Plasma Pride

Our Mission

Physicists within the Division of Plasma Physics (DPP) LGBT+ community (which includes, but is not limited to, those identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, non-binary, asexual, or aromantic) face discrimination with uneven protections across the US and internationally. This inequity is reflected within the American Physical Society (APS), whose 2016 LGBT Climate in Physics Report highlighted that there is still much work to be done to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for LGBT+ physicists.

Our Goals

The APS DPP Pride Committee was established in 2021 and envisions a scientific community that is open, welcoming, and supportive of all scientists within the gender and sexual orientation minority communities. Our aims are to (1) Promote equity for LGBT+ physicists within our profession; (2) Foster community among LGBT+ physicists and their allies through professional networks, mentorship, and safe spaces; (3) Educate and engage allies, support efforts to end discrimination against LGBT+ physicists, and highlight LGBT+ contributions to plasma science; (4) Collaborate with other diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts to address inclusion for all groups and issues of intersectionality; and (5) Pursue a data-driven approach for identifying representation and climate-related problems and guiding solutions to those problems.

Interested in becoming a member of the APS DPP Pride Committee? Contact Us!

Meet the Committee 

Archie Bott (he/him)
Chair, 2023-2026

Archie Bott is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at the University of Oxford. His research interests include collisionless/weakly collisional plasma dynamics, plasma turbulence, plasma dynamo processes, and laboratory astrophysics. In his spare time, Archie likes running, tennis, mixology, and classical music.

Eli Parke (they/them)
Past Chair, 2021-2025

Eli Parke is a Scientist at TAE Technologies, Inc. They specialize in laser diagnostics for magnetically confined plasmas and work on the advanced, beam-driven field-reversed configuration experiment “Norman” in TAE’s fusion program. Eli is also an enthusiastic cyclist and fan of queer comics.

Frances Kraus (she/her),
Chair-Elect, 2025-2027

Frances Kraus is a staff research physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey. She is an x-ray spectroscopist trying to get to the bottom of what light emission can tell us about fusion and high-density plasmas. Frances likes talking about science on the radio (WPRB Princeton), gardening, and chatting with her toddler.

Cole Stephens (any)
Member-at-Large, 2021-2023

Cole Stephens is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. There, they work on gyrokinetic modeling of turbulent transport in magnetic confinement fusion devices using both computational and analytical methods. Cole also enjoys learning about fundamental and mathematical physics. During their off-time, Cole enjoys playing video games, watching anime, and reading political philosophy.

Amelia Cavallaro (she/her)
Member-at-Large, 2023-2025

Amelia Cavallaro is a PhD student at MIT studying magnetic confinement fusion, particularly the I-mode regime in tokamaks. She is interested in the dynamics of particle and energy transport in the tokamak edge, with applications for stable, high-performance operation in next-generation experiments and even power plants. When not researching she is traveling, studying extremely niche historical topics, and enjoying spending time with her religious community.

Louise Ferris (she/her)
Member-at-Large, 2024-2026

Louise Ferris (she/her) has a background in experimental plasma physics research for fusion applications. In her free time, Louise enjoys reading, birding, and cheering for the objectively best NFL team, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Thomas Varnish (he/him)
Member-at-Large, 2024-2026

Thomas Varnish is a PhD student in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT, and a member of the PUFFIN group (led by Prof. Jack Hare at Cornell University). He works on designing and conducting pulsed-power experiments to better understand the fundamentals of astrophysical plasmas, with his current research focusing on magnetic reconnection. Outside of the lab, Thomas enjoys film photography, gaming, and making art/crafting.