1st Annual Fusion Summit
9:00 AM – 12:15 PM
Location: Microsoft Research Redmond
Fusion energy represents one of humanity’s boldest scientific frontiers—a quest for virtually limitless, clean energy. On March 12, 2025, Microsoft Research hosted its inaugural Fusion Summit, a milestone event that brought together visionary leaders, pioneering scientists, and influential voices from both within and beyond Microsoft. This landmark gathering marked a powerful step forward in accelerating innovation and collaboration in the global fusion energy movement.
Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are now transforming this quest, enabling breakthroughs in plasma control, materials discovery, reactor optimization, and predictive maintenance. This research meetup explored the convergence of AI and nuclear fusion, showcasing how machine learning, digital twins, and real-time data analysis are revolutionizing fusion research and accelerating progress toward commercialization.
This summit was designed to foster connections and opportunities for individuals from various disciplines interested in nuclear fusion or related research. We explored the challenges of bringing fusion energy to the grid and the pivotal role of AI and computing in this field. The primary objective of this summit was to share knowledge, inspire attendees, and provide education through insightful panel discussions and lectures from esteemed speakers and leading experts.
The summit focused on the following key topics:
- Scientific, engineering, and policy challenges of bringing nuclear fusion from proof of concept to grid
- Plasma controls, reactor design optimization, materials for fusion and plasma modeling
- The role of AI and high-performance computing in advancing fusion
Distinguished fusion industry speakers and panelists
Richard Buttery (opens in new tab)
Director and Vice President
DIII-D National Fusion Facility
General Atomics
Microsoft speakers and panelists
(opens in new tab)Archie Manoharan (opens in new tab)
Director, Nuclear Technologies
Cloud Operations + Innovation
| Time | Session Title | Speaker(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00–09:05 | Welcome, Opening Remarks, and Distinguished Keynote Lecture: Accelerating the Development of Fusion with AI | Video | Ashley Llorens, Corporate Vice President and Managing Director, MSR Accelerator Kenji Takeda, Director, Research Incubations, MSR Accelerator Shruti Rajurkar, Senior Research Technical Program Manager, Research Incubations, MSR Accelerator Sir Steven Cowley, Lab Director, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) |
| 09:45–10:30 | AI as an Accelerator for Fusion | Video Advancing Fusion with ML/AI | Video | Richard Buttery, Director and Vice President, DIII-D National Fusion Facility, General Atomics Dave Humphreys, Director, Nuclear Fusion, General Atomics |
| 10:30–10:40 | Materials discovery for next generation energy plants | Video | Zulfi Alam, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Quantum |
| 10:40–10:50 | Break | |
| 10:50–11:20 | Research Lightning Talks | Video | Shruti Rajurkar, Senior Research Technical Program Manager, Research Incubations, MSR Accelerator Tian Xie, Principal Research Manager, MSR AI for Science Matthew Horton, Senior Research Software Develpment Engineer, MSR AI for Science Raluca Georgescu, Senior Research Scientist, MSR Redmond Xiaotian Gao, Senior Researcher, MSR Asia Archie Manoharan, Director, Nuclear Technologies, Microsoft Cloud Operations and Infrastructure |
| 11:20–12:10 | Nuclear Fusion – Fireside Discussion | Video | Ade Famoti, Senior Director, Research Incubations, MSR Accelerator (Moderator) Sir Steven Cowley, Lab Director, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) Richard Buttery, Director and Vice President, DIII-D National Fusion Facility, General Atomics Chris Bishop, Lab Director and Technical Fellow, MSR AI for Science Archie Manoharan, Director, Nuclear Technologies, Cloud Operations and Infrastructure, Microsoft |
| 12:10–12:15 | Closing remarks | Kenji Takeda, Director, Research Incubations, MSR Accelerator |
Meet the Nuclear Fusion Summit organizers
Shruti Rajurkar (opens in new tab), Kenji Takeda (opens in new tab), Ade Famoti (opens in new tab), Raluca Georgescu (opens in new tab), Neeltje Berger (opens in new tab)