Despite recent progress on magnetic reconnection and associated phenomena, the resolution of key issues is being inhibited by the absence of a coordinated theoretical/computational/experimental effort, the lack of data to benchmark theoretical predictions and the lack of computational tools to address the multiscale aspects of reconnection in real physical systems. The Center on Multiscale Plasma Dynamics is bringing together a critical mass of leading scientists in applied mathematics, theory and computation, and basic and fusion experiments to resolve these issues and create an environment in which it will be possible to make significant headway on the reconnection problem and fusion-relevant applications. The attack on the problem is multi-dimensional: addressing both broadly important science issues as well as fundamental and yet practical fusion topics, sawteeth and the neoclassical tearing mode. Focal topics are as follows:

• Can turbulence driven by the strong relative streaming of electrons and ions during reconnection produce sufficient anomalous resistivity to drive fast reconnection? Can we explain the strong electron and ion heating obsered in nature and the laboratory?
• What secondary instabilities dominate in the very steep pressure gradients that develop near the magnetic x-line during the sawtooth crash and can these instabilities drive the fast expulsion of energy seen in experiment?
• How does turbulence-driven plasma transport change during the slow growth of magnetic islands and how does this impact the development of the bootstrap drive of neoclassical tearing modes?
• Can new computational techniques be developed to self-consistently include kinetic effects and turbulence-driven transport and anomalous resistivity on the growth of large scale islands in fusion and astrophysical systems?