“[W]e have informed several research staff members that they will be separating from PPPL,” Deputy Director for Research Jon Menard wrote to research staff at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) on Feb. 4. PPPL conducts research across plasma applications, and is managed and operated by Princeton University for the Department of Energy. It often partners with local, state, and federal agencies.
In the initial email, Menard wrote that the lab is “restructuring the research workforce to align with sponsor and PPPL priorities and projects, and to ensure that PPPL operates within its available and projected budgets.” Menard cited an evolving field, shifting to increase focus on fusion, as the reasoning behind the staff restructuring, which he argued will set up the lab for long-term success. He added that decisions were made following “extensive deliberation that have been ongoing.”
The staff-wide email also included the contact information of Carebridge, an employee assistance program designed to help staff “cope with everyday life challenges.”
The lab’s head of communications, B. Rose Huber, wrote to The Daily Princetonian that the lab “generally does not comment on internal personnel matters.”
Two graduate students conducting research at PPPL told the ‘Prince’ they believe around six theorists and upwards of 30 engineering staff were laid off, including technicians and woodshop employees.
As a result of these layoffs, one graduate student who requested anonymity due to reasons of job security described the process of fashioning his own jig, a woodworking tool, without the woodshop staff, which caused a less stable machine. He also spoke of a water system that breaks regularly, which was once a quick fix by the technician who managed this machine, and “knew the system like the back of his hand and could get it sorted out within minutes.”
This technician worked at PPPL for 57 years. His specific layoff transformed a five-minute fix into a project that could take over an hour and require several technicians, another student who works in this lab confirmed.
Hong Qin GS ’98 is one of the theorists laid off, and his final day will be Sept. 30. Qin is a Lecturer with the rank of Professor, has taught graduate courses in plasma physics, and has been on PPPL staff since completing graduate school at Princeton.
“I am deeply shocked and confused by the news myself,” Qin wrote in a statement to the ‘Prince.’ “I am passionate about my research and teaching in plasma physics and fusion energy at Princeton. These are what I am focusing on at the moment, including co-teaching Computational Methods in Plasma Physics (AST560/CSE560) this semester and advising four Ph.D. students and two undergraduate students for their study and research.”
Two of Qin’s newest graduate students started at PPPL in 2022. Jacob Molina GS formally asked Qin to be his thesis advisor on Feb. 5, to which Qin responded he had received a termination letter from PPPL on Feb. 3. Even after the news, Molina expressed the continued drive of Qin to “do good science.”
“Hong [Qin] very nobly expressed that he would like to continue advising me in spite of basically having no formal position at all and getting no compensation for it whatsoever,” Molina told the ‘Prince.’ “I think that Hong is uniquely inspiring, though, and I find that this whole situation is just utterly tragic and will constitute a serious loss for the program and affect recruitment and retention going forward.”
Allen Reiman GS ’77, another theorist laid off in the restructuring, also advises two graduate students.
“While unusual, situations do occur that require graduate students to change advisors. In those situations, the department and Graduate School provide guidance and support to facilitate the transition,” University Spokesperson Jennifer Morrill wrote to the ‘Prince.’
Two weeks after the layoffs, graduate students received an email inviting them to an informal fireside chat on Feb. 26 with lab director Steve Cowley GS ’85 to address concerns. Before the meeting, the Graduate Student Committee sent a letter to Cowley outlining their issues with the way the lab is run.
For Molina, though, the move was representative of a broader trend, who told the ’Prince,’ “If anything, it just confirmed some of my fears as to the direction that the lab was taking, away from a more fundamental plasma science place and more towards something that is highly driven by private enterprise.”
Andrew Bosworth is the Research Editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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