Patrick H. Diamond, Ph.D.

Patrick H. Diamond

Principal Investigator and Distinguished Professor of Physics & Astronomy and Astrophysics — University of California San Diego

Patrick Diamond is an internationally recognized theoretical plasma physicist. His specific interests relate to areas of plasma and fluid turbulence, transport, dynamo theory, and plasma astrophysics.

Prof. Diamond has been Principal Investigator of the Fusion and Astrophysical Plasma Physics Group at CASS, UC San Diego for nearly 30 years. He is also Director of the Center for Fusion Theory at the Southwestern Institute of Physics in Chengdu.

Prof. Diamond recently served as lead coordinator for the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics Program “Staircase 21.” Previously, he was Director of the WCI Fusion Theory Institute at the National Fusion Research Institute in Korea (2010-2014), as well as Co-Principal Investigator of the Center for Momentum Transport and Flow Self-Organization at UC San Diego.

Professor Diamond joined the University of California San Diego faculty in 1987 and became Distinguished Professor in 2007. Professor Diamond has been the primary advisor of more than 36 graduate students and 35 postdoctoral researchers.

Prof. Diamond's honors include:

  • European Physical Society's Hannes Alfvén Prize, EPS Plasma Physics Division (2011) — shared with Hasegawa and Mima
  • IAEA Nuclear Fusion Journal Award (2012)
  • Elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (1986)
  • Southwestern Institute of Physics Global Expert Award (2015, 2016-2021)
  • Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (1988)
  • Outstanding Paper Award, Journal of Physical Society of Japan (2012)
  • High End Foreign Expert Award, Beijing University (2014)
  • National Science Foundation's Presidential Young Investigator Award (1989)
  • Finalist for the Alan T. Waterman Award Competition, National Science Foundation (1990, 1991)
  • Technical Achievement Award by Martin Marietta Energy Systems, ORNL (1985)
  • Karl Taylor Compton Graduate Fellowship at MIT (1976-1979)

Prof. Diamond earned his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1979. He then became a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study in New Jersey and a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Fusion Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.


On the Web

Email: pdiamond@ucsd.edu

Center for Space and Astrophysics Sciences: cass.ucsd.edu

Center for Energy Research: cer.ucsd.edu

UC San Diego Department of Physics: faculty profile

UC San Diego Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics: faculty page


Recent Publications

ORCID iD for Patrick H. Diamond

ORCID iD iconhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3273-2604