Comm Lab alumus Brandon Sorbom PhD ’17 was recently featured in the MIT Technology Review as one of their “35 Innovators under 35” for his work developing high-temperature superconductors into fusion electromagnets, both as a graduate student and as the Chief Science Officer at Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a Cambridge-based fusion startup.

Dr. Sorbom has described communication as one of the most important lessons from graduate school, saying, “It’s easy to get sucked into your technical studies in grad school, but it’s so important to be able to communicate your results and more importantly, why they matter, to others.” Because of this passion for communicating science, Sorbom became one of the earliest Comm Lab Fellows, using his time and energy to coach students, to develop workshop materials, and to improve attitudes towards conveying science to a general audience. 

His ability to disseminate important ideas helped lead to his role as lead author of the ARC paper, which detailed an innovative fusion reactor design concept that was featured in MIT News and beyond (MIT News later ran a feature on Dr. Sorbom). This design prominently featured the use of high-temperature superconductors, which eventually led to the creation of CFS, which plans to build a smaller, compact version of ARC (SPARC) by 2025

Dr. Sorbom continues to innovate in the use of superconductors for fusion research and in the ways he and his team communicate their work to the public. He credits his Comm Lab experience as a part of his current success:  “My experiences at the Comm Lab (both as a recipient of coaching and later as a Fellow providing coaching) were absolutely essential in my development during grad school and later on in starting a technology company. Fusion energy isn’t known for being a particularly accessible subject, and the skills I learned from the Comm Lab helped me communicate our ideas to a range of audiences, whether they were potential investors, potential hires, or even just general outreach through the media.”

 

In the News:

Dr. Brandon Sorbom:

ARC:

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