[SPA] SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER, Volume XXIV, Issue 1

[Newsletter Editor]

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER
Volume XXIV, Issue 1
Jan.08,2017

Editor: Peter Chi
Co-Editor: Guan Le
Distribution Support: Sharon Uy, Marjorie Sowmendran, Todd King, Kevin Addison
E-mail: editor at igpp.ucla.edu
Announcement Submission Website: http://goo.gl/forms/qjcm4dDr4g

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Table of Contents

1. Engaging Policy Makers

2. New SPA Editors for GRL

3. REMINDER: EGU Abstracts Due January 11 

4. MEETING: Fundamental Physical Processes in Solar-Terrestrial Research and Their Relevance to Planetary Physics 2018, 7-13 January 2018, Kona, Hawaii

5. SESSION: URSI-GASS 2017 Commission G Session

6. The MMS Special Collection of JGR Is Accepting Submissions (2nd Notice)

7. RHESSI Science Nuggets in December, 2016

8. JOB OPENING: Senior Research Scientist in Magnetospheric Physics - Tenure Track

9. JOB OPENING: Post-doctoral Position in Space Physics at UIUC

10. JOB OPENING : Post-doctoral position at New Jersey Institute of Technology - CSTR

11. Subscription to SPA Newsletter: Annual Reminder

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Engaging Policy Makers

From: David Sibeck (david.g.sibeck at nasa.gov)

SPA newsletter readers may be interested in an article describing how Space Physicists reach policy makers.  A link to the article can be found at 

http://spa.agu.org/resources/advocacy/


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New SPA Editors for GRL

From: Bill.Peterson (Bill.Peterson at lasp.colorado.edu)

Bill Peterson and Benoit Lavraud have completed their terms as SPA editors for Geophysical Research Letters

Andrew Yau and Merav Opher have replaced them effective January 1, 2017.


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REMINDER: EGU Abstracts Due January 11 

From: Editor (pchi at igpp.ucla.edu)

Please be reminded that abstracts for the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly are due by January 11, 2017 (13:00 Central European Time). SPA-related sessions have been published in the SPA Newsletter on December 29 and can be found at:

http://spa.agu.org/spa-section-newsletter-volume-xxiii-issue-71/

EGU 2017 Meeting Web Site:
http://egu2017.eu/home.html


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MEETING: Fundamental Physical Processes in Solar-Terrestrial Research and Their Relevance to Planetary Physics 2018, 7-13 January 2018, Kona, Hawaii

From: Hui Zhang, Tony Lui, Qiugang Zong (hzhang14 at alaska.edu)

A conference on Fundamental Physical Processes in Solar-Terrestrial Research and Their Relevance to Planetary Physics will be held from 7 to 13 January 2018 in Kona, Hawaii.  The main theme of this conference is to focus on understanding the variability of space plasma phenomena, encompassing those related to the Sun and all planets within our solar system. 

Variability of space plasma environment is the norm rather than the exception. The cause of this variability is still under active research. In the interplanetary medium, plasma parameters change continually, permeated by plasma waves, shocks, turbulence, co-rotating interaction regions, and coronal mass ejections that agitate the environment. Such disturbances in the solar wind can lead to geomagnetic storms, which do not seem to produce relativistic electrons in the radiation belt according to their intensity. The ionosphere has variability that impacts severely radio communications. Its outflows during geomagnetic active periods can modify dramatically the magnetospheric population and physical processes within.

In other planets, plasma sources from their moons play a similar role in influencing magnetospheric environment and processes much like that of the Earth's ionospheric plasma source. Information exchange on magnetospheric research between Earth and other planets can provide valuable insights into universal processes occurring throughout our solar system. Understanding and predicting the variability of space plasma phenomena requires knowledge of not only individual physical processes or magnetospheric phenomena but also the interplay between them in a system-wide approach.

More information on the conference is available at the following link:  http://hawaiiconference2018.gi.alaska.edu

Conveners:
Hui Zhang (hzhang14 at alaska.edu)
Tony Lui (tony.lui at jhuapl.edu)
Qiugang Zong (qgzong at pku.edu.cn)


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SESSION: URSI-GASS 2017 Commission G Session

From: Archana Bhattacharyya, Emanoel Costa (abh at iigs.iigm.res.in)

The URSI General Assembly and Scientific Symposium (URSI-GASS) will be held from 19-26 August in Montreal, Canada. The Commission G program is now open for abstract submission, with a closing date of 30 January 2017. Further details are available at http://www.ursi2017.org .
Please consider submitting an abstract to the following session and traveling to Montreal to attend this conference. Kindly note that URSI supports a strong Young Scientist program, which will provide support for selected young researchers under 35 to attend this meeting. Additionally, students can also participate in the Student Paper competition. . Thus, this conference is an excellent opportunity for any early career scientists or students. The session details are as follows:

Session Title:     Advances in Irregularity and Scintillation Studies
Session Conveners: Archana Bhattacharyya; Emanoel Costa

This session emphasizes the latest developments in the study of ionospheric irregularities and scintillation. Papers that focus on the problems of scintillation on satellite-based communication and navigation systems at low and high latitudes, together with the description of models aimed at combating its effects, are particularly welcome. The session's scope also includes relevant theory, in situ observation of irregularities, as well as observations of received signals from both satellite-to-ground and satellite-to-satellite links and statistical descriptions of scintillation.


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The MMS Special Collection of JGR Is Accepting Submissions (2nd Notice)

From: Matthew Argall, Dan Gershman, Shan Wang, Rick Wilder (matthew.argall at unh.edu)

The Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR) is accepting submissions to the Magnetosphere Multiscale (MMS) special collection. The collection will gather together the wide range of discoveries made by MMS throughout its first primary mission phase. Anyone analyzing MMS data is encouraged to submit. Details are below:

SUBMISSION DATES:
Open: Dec. 1, 2016
Close: April 15, 2017

TITLE:
Magnetosphere Multiscale (MMS) mission results throughout the first primary mission phase

DESCRIPTION:
The Magnetosphere Multiscale (MMS) mission was launched March 15, 2015 with the goal of studying the microphysics of magnetic reconnection. During its second day-side pass, the inter-spacecraft separation was reduced to as little as 7km, or 2-3 electron skin depths at the magnetopause, allowing electron-scale physics to be spatially resolved and investigated. The unprecedented temporal resolution of the fields and particle instrument suites has advanced our understanding of dynamical processes from the bowshock, through the magnetosheath, across the magnetopause and into the inner magnetosphere and magnetotail. This special issue expands upon discoveries made during the first day-side and tail passes, and provides in-depth reports of new findings from the second day-side pass.


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RHESSI Science Nuggets in December, 2016

From: Hugh Hudson (hhudson at ssl.berkeley.edu)

No. 288, “Statistical Link Between Electrons Emitting X-rays and Type III Radio Bursts,” by Hamish Reid and Nicole Vilmer: understanding the statistical links between type III bursts and hard X-rays.

No. 289, “Syrovatskii’s ‘Constant Density’ approximation,” by Hugh Hudson and Paulo Simoes. Remembering S. I. Syrovatskii, and noting that the relevance of his “constant density” approximation has been verified by modern high-resolution obserfvations.

See 
http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/RHESSI_Science_Nuggets

listing the current series, 2008-present, and

http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/nuggets/ 

for the original series, 2005-2008.

We publish these at roughly two-week intervals and welcome contributions,
which should be related, at least loosely, to RHESSI science.


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JOB OPENING: Senior Research Scientist in Magnetospheric Physics - Tenure Track

From: Yuri Shprits (yshprits at gfz-potsdam.de)

The Department of Geophysics of the German Geophysical Center (GFZ) seeks exceptional candidates for a senior research scientist in magnetospheric and space physics. Candidates will be illegible to apply for a permanent position within 3 years of the start date. Expertise of a successful candidate may include, but is not limited to magnetospheric physics, ionospheric physics, heliophysics, or planetary magnetospheres. The successful candidate is expected to conduct independent research, develop and maintain a vigorous externally funded research program in a field within the addressed areas, to mentor students at graduate level. She/he will be expected to teach classes or participate in teaching classes. 

Qualifications:
- PhD and Master’s degree (or equivalent) in geophysics, physics, mathematics or related disciplines
- several years working experience and strong background in space physics
- ability and willingness to lead a research group
- exceptional publication record
- experience in securing and managing extramural funded programs from private, state, or federal sources
- strong leadership capabilities are preferred

Please submit your application by 15th February 2017 quoting the reference no. 93/23/16 G via email to applications at gfz-potsdam.de. Please combine your application documents (statement of research and teaching strategy, CV including list of publications and 3 reference contacts) into a single PDF file with a size of up to 3 megabytes.

The details of the position and how to apply may be found at : 

http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/career/job-offers/job/932316-g-senior-research-scientist-in-magnetospheric-physics-mf/


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JOB OPENING: Post-doctoral Position in Space Physics at UIUC

From: Raluca Ilie (rilie at illinois.edu)

The Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) invites applications for a postdoctoral position in geospace research, in the Electromagnetics, Optics, And Remote Sensing research group, under the guidance of Assistant Professor Raluca Ilie. The Postdoctoral Research Associate will conduct research in the field of magnetospheric physics with a focus on solar wind-geospace coupling; in particular to investigate and quantify plasma transport processes from the magnetotail into near-Earth space. The work will rely on numerical simulations with the Space Weather Modeling Framework and the various models within this computational suite, augmented by analysis of THEMIS, TWINS, Van Allen Probes and MMS data.

Applicants must have a Ph.D. degree in Space Physics or a related discipline, and experience in geospace research is highly preferred. Preferred applicants should have a strong publication record and significant experience in high performance computing, modeling techniques, utilizing models to conduct research and some experience with data analysis. The candidate is expected to have demonstrated ability to effectively communicate research results in the form of peer-reviewed research journal articles and oral presentations.

The initial appointment will be for one year with the option for renewal, contingent on performance and the availability of funding.

Qualified applicants should submit curriculum vitae, a brief summary of research interests, and contact information for three or more references, to Dr. Raluca Ilie (rilie at illinois.edu). Applications will be reviewed starting January 15th, 2017, and will be considered until the position is filled. The start date can be as soon as February 1st, 2017 or at a negotiated time in the near future.

The University of Illinois conducts criminal background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer. The U of I is an EEO Employer/Vet/Disabled (www.inclusiveillinois.illnois.edu).


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JOB OPENING : Post-doctoral position at New Jersey Institute of Technology - CSTR

From: Rualdo Soto-Chavez, Louis Lanzerotti, Andrew Gerrard (arsoto at njit.edu)

The Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (CSTR) of the New Jersey Institute of Technology invites applications for a postdoctoral position in numerical simulations of waves in space plasmas. We are looking for a candidate with strong background on Particle-in-Cell simulations of space physics and/or plasma physics. Experience in whistlers and/or chorus waves phenomena is highly desirable. The successful applicant will be expected to perform the duties of a post-doctoral fellow, including the publication of original research, submission of proposals, and the support of CSTR projects.
Applicants should have obtained by the starting date a PhD in plasma physics, space physics, geophysics, or related field. The start date of the appointment is flexible, however, earlier dates are preferred. The appointment is for one year, with a possible renewal for two more years based on successful applicant performance. Benefits are competitive and salary will be commensurate with applicant experience. 

The successful applicant will work with Dr. Rualdo Soto-Chavez, as well as Dr. Louis Lanzerotti and Prof. Andrew Gerrard. Applicants are required to complete an on-line application through our website at: https://njit.jobs/ and search for posting # 0603715. You can click on the "Search Postings" link at the left, and enter the number 0603715 to find the link to the job and instructions.  Candidates will need to submit a curriculum vitae, list of publications, a brief statement of research interests, and the names of three professional references. Questions may be directed to Dr. Rualdo Soto-Chavez  arsoto at njit.edu.
The Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (CSTR) of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, in Newark, NJ, is a worldwide leading institution in solar and space physics. CSTR is a PI organization in the NASA Van Allen Probes mission, manages the Polar Engineering Development Center, and operates the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) and the Owens Valley Solar Array (OVSA) in California. For more information visit http://centers.njit.edu/cstr/
To build a diverse workforce, NJIT encourages applications from individuals with disabilities, minorities, veterans and women. EEO employer.


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Subscription to SPA Newsletter: Annual Reminder

From: Editor (pchi at igpp.ucla.edu)

The SPA Newsletter is a free service to over 2,300 subscribers in the international Space Physics and Aeronomy community. Please forward this e-mail newsletter to any new members or students who might not be receiving the SPA Newsletter. Subscription requests can be made at the mail service web page at:

http://lists.igpp.ucla.edu/mailman/listinfo/spa

Announcement requests should be made through the online submission form located at:

http://goo.gl/forms/qjcm4dDr4g


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