MSE Alum Wins Distinguished Dissertation Award

Nick Schwartz Ph.D.’24, a recent alum of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, received the Charles A. Caramello Distinguished Dissertation Award, an accolade by the University of Maryland Graduate School. He was recognized for his efforts towards a fusion reactor—a device designed to harness energy from the reaction that fuels some forms of plasma, like the Sun.

Along with collaborators from the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics (IREAP), and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Schwartz contributed to the 20-foot-long Centrifugal Mirror Fusion Experiment, CMFX, which creates energy based on the centrifugal mirror approach, one of the simplest fusion concepts.

Fusion energy has been on the radar since the 1950s. It generates no greenhouse emissions, creates minimal radioactive waste, and runs on fuel extracted from seawater and lithium, both abundantly available on earth. For fusion to occur, the fuel has to be hotter than the center of the Sun and becomes a plasma, or ionized gas, which can be contained with magnetic fields. However, this confinement is not perfect and some plasma still touches the chamber materials. These materials have to withstand extremely harsh conditions.

Schwartz's contribution was to study the material “hexagonal boron nitride,” which could allow researchers to use it on strategic locations of centrifugal mirror systems.

Schwartz has been studying fusion energy since he was a junior mechanical engineering major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was introduced to his doctoral advisor, Assistant Professor Tim Koeth, from whom he accepted the opportunity to participate in research, co-advised by Carlos A. Romero Talamás, associate professor of mechanical engineering at UMBC and principal investigator of CMFX.

“I feel extraordinarily lucky and proud of the work that the CMFX team and I did. I feel fortunate to be recognized with this award for doing something that I really love and enjoy,” Schwartz said.

The recent alum, who recently won the UMD Three-Minute Thesis Competition while he completed his doctoral studies, is continuing his work on fusion energy at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, specifically working as a postdoctoral researcher with the High Energy Density Physics Group. His current research involves developing novel diagnostics that would allow engineers to better understand the byproducts of the fusion reaction. Koeth, his doctoral advisor, celebrates his former student’s dissertation award as well.

“Fusion’s success will absolutely come from the discipline of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), which is why Nick has dedicated his professional life to applying MSE towards the problem of plasma facing materials. I am extremely proud of him, as fusion not only requires scientific talent, but political as well, both of which he excels in!” said Koeth.

Published April 23, 2025