Department of Energy US or Us most often refers to: * Us (pronoun), ''Us'' (pronoun), the objective case of the English first-person plural pronoun ''we'' * US, an abbreviation for the United States US, U.S., Us, us, or u.s. may also refer to: Arts and entertainme ...

and pursued his postdoctoral work at UCLA. In 2002, Carter became a faculty member at UCLA's department of physics and astronomy. He was an

Assistant Professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

until 2008 where he was promoted to

Associate Professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

, and was later promoted to full

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in 2011. In 2016, he became the director of the

Basic Plasma Science Facility The Large Plasma Device (often stylized as LArge Plasma Device or LAPD) is an experimental physics device located at UCLA. It is designed as a general purpose laboratory for experimental plasma physics research. The device began operation in 199 ...

and oversaw the renewal of the facility funding from the Department of Energy and the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

. In 2017, he became a director of the Plasma Science and Technology Institute at UCLA. Carter led the DOE Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) Subcommittee on Long Range Planning in 2020, resulting in the report "Powering the Future: Fusion and Plasmas" published in 2021. In 2024, Carter assumed the role of Director of Fusion Energy Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Honors and Awards

In 2002, Carter was jointly awarded the John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research with Hantao Ji, Masaaki Yamada and Scott Hsu for "''the experimental investigation of driven magnetic reconnection in a laboratory plasma. In this work, careful diagnostic studies of the current sheet structure, dynamics and associated wave activity provide a comprehensive picture of the reconnection process.''" In 2014, Carter was inducted as a fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

, with citation "For novel and impactful experimental research into fundamental processes relevant to laboratory, space and astrophysical plasmas including magnetic reconnection, wave-wave interactions, and turbulence and transport in magnetically-confined plasmas." In 2021, Carter was selected for the Fusion Power Associates Leadership award. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Troy Alan Living people 21st-century American physicists American plasma physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society North Carolina State University alumni Princeton University alumni 1973 births University of California, Los Angeles faculty