The rapid advancements in fusion energy research underlines an urgent need for a strong workforce capable of driving future fusion engineering and technology developments. These advancements, coupled with the White House’s bold decadal vision for commercial fusion energy, highlight the pressing need to grow, diversify, and sustainably develop the talent pipeline in fusion engineering and technology. To address this critical demand, we have launched the “Initiatives to Grow New Innovate Talent to Enable Fusion Energy (IGNITE Fusion Energy)” project, funded by the Department of Energy’s Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) program. This project aims to leverage the collective strengths of six academic institutions (Tennessee Tech University, Tennessee State University, Tuskegee University, Southern Adventist University, Missouri University of Science and Technology, and University of Tennessee – Knoxville), the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and more than ten private fusion companies to create workforce training initiatives and enhance curriculum development, thereby preparing a new generation of researchers and technicians for careers in fusion engineering and technology.

This initiative is developed around the following three objectives.

1. We will establish a student mentoring program to involve undergraduate and graduate students through consecutive summer internships at ORNL and a private fusion company, where they will gain hands-on experience with cutting-edge research and commercial applications of fusion technology. Students will also benefit from continued mentorship in the form of career guidance and professional development during academic semesters.
2. We will collectively develop a series of new courses and special-topics modules to be implemented at participating universities, which will be shared publicly with the broader academic community. This curriculum development effort will be guided by private fusion companies and national lab leaders, reflecting the needs and recent advancements in fusion engineering and technology.
3. To promote the sustainability of the project efforts, we will create an inaugural entrepreneurship and innovation focused bootcamp – the Fusion Innovation Bootcamp – designed for sustained training and participation of students in fusion engineering. Student trainees will engage with fusion startup professionals, national lab researchers, and university faculties in a dynamic curriculum featuring lectures, panels, hands-on sessions, and pitch presentations.

The integration of student mentoring, curriculum development, and bootcamp engagement ensures that the training and involvement of participants is sustained beyond the duration of this RENEW project and into the future of fusion engineering and technology. This RENEW project aims to sustainably improve workforce conversion and retention, increase representation of underrepresented and economically disadvantaged minorities in the fusion industry, enrich fusion engineering curricula across academia with vital course materials, and establish a sustainable talent pipeline from academic institutions to the public and private fusion sectors.