Project Descriptions
Spring 2024

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Showing 14 projects out of 14 found. On page 1 out of 1.
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Turbulent field topology and particle scattering in the Solar Corona

Christopher Chaston - Research Physicist, Space Sciences Laboratory

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: Off Campus

In this project we seek to advance understanding of how turbulent electromagnetic field topologies may scatter ions in the plasmas close to Sun. This process may drive heating and energization of the ion distributions through this region of space and forces plasma outward from the Sun in the Solar Wind (more...)

Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Relativistic electron scattering in electromagnetic turbulence

Christopher Chaston - Research Physicist, Space Sciences Laboratory

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: Off Campus

Recent discoveries in near-Earth space have demonstrated a correlation between rapid changes in relativistic electron populations and the onset of intervals of electromagnetic turbulence during geomagnetic storms. Understanding the dynamics of these energetic particles remains an enigma despite decades of observations and theoretical modeling. Multiple processes have been identified (more...)

Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Energy Transport, Conversion and Dissipation in Earth's Magnetotail

Christopher Chaston - Research Physicist, Space Sciences Laboratory

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: Off Campus

Understanding turbulence in fluids and plasmas is one of the great challenges of physics. In Earth's near-space environment, known as the magnetosphere, turbulent fluctuations in electromagnetic fields and flows transport vast quantities of energy inward toward Earth through a channel of stretched magnetic field known as the magnetotail. This (more...)

Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Flow tracing through the auroral acceleration region

Christopher Chaston - Research Physicist, Space Sciences Laboratory

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: Off Campus

The spectacular display of light seen at high latitudes and known as the aurora is a consequence of the conversion of electromagnetic energy to particle kinetic energy. The motions in these luminous features are a marker for how the energy conversion operates. This project seeks to trace the motion of (more...)

Mathematical and Physical Sciences
The Background and Transient Observer (BTO) for the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI)

Juan Carlos Martinez Oliveros - Research Scientist, Space Sciences Laboratory

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

Much of the high-energy Universe remains an enigma, with some phenomena that have been discovered—like gamma-ray bursts, magnetar flares, and supernovae— still to be studied, analyzed and better understood. With the development of technology in the soft/medium gamma-ray regime, we are able to “see” the (more...)

Engineering, Design & Technologies, Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Solar Probe SWEAP and MAVEN PF spacecraft instrument operations and analysis

Tony Mercer - Research Scientist, Space Sciences Laboratory

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

The undergraduate researcher will assist in the operations of the Solar Probe SWEAP instruments and the MAVEN PF instruments, including spacecraft coordination, science data pipeline and processing, instrument health and safety, and python data reduction and visualization software. As a note, the researcher may need to visit the lab occasionally (more...)

Techniques in Radio Cosmology Instrumentation

Raul Monsalve - Research Scientist, Space Sciences Laboratory

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

The Radio Cosmology Group (RCG) at the Space Sciences Laboratory is a leader in the study of the first billion years of the Universe through the design and operation of state-of-the art radio frequency instrumentation to measure radio waves from space. We are seeking an undergraduate research assistant (more...)

Engineering, Design & Technologies, Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Energy release and interlinked magnetic fields in Earth’s dynamic magnetotail

Marit Oieroset - Research Physicist, Space Sciences Laboratory

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

The Earth’s magnetotail is a dynamic space plasma environment where energy is continuously built up and released in the form of high-speed plasma jets, high energy particles, and bright auroral displays. The main physical process responsible for this energy release is believed to be magnetic reconnection, a universal plasma (more...)

Engineering, Design & Technologies, Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Data Visualization and Selection for NASA’s MMS Mission

Mitsuo Oka - Research Scientist, Space Sciences Laboratory

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

NASA’s Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS) mission consists of a fleet of four spacecraft orbiting Earth. Since its launch in 2015, it has made significant progress in our understanding of the planet's plasma environment, in particular the electron-scale physics of explosive energy-release phenomena. In 2024, NASA will change (more...)

Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Photon Counting Detector Technology

Oswald Siegmund - Research Physicist, Space Sciences Laboratory

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

The Experimental Astrophysics Group at the Space Sciences Laboratory is the world leader in space-borne UV detector technology for applications in astronomical and biological research. We are currently seeking undergraduates who would like to learn about, and gain hands-on experience of, the assembly and testing of microchannel plate (more...)

Engineering, Design & Technologies, Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Flux Transfer Events in Mercury's magnetosphere

Weijie Sun - Staff Researcher, Space Sciences Laboratory

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

Flux Transfer Events (FTEs) are transient phenomena that occur at the boundary between the solar wind and a planet’s magnetosphere, where magnetic reconnection allows the exchange of magnetic flux, plasma and energy. Mercury’s magnetosphere is the smallest and most dynamic among the terrestrial planets, due to its proximity to the (more...)

Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Atmospheric and ionospheric responses to geomagnetic storms observed by NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) and Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD)

Yen-Jung Wu - Staff Researcher, Space Sciences Laboratory

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

As we enter a new era of space exploration, space weather has garnered significant attention. About 100 years ago, scientists discovered that the Sun's activity influences our planet through the solar wind plasma and energetic particle burst. Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from (more...)

Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Improving the data-analysis pipeline of the COSI space mission with machine learning and more

Andreas Zoglauer - Staff Researcher, Space Sciences Laboratory

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

COSI, the Compton Spectrometer and Imager, is a NASA-funded gamma-ray telescope which is currently under development and scheduled for launch in 2027. It will observe Galactic nucleosynthesis and positron annihilation, as well as the most violent events in our Universe (supernovae, neutron star mergers) and the most extreme (more...)

Engineering, Design & Technologies, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Digital Humanities and Data Science
GAPS Antarctic Balloon Payload to Probe Dark Matter Using Galactic Particle Signatures

Andreas Zoglauer - Staff Researcher, Space Sciences Laboratory

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

The General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) is a NASA high-altitude balloon mission designed to detect messengers of dark matter interactions in the galaxy. Apprentices are needed to participate in development and testing of both hardware and online software as GAPS prepares for a December 2024 launch from Antarctica. GAPS is (more...)

Engineering, Design & Technologies, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Digital Humanities and Data Science