A stellarator confines plasma with asymmetric toroidal magnetic fields for fusion energy applications. The immense freedom in the stellarator design space provides opportunities for reducing engineering complexity and improving performance. Although the magnetic field may be far from symmetric, modern stellarators take advantage of “hidden symmetries” for enhanced confinement. This talk will provide an overview of recent advances in stellarator optimization and their application to the design of new experiments in the Columbia Plasma Laboratory. The Columbia Stellarator eXperiment (CSX) will build on the success of the Columbia Non-neutral Torus (CNT) to confine a small aspect ratio quasisymmetric plasma with two shaped interlinked coils. Using this device, we will explore the physics of quasiaxisymmetry and demonstrate non-insulated high-temperature superconducting technology for non-planar magnets.