Profile: Dr. Amanda Hubbard (Sci'83)

Amanda Hubbard - at the edge of nuclear fusion

Amanda Hubbard (BSc, Mathematics and Engineering '83) is an experimental physicist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Plasma Science and Fusion Center.

"Probably the greatest thing I gained at Queen's," says Dr. Hubbard, "is the confidence to tackle any problem, or several problems at once."

She currently conducts nuclear fusion experiments on the Alcator C-Mod "tokamak", a device which confines hot ionized gas or plasma using high magnetic fields. As part of a small research team engaged in many aspects of experimental research and planning, she is responsible for measuring the plasma temperature, which is typically 10-50 million degrees C, using mm-waves.

Dr. Hubbard was recently elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society, recognition by her peers of her outstanding contributions to the understanding of a narrow region at the edge of the plasma, which turns out to have a big impact on the performance of the whole fusion experiment.

She is particularly interested in heat transport via turbulence, and in regions where this transport is suppressed. She coordinates research aimed at extending the pulse length and performance of the "Tokamak" to make it a more attractive reactor for the eventual production of electricity.

"While somewhat non-standard preparation for a career in plasma physics research (most of my colleagues have a B.Sc. in physics), I have found my background in mathematics and engineering very valuable," Dr. Hubbard adds. "At Queen's we took courses in fluids and heat transfer from three different departments, with different perspectives, and learned to apply mathematical principles to solving problems from many different disciplines. A plasma is really just a more complex fluid, and there is a lot of engineering involved in the experiments."

Dr. Hubbard received a Ph.D. in Plasma Physics from Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London, U.K.

Supported by an NSERC fellowship she conducted her research at the Joint European Torus (JET) fusion project in Oxfordshire, still the largest fusion experiment in the world. She was the first student on the project, which provided exciting opportunities to work with researchers from across Europe and elsewhere. She remained at JET for a year following graduation.

From 1988 to 1991 Dr. Hubbard worked for Hydro-Québec at the Centre Canadien de Fusion Magnétique, in Varennes, Quebéc, again in experimental work on a smaller fusion experiment.

She has served on several U.S. Department of Energy advisory panels on fusion. She is a member of American Women in Science and participates in MentorNet, an electronic mentoring program for science and engineering students.

"It is disappointing that there are still very few women researchers in this field, about 5% in the U.S., and the numbers don't seem to be increasing here", says Dr. Hubbard.

Dr. Hubbard enjoys the variety of her work, from hands-on equipment maintenance to integration and presentation of results, and the high degree of international collaboration in the field.

She was born in England, grew up in Labrador and Nova Scotia. She married Steve Kissel in 1991 and they have a ten-year-old daughter.