Peninsula College is a small community college located on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State in the town of Port Angeles. We are the primary secondary education provider for the Olympic Peninsula, a somewhat economically depressed area. Our students come from all walks of life, from high school students through working individuals looking for more skills/career training.
I started this project with the intent to provide an undergraduate research experience for my physics students. The idea for the fusor project was spawned from an article in Popular Science about a high school student who built a small fusor in his parents garage over the course of a couple of years. I thought, gee, if he could do it, why couldn't we do this? I pitched the idea to the administration of the college, and here we are.
There is no guarantee that these projects are possible, feasible, or probable. But that isn't the point. The point is to provide real experience for the students about how science is done. The blood, sweat, and tears that are inevitable while doing research will be a great experience for them when they move on to a four year college. And let's face it, what college is not going to want a student who, in their spare time, built a working fusion reactor?
As with life, this is a work in progress. Enjoy!