Sam Frank, the head of the University of Wisconsin-Madison startup Realta Fusion’s theoretical physics team, Kai Shih, a Realta scientist, and Aaron Tran, a UW-Madison postdoctoral researcher, have spent years designing a model that shook up the order of the fusion world.
The team of researchers collaborated to build a computer model for their magnetic mirror fusion device prototype Wisconsin High-temperature-superconducing Axisymmetric Mirror (WHAM), demonstrating control of plasma instabilities and catching their simulations up with 40 years’ worth of research into other fusion designs. Overall, Realta’s scientists said the project has pushed them forward in the fusion race.
Read the full story here: https://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2025/10/how-three-madison-researchers-broke-ground-in-the-fusion-world