From Auburn to the frontiers of fusion

When Jessica Eskew first toured Auburn University as a prospective graduate student, she didn’t expect to find one of the nation’s most comprehensive plasma physics programs just 90 minutes from her hometown of Atlanta.

“Once I visited, it was clear this was a place doing serious, wide-ranging work in plasma physics,” Eskew said.

Now a fourth-year doctoral student in the College of Sciences and Mathematics’ Department of Physics, Eskew is taking that work far beyond campus. This spring, she relocated to San Diego for a six-month research appointment at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility through the Department of Energy’s Science Graduate Student Research Fellowship, a highly competitive award that supports graduate students conducting extended research at national laboratories.

The fellowship places Eskew at the center of U.S. fusion research, where scientists are working to answer questions that once seemed closer to science fiction than reality.

“We’re literally trying to take the sun and put it on Earth,” she said. “If we can make fusion work, it changes everything.”

At DIII-D, Eskew is studying one of the central challenges in fusion research: how to manage extremely energetic electrons inside magnetically confined plasma.

Fusion produces energy by forcing atomic nuclei to combine rather than split. It is often described as the process that powers the sun, but recreating those conditions on Earth is extraordinarily difficult. Fusion requires plasma to be heated to extreme temperatures and held in place without touching the walls of the device.

That confinement relies on powerful magnetic fields arranged around a donut-shaped structure called a tokamak. Ideally, those magnetic fields form smooth pathways that keep the plasma stable. Even tiny imperfections can create magnetic structures known as magnetic islands, where particles can behave unpredictably.

“These islands can trap high-energy electrons and accelerate them even further,” Eskew said. “If the plasma suddenly collapses, those electrons can be released in very concentrated beams that damage the device.”

Eskew’s research focuses on whether those magnetic islands can be manipulated using only the coils already built into future fusion devices. Rather than relying on complex diagnostics or additional systems, she is investigating whether small, carefully timed changes to magnetic fields can cause the islands to split briefly, allowing energetic electrons to escape gradually instead of all at once.

“When the island splits, some of the trapped electrons are released,” she said. “If you can do that in a controlled way, you can regulate the loss of energetic electrons from the plasma.”

Her work combines experimental planning with computational modeling that traces how electrons move through complex magnetic field structures. Understanding those motion patterns is critical for designing safer, more reliable fusion systems as researchers work toward longer and more stable plasma operation in future devices.

Eskew’s advisor, Assistant Professor of Physics Evdokiya Kostadinova, said the fellowship provides opportunities few graduate students have access to.

“The DOE SCGSR Fellowship is a highly prestigious and unique award as it allows a graduate student to do work at one of the DOE National Labs,” Kostadinova said. “In Jessica’s case, she will be able to design, run and analyze experiments at the DIII-D national fusion facility, which is the only tokamak currently working in the entire United States.”

Kostadinova leads Auburn’s Interdisciplinary Plasma Lab, where researchers advance fundamental scientific knowledge across plasma physics and related fields. She said Eskew’s work reflects the interdisciplinary strengths of Auburn’s physics department, which spans fusion energy, space physics and astrophysics and offers opportunities typically found only at national laboratories.

That interdisciplinary environment drew Eskew to Auburn. As an undergraduate at Georgia Tech, she studied astrophysics and worked on research related to gravitational waves and black holes. Over time, she began searching for ways to apply her skills more directly to challenges affecting life on Earth.

“I wanted to help people,” she said. “Physics felt like the place where I could do that.”

An energy policy course introduced her to nuclear science and fusion research, followed by an internship at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory that helped shape her path toward plasma physics.

Now at DIII-D, Eskew is immersed in a collaborative research environment. Her days include running simulations, preparing experimental proposals, attending student seminars and working alongside scientists from across the country.

“Being onsite means I can ask questions and learn directly from the people who built the experiments,” she explained.

Outside the lab, Eskew has been exploring the California coastline, hiking and watching sunsets after long days of modeling and meetings.

“It sounds intense, and it is,” she said. “But everyone here is incredibly supportive.”

For Eskew, the experience reinforces a lesson she hopes others take from her journey.

“No effort is too small when it comes to helping humankind,” she said. “If you stay curious and keep reaching for what you care about, opportunities will come.”