New York University

New York University

The Office of Public Affairs

Thursday, May 14, 2009

N-463, 2008-09

* MEDIA ADVISORY*

As the nation approaches the summer season-and its higher gas prices and steeper electricity bills- scientists will gather at the SEIU Conference Center (1800 Massachusetts Ave., NW [Metro: Dupont Circle]) on May 19 and 20 to focus on current and near-term energy future technologies.

The conference-“Hybrid Fusion Systems: What Can They Do and Can They Do It Soon?”-will consider the place of these technologies in the larger energy environment and the current regulatory picture. It is co-sponsored by the Center for Hydrogen Fusion Power at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the Brookings Institution. For a complete schedule of sessions, click here.

Presenters will explore interdisciplinary topics through a series of invited papers. Subjects will include fusion, fission, and hybrid systems, waste treatment, non-proliferation, and regulation. Its organizers seek to forge a consensus that will support the formation of a private industry-government partnership to build a hybrid system that will perform a specific, useful function.

Speakers include: Andrew Kadak, a professor of nuclear engineering at MIT; Kathryn McCarthy, Idaho National Laboratory; Eric Storm, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; and Michael Zarnstorff, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Also in attendance will be Steven Fetter, assistant director at-large at White House Office of Science and Technology, and the University of Maryland’s Roald Sagdeev, who is former director of the Soviet Space Institute in Moscow.

Reporters interested in attending must RSVP to James Devitt, NYU’s Office of Public Affairs, at 212.998.6808 or james.devitt@nyu.edu.