I want to thank Steve Knowlton for doing a great job the past two years as UFA President.  Steve kept us informed of relevant issues and spent a good deal of time representing the interests and concerns of the university community with DOE and Congress.  I will do my best to continue his record of service. 

In this newsletter, there are several issues and upcoming opportunities that I want to make the UFA community aware of.  These include:

1.    Call for Nominations – John Dawson Excellence in Plasma Physics    Research Award

2.    UPCOMING EVENT:  Fusion Day, Capital Hill

3.    Congressional Funding Update

4.    Recent FESAC Meeting

5.    Update on the ReNeW Preparations

-George Tynan

UFA President

Email:  gtynan@ucsd.edu

Phone: +1.858.534.9724

**** Federal Government Issues *****

FEBRUARY 26TH FUSION DAY

This yearŐs Washington Fusion Day is set for Thursday, February 26th.   As in the past, it will begin with a breakfast at the Tortilla Coast restaurant at 8:00 a.m.  It will end when your feet are begging for mercy from having visited all of your Congressional offices.  

As described below, this is an extremely busy year with great opportunity and potentially some substantial peril for fusion research.  The biggest wild cards are the largely unknown physical sciences research agenda of the new Administration and the likely crush on the budget resulting from the sour economy and deficit pressures exacerbated in part by the pending stimulus bill.  Hence, it is very important to meet with your delegation and remind them of the importance of your work.  

It is really not too early (or by any means too late!) to begin scheduling your Congressional meetings.  At the very least, you should have those meetings scheduled at least two weeks in advance of Fusion Day.  

For planning purposes, please let us know as soon as possible if you will be attending.   We will send out more details soon.  

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact any of us.  

Chris Carter (Princeton U.) (202) 220-1365
Paul Doucette  (Battelle)  (202) 646-7863
Alison Fox (MIT) (202) 789-1828
Mark Haynes (General Atomics) (202) 496-8209
Christie Schomer (Lawrence Livermore National Lab) (202) 494-1905
David Sprenger (U of Colorado / Tech X) (703) 585-6810

CONGRESSIONAL FUNDING UPDATE

The funding picture this year is about as complex as it has ever been.  There are 3 separate Congressional actions pending:

1. Stimulus Package – As you are well aware, Congress is currently putting together a historically large economic stimulus package.  Contained in the House stimulus bill is an additional $2 billion in funding for DOE science, including high energy physics, nuclear physics and fusion energy sciences.  The $2 billion amount also includes $400 million for the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) that is meant to fund high risk, high payoff energy research projects.  The Senate version of the stimulus bill contains a total of $430 million for DOE Science: $330M for laboratory infrastructure and $100M for advanced computer research and development.  House and Senate leadership want to complete action on their respective versions, and complete Houe-Senate conference action by the PresidentŐs Day recess.  

Please note that if you are an APS member, you can also very easily create a letter to your Senators requesting Senate support for additional Science funding within the Stimulus bill being considered right now.  To do so, please navigate to the following websites:

http://www.congressweb.com/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=apspa&hotissue=81

http://www.congressweb.com/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=apspa&hotissue=82

2. Fiscal Year 09 Omnibus funding measure – Agencies under 9 of the 12 regular appropriations bills are currently operating under a Continuing Resolution that expires on March 6th, including the Energy and Water Development bill that includes the Department of Energy.  It is the stated intent of the House and Senate leadership and the Appropriations CommitteesŐ leadership to pass an FY09 Omnibus funding bill very soon after completion of work on the stimulus bill (presumably prior to March 6th).  House and Senate Appropriations staffs worked many hard weeks to develop the bill and it is apparently essentially ready for passage.  No details are available however.  

3. Fiscal Year 2010 Appropriations – Although President Obama is expected to send Congress a broad outline for his 2010 funding priorities in early February, his detailed budget request is not expected until late March or even April.  This will make for a very tight Congressional appropriations schedule this year - - and an extremely busy year overall for the Appropriations committees and their staffs.  

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact any of us.  

Chris Carter (Princeton U.) (202) 220-1365
Paul Doucette  (Battelle)  (202) 646-7863
Alison Fox (MIT) (202) 789-1828
Mark Haynes (General Atomics) (202) 496-8209
Christie Schomer (Lawrence Livermore National Lab) (202) 494-1905
David Sprenger (U of Colorado / Tech X) (703) 585-6810

**** Jan 2009 FESAC Meeting *****

The Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) met on 13 January 2009.  The agenda included presentations from Dr. Patricia Dehmer, Deputy Director of DOE Office of Science, Dr. Steve Eckstrand, Acting AD OFES, a final report of the Subpanel on High Energy Density Laboratory Plasma Physics and an update on the ReNeW Project.  In addition, the FESAC heard a presentation of the use of Technical Readiness Levels (TRL) in planning the Fusion Energy Sciences Program; a speaker from Boeing also showed how this TRL approach is used in the Aerospace industry.  A summary of the recent High Heat Flux Components workshop, recently held at UCSD, was also given.  UFA members who are interested in reviewing the related presentation materials can find them at http://www.ofes.fusion.doe.gov/Agenda6.htm

******  ReNeW Update  ******

Preparations for the  Research Needs Workshop (ReNeW), scheduled for 7-13 June 2009, are proceeding.  The themes and panels have been created, membership has been identified and the first teleconferences for these groups have been held.  In order to provide for broad community participation, each Theme area will be holding a workshop in March 2009.  These workshops are OPEN to the community, and are explicitly intended to provide members of the research community to provide the best ideas into the ReNeW process.  UFA members are encouraged to avail themselves of this opportunity to provide input into the planning process.  General information about the ReNeW process can be found at http://burningplasma.org/web/renew.html.  The calendar for each ThemeŐs workshop can be found at https://burningplasma.org/forum/index.php?act=calendar&cal_id=2&m=3&y=2009..  If you wish to make a presentation or speak at one of these workshops, you are asked to prepare a short whitepaper describing your idea(s) and submit it to the ReNeW organizers using the website link.  In addition, you need to contact the Chair and/or co-chair of the Theme workshop to which you wish to make a presentation and make the necessary arrangements.  The list of Theme leaders, and panel membership can be found at http://burningplasma.org/web/renew_contacts.html.  THIS WORKSHOP WILL HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE LONG TERM PLANNING OF THE US FUSION ENERGY SCIENCES PROGRAM AND THUS ALL UFA MEMBERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PARTICIPATE.