MACPHERSON JOINS PRINCETON FUSION LAB TO HEAD COMMUNICATIONS.

PRINCETON, NJ -- The following information was released by Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL):

The director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has named a new head of communications whose duties will include leading the media relations effort at the facility.

Kitta MacPherson, an award-winning science writer, has assumed the role of director of communications for PPPL. Scientists at the laboratory are collaborating with researchers across the globe to harness fusion energy -- a clean, potentially limitless energy source based on the same reaction that powers our sun -- as an energy source for the world.

MacPherson comes to PPPL from the Office of Communications at Princeton University, where she was the lead science writer and media liaison to Princeton's research faculty for three years. During her tenure there, she won gold and silver medals from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for her news releases on subjects including astronomical sciences, chemistry, physics, mathematics, molecular biology, music theory, and public health.

During an award-winning career in daily newspaper journalism, most of it at The Star-Ledger of Newark, MacPherson reported on breakthroughs in science, including the tritium results on the laboratory's Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor or TFTR, and examined the research behind the controversies over genetically engineered food and global warming.

"We are delighted that Kitta is joining us so we can continue to tell the exciting story of fusion energy and plasma science," Prager said. "Communication of our research is a crucial component of our laboratory activity and we welcome her expertise."

Earlier, she was a reporter and manager of the Star-Ledger's Passaic Bureau in Paterson and a police reporter at the Bergen Record in Hackensack.

At PPPL, she will direct media relations and will be responsible for both external and internal communications, linking up with the energy policy community and local community groups. She will serve as the lead media contact and spokesperson for the lab. She will write stories and edit other materials produced by the office of Communications and lead an effort to develop new content employing video, social media and the capacities of the internet to tell the story of fusion energy.

"The long time scale in making fusion energy a commercially available source only emphasizes the need for a good, balanced communications effort," MacPherson said. "I am so excited to be part of this effort to convey the importance of this research."

A magna cum laude graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University, MacPherson has won a Science-in-Society Award from the National Association of Science Writers, a National Communications Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and several awards from the New Jersey Press Association.

MacPherson lives in Skillman with her husband and children.

She succeeds Anthony DeMeo, who has retired after a long, distinguished career at the laboratory.

The DOE lab, managed by Princeton University for the DOE Office of Science, is sited on 88 acres of the University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro, N.J.

MacPherson can be reached at kittamac@pppl.gov, 609-243-2755. Information on fusion and PPPL's programs is available at: www.pppl.gov. The lab welcomes visits by the press and public.