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A Performance Assessment of NASA's Heliophysics Program (2009)

Chapter: Appendix B: Committee and Staff Biographical Information

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2009. A Performance Assessment of NASA's Heliophysics Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12608.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2009. A Performance Assessment of NASA's Heliophysics Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12608.
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Page 63
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2009. A Performance Assessment of NASA's Heliophysics Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12608.
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Page 64
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2009. A Performance Assessment of NASA's Heliophysics Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12608.
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Page 65
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2009. A Performance Assessment of NASA's Heliophysics Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12608.
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Page 66

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Appendix B Committee and Staff Biographical Information STEPHEN A. FUSELIER, Co-Chair, is a researcher at Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center. He has been involved with the development of the IMAGE (Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration) spacecraft since its inception. Dr. Fuselier served as co-investigator on two instruments on-board IMAGE: Far Ultraviolet (FUV) imagers and the Low Energy Neutral Atom (LENA) imager. He also led the U.S. investiga- tion on the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) on the joint European Space Agency/NASA ROSETTA mission. Dr. Fuselier is the author or co-author of over 60 scientific publications, a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and the 1995 recipient of the AGU James B. ­Macelwane Award. He served on the NRC Committee on Distributed Arrays of Small Instruments for Research and M ­ onitoring in Solar-­Terrestrial Physics: A Workshop, Committee on the Assessment of the Role of Solar and Space Physics in NASA’s Space Exploration Initiative, and Committee on Exploration of the Outer Heliosphere: A Workshop. RODERICK A. HEELIS, Co-Chair, is a Cecil and Ida Green Honors Professor at the University of Texas at Dallas where he is also director of the William B. Hanson Center for Space Sciences. He is active in observation and modeling research and education programs devoted to understanding the electrodynamic interactions between charged and neutral particles in the space environments of Earth and other planets. He has been a principal inves- tigator for grant and contract research sponsored by NASA, DoD and NSF, presently serving as the principal investigator on the NASA Coupled Ion Neutral Dynamics Investigation (CINDI). Dr. Heelis is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and has served on the NASA Sun-Earth Connections Advisory subcommittee, the NASA Space Science Advisory Committee, the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics, and the NRC Solar and Space Physics Survey Committee. THOMAS BERGER is solar physicist at the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory. He specializes in the design, implementation, and use of advanced optical filters in studies of the Sun’s magnetic field and outer atmosphere. Dr. Berger has been involved in the SOHO/MDI, TRACE, and SDO/HMI satellite instrument pro- grams. He has been principal investigator on two NASA grants studying the smallest observable magnetic fields on the Sun and is currently a co-investigator on the Japanese Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope mission where he has discovered new flows in solar filaments. Dr. Berger’s technical specialties include image and movie processing and analysis, optical telescope design, optical filter and polarimetric instrumentation and analysis. He has served 62

APPENDIX B 63 on several NASA proposal evaluation committees as well as the Missions Operations Working Group and is cur- rently the chair of the NSF Advanced Technology Solar Telescope Science Working Group. JACK R. JOKIPII (NAS) is the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Regents’ Professor at the University of Arizona. Dr. Jokipii’s research is in the areas of theoretical astrophysics and space physics. His research covers the transport and acceleration of cosmic rays and energetic particles in the solar wind and in the galaxy, with major emphasis on the Ulysses and ACE space missions. Dr. Jokipii and his research group conduct theoretical research to determine the transport coefficients of energetic particles in irregular plasmas and magnetic fields. Dr. Jokipii was a member of the NRC Panel on Theory, Computation, and Data Exploration of the Committee on Solar and Space Physics: A Community Assessment and Strategy for the Future. He currently chairs the NRC Panel on Physical Sciences of the Associateship and Fellowship Programs Advisory Committee and serves on the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics. KRISHAN KHURANA is a professor of space physics in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences and the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Khurana has worked on many theoretical and empirical investigations relating to the magnetospheres of Venus, Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn and is currently a co-investigator on the MAG investigation onboard Galileo. His recent research has covered theoretical models for flux ropes, a semi-theoretical model for the structure of the Venusian bow shock, ULF waves in outer magnetospheres, the structure and composition of the Jovian plasma sheet, and the maintenance of corotation in the Jovian magnetosphere. Dr. Khurana was a member of the NRC Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration. He currently serves on the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics. DANA WARFIELD LONGCOPE is an associate professor of physics at Montana State University-Bozeman. Dr. Longcope conducts theoretical research on the basic physics of magnetic fields in ionized plasmas and the application of these concepts to magnetic fields on the Sun. He has studied the storage and release of magnetic energy in the Sun’s corona through a process known as reconnection. Dr. Longcope’s honors and awards include a 1997 ­Faculty Early Career Development grant from the National Science Foundation, the 2000 Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering, the 2003 Karen Harvey Prize from the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society, and the 2003 Charles and Nora L. Wiley Award for Meritorious Research from Montana State University. He is a member of the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics and previously served on the NRC Panel on Solar Astronomy of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee. GANG LU is a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research High Altitude Observatory. Dr. Lu specializes in space physics, with an emphasis on high-latitude ionospheric electrodynamics and the coupling of the solar wind with the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere. In particular, she analyzes and interprets space- and ground-based observations of ionospheric and magnetospheric electrodynamic quantities, and models and interprets disturbances in the ionosphere and thermosphere. One of her most significant accomplishments was to obtain the first quantitative assessment of interhemispheric asymmetry of high-latitude ionospheric convection configuration, which she achieved by combining and analyzing a large set of multi-instrument data. This collaborative study formed the backbone of the National Science Foundation-sponsored Global Environment Modeling Boundary Layer Campaigns. Dr. Lu is currently Secretary General of the Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics, which is an interdisciplinary body of the International Council for Science, and is a former member of the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics. KRISTINA A. LYNCH is associate professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College. Her research interests cover auroral space plasma physics; ionospheric and mesospheric sounding rocket experiments, instrumentation, and data analysis; and wave-particle interactions in the auroral ionosphere. Dr. Lynch leads the Rocket Laboratory where studies are conducted on the structure and dynamics of auroral acceleration, specifically on sounding rocket missions such as Cascades; and on the use of multiple-payload probes to look at spatial and temporal variations in auroral precipitation. Other studies at the Rocket Laboratory include the FAST auroral satellite data set, which

64 A PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF NASA’S HELIOPHYSICS PROGRAM allows statistical investigations of auroral processes, and the development of a large calibration/plasma vacuum chamber to characterize the response of particle detectors to the auroral plasma. Dr. Lynch served on the NRC Committee on Plasma 2010: An Assessment of and Outlook for Plasma and Fusion Science and currently serves on the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics. FRANK B. McDONALD (NAS) is a pioneer and leader in cosmic-ray astrophysics and high-energy astronomy in general. He is also well known in the areas of solar wind and planetary magnetospheres. He is currently a senior research scientist in the Institute for Physical Science and Technology at the University of Maryland and formerly served as NASA chief scientist. Dr. McDonald has been involved in the study of energetic particles in the heliosphere for many years. His energetic particle experiments on the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft continue to be a resource for studying the dynamics of the outer heliosphere and the properties of low-energy galactic and anomalous cosmic rays. Dr. McDonald is a former NAS Section 16 liaison and was chair of the NRC Panel on Space Sciences. He also served on the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics and Committee on NASA Astrophysics Performance Assessment. MICHAEL MENDILLO is a professor of astronomy and of electrical and computer engineering at Boston Uni- versity. Dr. Mendillo leads a space physics research group that studies the upper atmospheres of Earth, moons, and planets. Dr. Mendillo’s research includes the use of radio science experiments to investigate the ionospheres of Earth, Mars, and Saturn; low-light-level imaging of subvisual emissions from the Earth atmosphere; and active experiments where gaseous perturbations are introduced into space plasmas and the resulting effects observed. His studies have led to the discovery of large, tenuous sodium atmospheres escaping from Jupiter, the Moon, comet Hale-Bopp, and Mercury. Dr. Mendillo previously served on the NRC Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration, the Committee on Solar and Space Physics, and the Space Studies Board. ROBERT E. PALMER is an expert on science policy and the U.S. Congress. He was staff director for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Science for 12 years until his retirement in January 2005. As staff ­director, Dr. Palmer was involved in policy matters related to space, energy, environment, and the physical sciences. He also organized or supervised hundreds of congressional hearings, and drafted or supervised the drafting of scores of bills, including agency authorization bills, which became public law. In addition, Dr. Palmer was the committee’s lead staff member involved in analyzing federal R&D budgets and interacting with the House and Senate Appro- priations Committees. Dr. Palmer served on the NRC Committee on NASA Astrophysics Performance Assessment, Committee on Solar and Space Physics, and Committee on Distributed Arrays of Small Instruments for Research and Monitoring in Solar-Terrestrial Physics: A Workshop. Staff BRANT SPONBERG, Study Director, is also the associate director of SSB, the senior program officer for the Committee on Solar and Space Physics, and a study director for the astrophysics decadal survey. Before joining the SSB, Mr. Sponberg was a program analyst with the Department of Energy (2007-2008), managed commer- cial launch and innovative technology development programs at NASA Headquarters (2004-2006), staffed the development of the Vision for Space Exploration under the NASA Comptroller (2003-2004), and covered NASA programs for the White House Office of Management and Budget (1997-2003). Mr. Sponberg received his M.A. in science, technology, and public policy from George Washington University (1997) and his A.B. in astrophysics and history from Harvard University (1995). CARMELA J. CHAMBERLAIN has worked for the National Academies since 1974. She started as a senior project assistant at the Institute for Laboratory Animals for Research, which is now a board in the Division on Earth and Life Sciences, where she worked for 2 years, then transferred to the Space Science Board, which is now the Space Studies Board (SSB). She is now a program associate with the SSB.

APPENDIX B 65 CATHERINE A. GRUBER is an assistant editor with the Space Studies Board. She joined SSB as a senior pro- gram assistant in 1995. Ms. Gruber first came to the NRC in 1988. She was a research assistant (chemist) in the National Institute of Mental Health’s Laboratory of Cell Biology for 2 years. She has a B.A. in natural science from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

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Since the 1990s, the pace of discovery in the field of solar and space physics has accelerated, largely owing to NASA investments in its Heliophysics Great Observatory fleet of spacecraft. These enable researchers to investigate connections between events on the Sun and in the space environment by combining multiple points of view.

Recognizing the importance of observations of the Sun-to-Earth system, the National Research Council produced a solar and space physics decadal survey in 2003, laying out the Integrated Research Strategy. This strategy provided a prioritized list of flight missions, plus theory and modeling programs, that would advance the relevant physical theories, incorporate those theories in models that describe a system of interactions between the Sun and the space environment, obtain data on the system, and analyze and test the adequacy of the theories and models.

Five years later, this book measures NASA's progress toward the goals and priorities laid out in the 2003 study. Unfortunately, very little of the recommended priorities will be realized before 2013. Mission cost growth, reordering of survey mission priorities, and unrealized budget assumptions have delayed nearly all of the recommended NASA spacecraft missions. The resulting loss of synergistic capabilities in space will constitute a serious impediment to future progress.

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