Even if there weren’t this overt racism and defunding in US institutions at the moment, China looks like the place to be for applied physics, especially fusion. Three tokamaks in operation right now and another state-of-the-art reactor commissioned and expected to be in operation by 2030 in a country that doesn’t seem to be plagued with the endless delays and skyrocketing budgets that western projects always face.
When the big breakthrough comes, you probably want to be around it.
I’m no nuclear physicist, but I’m heading out with my family. It’s a computer science PhD, a applied mathematician with a PhD in education, and kids on track for engineering, history, computer science, art, and mathematics (we have a whole passel of kids).
My university has spent the last four years trying to hire a second faculty member to compliment my skill set and failed every time. I hope they succeed in the future, but now they’ll need to hire two people to fully cover the classes.
Just going to leave this here: https://sccei.fsi.stanford.edu/china-briefs/reverse-brain-drain-exploring-trends-among-chinese-scientists-us
Brain drain USA let’s goooo
Hardly surprising considering the current funding climate and anti-intellectual sentiment of the current American administration. He will probably get an amazing salary and support to work on his project. Canada and Europe should set up something similar, easy visas and citizenship for American scientists and engineers.
