After completing my master’s degree through the Fusion-EP
program, I had the opportunity to do an internship at the
Plasma Laboratory for Fusion Energy and Applications at the
Costa Rica Institute of Technology, home to the world’s
smallest stellarator used in research, the SCR-1. My goal was
to redesign and build a Rogowski coil to measure the
bootstrap current in the SCR-1. 

Developing this project was both exciting and challenging,
requiring a great deal of proactivity and effort on my part. As a
public institution in a developing country, the laboratory
operates on a very limited budget. This meant I had to be
creative to adapt to the constraints. However, one of the lab’s
greatest strengths is its highly capable and passionate
undergraduate students, who are eager to learn and
contribute. This was incredibly helpful, as four of them joined
the project under my supervision to ensure its continuity after
my departure. 

By the end of the internship, I successfully built the new
Rogowski coil with a materials budget of under 10 euros. This
involved 3D printing with flexible materials, which required
testing their behavior under vacuum conditions. In addition to
the hands-on engineering experience, I also gained valuable
mentoring experience, something that is rarely taught in
classrooms but that I deeply value. I also had the opportunity
to participate in other activities, not only related to fusion but
also involving other plasma applications. In summary, it was a
rewarding experience that helped me grow in many different
ways.