When faced with limited opportunities, Austrian physicist Georg Harrer chose innovation over compromise. From securing a prestigious EUROfusion grant to co-leading the design of STAR_Lite, a university-scale stellarator in the U.S., his journey reflects a fusion of ambition, resilience, and global collaboration. Now back in Austria, Harrer continues to shape the future of fusion research, blending academic passion with entrepreneurial spirit in a workshop steeped in family history. This is the story of a scientist who turned challenges into catalysts and brought the stars a little closer to Earth.
Austrian Fusion Ambassador Reaching for STAR_Lite
There is an English proverb that says: “If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!”. That is how Austrian physicist Georg Harrer looks at challenges.
At the end of his PhD, determined to continue his work as a fusion scientist in Austria, Georg applied for a highly competitive EUROfusion Researcher Grant.
Securing one of just ten of these two-year PostDoc positions awarded annually across Europe was a major achievement. The grant enabled him to deepen his work on tokamaks and gave him a passport to visit major fusion devices all over the continent.
Leaving Austria or Fusion Research
After finishing this PostDoc, he was again faced with the common challenge for Austria’s young fusion researchers: a scarcity of local, long-term positions. “The choice is often between leaving Austria or leaving fusion research,” Georg explains, “and I wasn’t keen on either.”
Ambitious to create a solution, he teamed up with Christopher Albert from TU Graz. They designed a proposal for a new Austrian experiment, “ALPS” (Adaptable Lab for Prototyping Stellarators), and applied for a EUROfusion Enabling Research Grant, earning the backing of much of the European stellarator community.
“I still think it was a very, very cool idea,” Georg recalls, “but unfortunately, there were apparently 15 better projects, and we didn’t get the funding.”
A Door across the Ocean
But when one door closed, another opened across the ocean. In the US, Professor Calvin Lowe at Hampton University submitted a remarkably similar proposal for a university-scale stellarator to the US Department of Energy and secured funding. Dr. Lowe offered Georg the role of Experimental Lead and a Tenure Track Assistant Professor position to help bring the vision to life.
In August 2024, Georg moved his family overseas. The summer before Georg had co-authored a successful collaborative grant proposal with the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and North Carolina State University. The $1.4 million Department of Energy RENEW grant was not for hardware, but for people: its goal is to establish an Interdisciplinary Fusion Workforce Hub. As Assistant Professor, his role was to teach, set up the lab and lead the conceptual design of the stellarator, named “STAR_Lite.”
Building Fusion Futures at Hampton
The STAR_Lite stellarator is already taking shape on three large optics tables in the Hampton Physics Laboratory. It’s a true hands-on project. “The complex, twisted shapes of stellarator coils are notoriously difficult to manufacture,” Georg explains.
The RENEW grant enabled them to recruit some of Hampton University’s (HU) best undergraduate students. They also offered a HU Fusion Summer Research Internship.
“When the students started, they were planning careers as electrical or software engineers and had never even heard of fusion,” he says. “Now, they are really enthusiastic about it. This is exactly what the grant is for: opening the door into fusion for the next generation.”
From the Lab to Industry Leaders
The summer program culminated in a trip to Boston, giving the students a tour of the American fusion ecosystem. They visited the fusion start-up Type One Energy, which agreed to help the team with the difficult task of bending their metallic coils supports. The students also toured the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT and the Commonwealth Fusion Systems SPARC site, seeing the cutting edge of the industry they are now a part of.
Bringing the Mission Home to Austria
Though he greatly enjoyed the project and working with the students at Hampton, family reasons have recently brought Georg back to Austria. However, his connection to the project remains strong. He continues to contribute as a remote Research Professor, overseeing the ongoing development of the STAR_Lite stellarator from across the Atlantic.
His time in the US also ignited a new passion. “I really enjoyed teaching Introductory Physics I and II at Hampton,” he says, “so much so that I applied for a part-time physics teacher position back home to keep doing it.”
Family Roots meeting the Future
With the rest of his time, he is embarking on his most ambitious venture yet. He has founded harrer.tech, a new company aimed at contributing to the fusion industry. In a story of deep family roots meeting the future, the company is headquartered in the same workshop his family ran as a car mechanic shop from 1896 to 2024. From this historic space, he hopes to tackle the problem he faced at the start of his career. “Maybe,” he says with a smile, “I can solve the issue of limited fusion career paths in Austria via the private route.”
Just apply!
Georg knows how to turn a challenge into an opportunity. It’s a mindset he encourages in young scientists considering applying for grants like the one that started his journey: “Just apply. It is really cool and worth it!”