Young Fusion Scientists Address the FY06 Budget Proposal S. Woodruff, 1,5 K. J. McCollam, 2 A. Rosenberg, 3 and D. Smith 4 The Administration’s FY06 budget proposal calls for a large reduction in funding for the domestic fusion energy sciences program. This paper describes the reaction of a group of young fusion scientists to this budget proposal. Included are a description of the federal budgetary agencies and processes, a description of a new forum for young fusion scientists, and a reprint of a letter to select Senate and House leaders from young fusion scientists. KEY WORDS: Fusion budget; senate and house subcommittees; young fusion forum. INTRODUCTION Fusion energy science is experiencing some inter- esting trials. The demographic is heavily tilted towards senior scientists with the mean and median age of 53 [1], and decisions are being made to engage the U.S. fusion program in the ITER project, which presently has been delayed for over a year due to international negotia- tions on siting. Irrespective of the delay, the Adminis- tration’s budget [2] proposes to cut 11% from the domestic fusion budget to pay for ITER, which would impact fusion science by cutting several projects on which many young scientists presently conduct re- search . To express their concerns about this proposal many of these scientists wrote to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of fusion-related committees in both the House and Senate. In total about 70 signato- ries participated from a broad cross-section of institu- tions (see letter in the Appendix). This text is structured as follows: Section II describes the process by which the fusion budget is made. Section III contains a description of a new forum for young fusion scientists and an outline of its activities. Section IV contains a brief discussion of this forum in the larger context of the fusion community, government agencies, and funding pro- cesses. Section V is a summary. GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND THE FUSION BUDGET PROCESS The Department of Energy (DOE), in consulta- tion with its Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES), helps set the Administration’s long-term plans for fusion energy sciences. The Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) provides independent advice to the Director of the DOE’s Office of Science on complex scientific and technological issues that arise in the planning, implementation, and manage- ment of the fusion energy sciences program. The Committee members are drawn from universities, national laboratories, and private firms involved in fusion research. The next meeting of FESAC is usually announced [3] somewhat before it takes place. The Administration submits a budget proposal (the President’s budget or the Administration’s bud- get) to Congress in February preceding the fiscal year 1 Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Washington, Box 352400, Seattle, WA 98195-2250. 2 University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706. 3 The Krell Institute, 1609 Golden Aspen Dr., Ames, IA 50010. 4 Princeton Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, 451 Princeton, NJ 08543. 5 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Washington, Box 352400, Seattle, WA 98195-2250. E-mail: woodruff7@ fusionnow.org 7 0164-0313/05/0600-0007/0 Ó 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. Journal of Fusion Energy, Vol. 24, Nos. 1/2, June 2005 (Ó 2005) DOI: 10.1007/s10894-005-6921-0