My research falls into several areas of space physics:
- Development of magnetometers for ground and space-based studies
- Development of small-satellites
- Understanding the structure of the inner heliosphere and its impact on the magnetosphere
- Propagation of ULF waves in the magnetosphere
- The mass and electron density of the inner magnetosphere
- Magnetospheric and ionospheric coupling, and
The main question that is addressed is how different plasma populations and regions couple to facilitate energy and mass transport through the Helio/Magneto/Iono system.
Research Projects
CURRENT PROJECTS
- NASA Geospace Dynamics Constellation NEMISIS Magnetometer
- Magnetic Sensor Development for Localization and Navigation (working with UM’s Robotics Institute)
- NASA MMS Magnetometer team
- NASA HTIDES Magnetometer Development project (PI)
- Geomagnetism and Bird Migration
- NSF iMAGS project (SAMBA and AMBER)(PI)
- NASA LWS GIC Focused Science Team Geomagnetic Disturbances (PI)
- NSF MACCS project in Arctic Nunavut Canada (PI)NASA AMBER project in Africa (Co-PI with Dr. Yizengaw)
- NSF SAMBA project in South America and Antarctica (Co-I with Dr. Zesta)
- NASA Artemis Lunar Gateway HERMES Magnetometer (co-PI with Eftyhia Zesta (NASA GSFC))
SOME PAST PROJECTS (HAVE HAD OVER 80 FUNDED PROJECTS)
- Air Force DSX Magnetometer (PI)
- NASA ST-5 Magnetometers (Co-I with Dr. Strangeway)
- NSF MEASURE project in North America (PI)
- NSF McMac project in North America (Co-I with Dr. Chi)
- NSF Magnetospheric Physics Program (Co-I with Dr. Zou)
- Office of Naval Research STEM Education SENSORS Pilot project (PI)
- NASA ICEE-2 Europa Lander Magnetometer Instrument Concept project (PI)
- NSF UCLA GK-12 Science and Engineering of the Environment of Los Angeles (founding PI)
International REU program in South Africa
I’m the Director of the University of Michigan and the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) Space Weather International Research Experience for Students (IRES) program (UM-SANSA-IRES or MSI for short). We support six students per year to spend the northern hemisphere summer (8 weeks) at the SANSA Space Science Directorate located in Hermanus, South Africa working on a variety of space weather science and engineering projects. The students are paired with SANSA scientists, engineers, and post-docs to provide one-on-one research mentoring and will participate in the annual “Space Weather Winter School” held by SANSA in June and July. See UM IPE program page for more info and application. See the travel blog from one of the 2016 participants.
Moldwin Art Prize
The Moldwin Prize is designed for an undergraduate student currently enrolled in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, the Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning or the School of Music, Theatre and Dance who is interested in exchange and collaboration with students engaged in research practice in an engineering lab. No previous science or engineering experience is required, although curiosity and a willingness to explore are essential!
Students receiving the residency will spend 20 hours over 8 weeks (February-April) participating with the undergraduate research team in the lab of Professor Mark Moldwin, which is currently doing work in the areas of space weather (how the Sun influences the space environment of Earth and society) and magnetic sensor development. The resident student artist will gain a greater understanding of research methodologies in the space and climate fields, data visualization and communication techniques, and how the collision of disciplinary knowledge in the arts, engineering, and sciences deepens the creative practice and production of each discipline.
The student is expected to produce a final work of some kind within their discipline that reflects, builds on, explores, integrates, or traces their experience in the residency.
The successful applicant will receive $1000 in support of their time, materials, and creative work. More information and application.
2017 Art Prize Video by Anna Brooks and Joe Iovino (They were named the Grand Prize Winners in the Science as Art Competition in 2018)
2018 Maite Iribarren awarded Honorable Mention A second piece named Space Noise is hanging in CSRB.
2022 Art Prize Pieces by Allison Crawford ; Elsa Olander ; and Saima Siddiqui
Space Systems Engineering
At UM, I work with the Space Physics Research Laboratory (SPRL) and CLASP’s Masters of Engineering in Space Engineering program students to develop ground and space-based systems and mission designs to address space physics and space weather topics. UM will fly the first NSF-supported CubeSat mission and has developed a “Pipeline” program for furthering mission and instrument designs for future missions.
Academic Family Tree
Current Graduate Students and Postdocs:
Geoff Jenkins (Graduate Student)
Maya Fields (Graduate Student co-advised with Jeremy Bassis)
Alex Hoffmann (Graduate Student)
Cole Dorman (Graduate Student)
Former Masters Thesis Students:
Matthew Fillingim, Shelley Ford, Bret Sheeley, Paul Martin, Mark Fernandez, Jennifer Bocchicchio, Julie Feldt, Theresa Carranza-Fulmer, Max Soto-Santiago, Paige Cooley
Former Ph.D. Students:
Dave Berube/UCLA (Professor of Physics at LMU)
David Galvan/UCLA (Aerospace Corporation)
Megan Cartwright/UCLA (Manager, Data Science and Engineering at Netflix)
Mike Hartinger/UCLA (co-supervised with V. Angelopoulo; Researcher at Space Science Institute )
Xiangyun Zhang/UM (Data Scientist, Ford Motor Co. R&D)
Sidney Ellington/UM (Senior Quantitative Analytics Specialist at Wells Fargo)
Tom Heine/UM (Millenium Space Systems)
Sergio Luengo/UM(Postdoc CU-Boulder)
Ephrem Beshir/Ethiopian Space Sciences and Technology Institute/Addis Ababa University
Endalkachew Mengistu Lemma (co-advised)/Ethiopian Space Sciences and Technology Institute/Addis Ababa University
Brett McCuen (Postdoc Aerospace Corp)
Former Post-Docs:
Endawoke Yizengaw (Aerospace Corporation)
James Weygand (Research Scientist at UCLA)
Shasha Zou (Professor of Space Sciences at UM)
Patrick Sibanda (Professor of Physics at the University of Zambia)
Mike Hartinger (Research Scientist at Space Science Institute)
Arie Sheinker (Soreq National Lab, Isreal)
Prof. Melessew Nigussie (mentor – University of Michigan African Presidential Scholar – Prof at Bahir Dar University)
Leonardo Regoli (Research Scientist at JHU/Applied Physics Lab)
Yining Shi (Research Scientist at UM)
Yao Kovach (Pursuing a Start Up)
My Academic Family Tree (another different version put together by academictree.org)