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Name
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Institution
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Website/
ORCID
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Personal Statement
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Bea Gallardo-
Lacourt (Chair)
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GSFC & CUA
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Website/
ORCID
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My research interests are in magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, specifically space plasma phenomena that take place at auroral and subauroral latitudes. I have experience combining in-situ and ground-based instrumentation to understand plasma dynamics at those latitudes. More recently, I have been involved with understanding the physics behind the formation and evolution of a new ionospheric phenomena termed STEVE. In addition to research, I currently serve as Associate Investigator for the NASA Mission Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH), chair of the GEM Focus Group “Mesoscale Drivers of the Nightside Transition Region,” and the GDC ground-based coordination lead. In addition, I am the Geospace editor for AGU books, and I serve as secretary in the National Society of Hispanic Physicists. My motivation to participate in the Early Career (EC) Leadership Advisory Committee (LAC) is to bring the perspective of my EC peers to the SPA leadership. I hope that the initiatives of the EC-LAC can make EC progress easier to navigate, as well as bring benefits to the entire SPA community.
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Robert C. Allen
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JHU/APL
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Website/
ORCID
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My research interests lie in space plasma phenomena. This includes particle acceleration in the solar wind, interactions between the solar wind and planetary magnetospheres and surfaces, sources and evolution of magnetospheric plasma, wave-particle interactions, and space flight instrumentation. Experience includes comprehensive studies of plasma origin and subsequent evolution and acceleration in the magnetospheres of Venus, Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, investigations of EMIC wave generation and propagation in the Earth’s outer magnetosphere, particle acceleration in the solar wind, as well as space flight instrumentation/calibration and space mission design. Responsibilities include serving as the Instrument Scientist for the Suprathermal Ion Spectrograph (SIS) sensor on Solar Orbiter, as a member of the Parker Solar Probe Project Science team, and as an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences.
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B. L. Alterman
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SwRI
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ORCID
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TBD |
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Tibebu Getachew Ayalew
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GSFC & CUA
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Website/
ORCID
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TBD |
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Muhammad Fraz Bashir
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UCLA
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Website/
ORCID
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The primary goal of my research is to gain a better understanding of the complex electromagnetic phenomena in the Sun-Earth system, and their role in predicting/modeling space weather events, and quantifying particle loss, acceleration, and transport mechanisms that regulate the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere dynamics. I develop theoretical plasma wave models, analyze space missions' data (THEMIS, ELFIN, MMS and Van Allen Probes), employ test particle simulations, and perform 3D global modeling of the Earth’s magnetosphere. I have taught physics courses to undergraduate and graduate levels physics students and taught applied physics courses to engineering and computer science students. I have mentored numerous undergraduate and graduate students. I have worked with different organizations/societies (AGU, GEM, APS, ASICTP, PPS) and used social media (e.g., Facebook pages) to promote Physics outreach and education and enhance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Especially, I am the current Chair for SPA Nomination Task Force and Member-At-Large for Geospace Environmental Modelling (GEM) Steering Committee and member of some AGU Award committees.
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Jan Deca
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LASP
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Website/
ORCID
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Throughout my career I have focused on modeling the ion and electron dynamics of bodies immersed in plasma, including dust and tiny magnets exposed to a laboratory plasma, spacecraft such as the Parker Solar Probe, instruments deployed on regolith surfaces, outgassing comets such as 67P, lunar magnetic anomalies such as Reiner Gamma, and planetary magnetospheres such as Mercury. The connection throughout has always been to explore key scientific challenges by exploiting the synergies between in-situ observations, simulation models and laboratory experiments, in order to characterize the role of localized plasma processes in regulating the large-scale dynamics and evolution of the system.
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Gilly
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SwRI
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Website/
ORCID
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I am a recent graduate from the Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences Department at the University of Colorado Boulder, where I worked for Dr. Steven Cranmer in the LASP Space Sciences Building. Now I work at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, forward-modeling the solar atmosphere's magnetic environment. I am honored to be one of the inaugural Associate Investigators for the PUNCH mission (website), as well as the AGU SPA Webmaster (website). I also volunteer my time as a Public Talk Facilitator at the Fiske Planetarium (website, YouTube).
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Mike Heyns
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Schmidt Science Fellow, Imperial College London
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Website/
ORCID
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My current research interests lie in the hybrid coupling of machine learning approaches and physics-based models/simulations for operational space weather deployment. This forms part of my broader focus of driving research to operations activities and delivering space weather forecasting products to end-users within the UK, Europe and Africa. My background has chiefly been in geophysical modelling and power systems engineering, where my research focused on modelling and understanding the effects of geomagnetically induced currents.
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Bharat Kunduri
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VT
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Website/
ORCID
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My research focuses on understanding the dynamics of the coupling between the magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere system. In particular, I utilize data from the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) to analyze features like Sub Auroral Polarization Streams and their impact on mid-latitude ionospheric electrodynamics. Some of my more more recent work involves analyzing the behavior of high-frequency radio wave propagation and determining the relationship between features like sporadic-E and thermospheric tides. |
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Hadi Madanian
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CU-Boulder / LASP
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Website/
ORCID
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My research is on plasma processes and boundaries around objects in the solar system. I received my PhD from the University of Kansas, where I studied solar wind interactions with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In my recent work, I have concentrated on ion kinetic processes and nonstationarity effects at Earth’s bow shock. I have been involved in analysis of returned data from several NASA missions including, Cassini, Rosetta (ESA+NASA), RBSP, MMS, THEMIS, and MAVEN. I combine spacecraft data analysis with theoretical models and numerical simulations and make model-observation comparisons when possible.
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Ryan McGranaghan
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Orion Space Solutions
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Website/
ORCID
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Ryan McGranaghan is a Data Scientist and Research Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he works with the Machine Learning and Instrument Autonomy (MLIA) group to apply data science techniques robustly and responsibly to the Earth and Space Sciences, to cultivate cross-NASA Center collaborations, and to explore more cohesive and plural scientific communities.
Ryan studies the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere system, focusing on multiscale coupling phenomena like ionospheric conductivity. He bridges across basic and applied research, using improved understanding of the coupled system to help improve the resiliency of technologies and life affected by space weather.
In all of his work, Ryan takes a multi-disciplinary (what he terms ‘antidisciplinary’) approach to the study of space, bringing together traditional space physics with innovation from the fields of data science and sociology.
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Sebastijan Mrak
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CU Boulder
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Website/
ORCID
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TBD |
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Agnit Mukhopadhyay 
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The MathWorks Inc.
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LinkedIn/
ORCID
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I am an aerospace engineer turned space scientist with a penchant for computer science. My research expertise broadly encompasses visualizing geophysical data using advanced numerical methodologies and state-of-the-art software schemes to conduct physics experiments. My interests lie in global simulations of atmospheric and near-Earth space environment data, 3D mathematical modeling and projections, geo-scenarios involving satellite constellations and geodesy in planetary environments. My geophysics background has predominantly been in space weather and magnetosphere-ionosphere physics, while my engineering background trained me in investigating fluid dynamics and plasma physics. I am currently involved in an industrial role that employs the best of both my engineering and scientific training to develop Next-Gen visualization software for mapping in-situ and statistical data in applied STEM tools.
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Savvas Raptis
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JHU/APL
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Website/
ORCID
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My research interests are in the broader field of Heliophysics, space physics and machine learning applications. So far, I have mostly worked on collisionless shocks in space plasmas and in particular around the Earth’s bow shock. I have studied foreshock phenomena, the evolution of waves and their connection to particle dynamics. I have also worked on different forecasting projects, using neural networks to classify high-speed jets downstream of the Earth’s bow shock, and forecast solar energetic particles (SEPs). My main observational work has been through the NASA’s Magnetosphere Multiscale mission, for which I have been contributing as a Scientist-in-the-loop (SITL) for many years. Recently, I started working more on nightside phenomena of Earth’s magnetosphere by combining the use of simulations and data-driven models.
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Phyllis Whittlesey
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UCB/SSL
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Website/
ORCID
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I am a research scientist and the Deputy Associate Director of Solar and Heliophysics at the University of California, Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL). My areas of expertise include space plasma instrumentation and development and on the ways measurement techniques can affect scientific analysis. My scientific research interests lie in large scale structures in the solar wind and in solar wind interactions with planetary magnetospheres all over the solar system. Additionally, I am the instrument lead or principal investigator of 6 low-energy electron electrostatic analyzers on operating or in-development missions such as Parker Solar Probe (PSP), Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE), and the upcoming HelioSwarm mission's student instrument project. I also serve on the Committee on Solar and Space Physics. I like art, science, and the places where they meet.
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