Matt Pharr is a PhD student in plasma physics, who received their bachelors degree in Physics and Math from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2021 and joined the department during the Fall of the same year.
Advisor: Carlos Paz-Soldan
Research Focus: Matt is primarily interested in Magnetohydrodynamic modeling. They have worked on both astrophysical and fusion plasmas and with several different fusion experiments. Previously, they developed models for global MHD instabilities found in simulations relevant to ionized accretion disks and other flow-dominated plasmas. Their current research involves optimizing scenarios for error field correction and modeling 3D field effects on Neoclassical Toroidal Viscosity in devices including ITER, SPARC, ARC, and NSTX-U.
Matt is happy to discuss the Ph.D. program in all aspects with any interested parties and welcomes emails regarding this!