Summary
For 10th grade career day I went to the General Atomics DIII-D fusion reactor to follow Alexander Nagy, a lead engineer. I was very nervous going in, I knew that I was probably eating up a considerable amount of time from my mentor, who had already told me he was very busy. I was also super excited because this was the first time I had ever been in an environment where engineers and scientists were working together . After a bit of a mixup with getting a badge from the security guard I followed my mentor as he went to meetings, discussed solutions to problems different teams were having (he was part of a lot of different teams) and went on a trip to a plastic store to buy an acrylic tube that was going to be used to deliver various powders into the reactor. I wasn't really expecting to but I learned a lot about nuclear fusion while I was there. I also learned a lot about the standard process of engineering in a real world environment. The current project Mr. Nagy was working on was figuring out way to rotate the neutral beams that are fired into the reactor. The reactor is shaped like a doughnut, so when it is on the plasma inside loops around the interior and forms patterns as it does. It's theorized that different patterns the plasma makes have different levels of efficiency, but scientists don't know what pattern would be the best, so they have set up massive lasers that fire streams of neutral particles into the reactor to change the flow of plasma. The machines firing the lasers are huge though, so one of the current projects for the engineers is to set up a rail system to rotate and swivel the beams. The best part of the day was probably when we went inside the reactor itself and I got to see the physical versions of all the parts I had heard discussed and seen in CAD software.
Q&A with Mr. Nagy
Q: What specific skill training helped you prepare for this job?
A: A college degree in electrical engineering, BSE.
Q: How do you interact with other people during your work?
A: I go to meetings, have phone calls, do personal consultations, send emails and talk to co-workers over Zoom (an application similar to skype)
Q: To what extent do you find your work interesting and fulfilling and why?
A: To a high extent. I used to have a job helping other people find jobs, but I quit that because I found it to boring. When working with fusion you are faced with new challenges routinely and you have figure out how to accomplish them on a low budget and in a short amount of time.
Q: What are the most important rules or practices that you must follow in order to be considered a dedicated and responsible professional?
A: I have to observe required safety rules, knowledge in a competent, consistent and appropriate way, lead a team of technical professionals in a way that supports them with their technical needs and ideas within their capabilities, and provide a product that can be used on a fusion reactor.
Q: Was this a typical work day for you? If not, what is a typical work day?
A: This was a typical work day.
A: A college degree in electrical engineering, BSE.
Q: How do you interact with other people during your work?
A: I go to meetings, have phone calls, do personal consultations, send emails and talk to co-workers over Zoom (an application similar to skype)
Q: To what extent do you find your work interesting and fulfilling and why?
A: To a high extent. I used to have a job helping other people find jobs, but I quit that because I found it to boring. When working with fusion you are faced with new challenges routinely and you have figure out how to accomplish them on a low budget and in a short amount of time.
Q: What are the most important rules or practices that you must follow in order to be considered a dedicated and responsible professional?
A: I have to observe required safety rules, knowledge in a competent, consistent and appropriate way, lead a team of technical professionals in a way that supports them with their technical needs and ideas within their capabilities, and provide a product that can be used on a fusion reactor.
Q: Was this a typical work day for you? If not, what is a typical work day?
A: This was a typical work day.