David A. Schaffner

David A. Schaffner is an Associate Professor and Chair of Physics at Bryn Mawr College. He received his B.S. (2006), M.S. (2007), and Ph.D. (2013) in physics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), with a minor in mathematics. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Swarthmore College, he joined Bryn Mawr in 2015.

• B.S., Physics (Minor: Mathematics), University of California, Los Angeles, 2006
• M.S., Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, 2007
• Ph.D., Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, 2013

His research focuses on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in laboratory plasmas, utilizing advanced analytical techniques such as spectral decomposition, wavelets, probability distribution functions, and permutation entropy. He investigates energy transfer and dissipation mechanisms in MHD turbulence through experimental studies on plasma devices and comparisons with simulations and satellite data (e.g., solar wind observations).

At Bryn Mawr, he directs the Bryn Mawr Plasma Laboratory and founded the Small College Plasma Consortium. His work includes collaborations with the Large Plasma Device (LAPD) at UCLA, a joint NSF/DOE facility, where he studies turbulent suppression and transport mechanisms relevant to magnetic confinement fusion.