Dr. Ethan Peterson

Assistant Professor

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Biography

Ethan Peterson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He leads the neutronics group at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center. His research focuses on improving radiation transport and transmutation methods for the design of fusion technologies, employing whole-facility modeling of fusion power plants. Peterson has contributed to the development and validation of OpenMC for fusion applications, having worked on the design of the nuclear analysis facility for the SPARC tokamak and the LIBRA experiment in fusion technologies. He obtained his PhD in experimental plasma physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he created laboratory plasmas to study magnetohydrodynamic phenomena and the young solar wind. His work in improving predictive nuclear modeling for fusion reactor design is critical to the successful deployment of fusion power plants, focusing on the ability to accurately predict the effects of high-energy neutrons released from the plasma. This emphasis on radiation transport methods underpins his efforts to develop robust, open-source workflows for modeling fusion engineering systems.

Research Interests

Courses

22.016, Seminar Fusion Plasma Physics 22.05, Neutron Physics Radiation Transport 22.104, Monte Carlo Radiation Transport Methods