[SPA] SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER, Volume XXVII, Issue 12

[Newsletter Editor]

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER
Volume XXVII, Issue 12
Feb.20,2020

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Reminders:
* February 23: COSPAR 2020 Abstract Deadline

Table of Contents

1. Call for New Members of the Executive Committee of the Living with a Star Program Analysis Group (LPAG)

2. Extended Deadline for SCOSTEP Award Nominations

3. MEETING: Van Allen Probes and Physics of the Inner Magnetosphere for the Future, May 19-21, 2020, Iowa City, Iowa

4. MEETING: SuperDARN Workshop 2020, May 31 to June 5, South Africa

5. MEETING: Helio Hackweek, June 8-12, 2020, College Park, Maryland

6. MEETING: SDO 2020 Science Workshop: A Decade of Discovery, October 12-16, 2020, Vancouver, Canada

7. ESWW17/ESWW2020 Call for Sessions Extension

8. JOB OPENING: Postdoctoral Position at NASA/GSFC

9. JOB OPENING: Postdoctoral Position in Space Physics at Los Alamos National Laboratory

10. JOB OPENING: Postdoctoral Position in Ionospheric Remote Sensing at Los Alamost National Laboratory

11. PhD Student Position in Space Physics, Umeå University, Sweden

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Announcement Submission Website: http://goo.gl/forms/qjcm4dDr4g


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Call for New Members of the Executive Committee of the Living with a Star Program Analysis Group (LPAG)

From: Morrill, Jeff S. (jeff.s.morrill at nasa.gov)

Dear Colleagues,

We are seeking well qualified candidates for the Executive Committee of the Living with a Star Program Analysis Group (LPAG), formerly the LWS TR&T Steering Committee. As with its predecessor, the LPAG performs a vital role by providing an opportunity for the Heliophysics Community to provide input and information to the LWS program. Examples of the activities that the LPAG is asked to address include:

• Articulation of the key scientific drivers for LWS scientific research including potential focused science topics (FSTs), strategic capabilities, cross-cutting research, and others;
• Evaluation of the expected capabilities of potential LWS missions for achieving the science goals of the program;
• Evaluation of LWS goals, objectives, investigations, and required measurements;
• Articulation of focus areas for targeted research and technology development; and
• Analysis of related activities such as ground-based observing, theory and modeling programs, laboratory heliophysics, suborbital investigations, data archiving, and community engagement.

The terms of reference for the LPAG is located on the LWS web site: (https://lwstrt.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/pdf/LPAG_TOR_2017_Final_Signed.pdf).

As part of the LPAG process, four of the twelve members of the current Executive Committee are stepping down to allow for new membership. We are currently seeking four members from the Heliophysics community with a solid understanding of the scientific basis of Heliophysics system science. Highly qualified candidates from all career stages, including early career, will be considered. Membership in the LPAG is nominally three years. At present, the LPAG Executive Committee meets in person for three days twice a year. Participation in these meetings and during occasional telecons is expected for continued participation. In addition, members may participate in community engagement at various scientific meeting during the year either through soliciting input from the wider community or presenting status of LPAG activities. Additional information can be found on the LWS website at:

https://lwstrt.gsfc.nasa.gov/lpag

To be a candidate for the LPAG Executive Committee, send you submission to the LWS program staff at the email addresses below. Please include in your submission a brief summary of the contributions you would make to the committee and your qualifications for doing so, as well as a single-page vitae. This submission must be limited to a two-page PDF file.

Nominations will only be accepted for scientists who reside at a U.S. institution for the period of service. We will accept submissions until midnight Eastern Daylight Time on March 11, 2020. Please feel free to share this letter with anyone you think would be interested.

Jeff Morrill
LWS Program Scientist jeff.s.morrill at nasa.gov

Simon Plunkett

LWS Science Lead
simon.p.plunkett at nasa.gov


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Extended Deadline for SCOSTEP Award Nominations

From: Patricia Doherty (patricia.doherty at bc.edu)

Dear SCOSTEP Colleagues,

I am pleased to convey that the deadline for the 2020 SCOSTEP Award nominations has been extended to April 30, 2020. 

SCOSTEP is seeking nomination packages for Distinguished Scientist, Distinguished Young Scientist and Distinguished Service Awards to be recognized in 2020.  The details of the awards and their nomination procedures are available on the website: 

https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/research/sites/institute-for-scientific-research/research/SCOSTEP/scostep--programs/SCOSTEPAwards.html

Please consider nominating your colleagues for these prestigious awards.
Contact me if you have any questions.

Patricia Doherty
SCOSTEP, Scientific Secretary


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MEETING: Van Allen Probes and Physics of the Inner Magnetosphere for the Future, May 19-21, 2020, Iowa City, Iowa

From: Allison Jaynes (allison-n-jaynes at uiowa.edu)

The University of Iowa will host a conference on inner magnetospheric physics on May 19-21 in Iowa City, Iowa.  This will be the last meeting hosted by the Van Allen Probes science team and so we are opening it to the community and inviting all interested researchers to attend. 

To enable planning for the meeting we have created a website, which will be continually updated: https://vanallenprobes.centerforconferences.uiowa.edu/

We would like to collect pre-registration information by March 15th; please fill out the form on the conference website indicating a general science topic you plan to present or if you are planning to attend without presenting. Abstract submission and registration will only be open to those who pre-register by this deadline.

We look forward to seeing you in Iowa City in May!

Local Organizing Committee:
C. Kletzing
A. Jaynes
G. Hospodarsky
D. Hartley
R. Filwett


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MEETING: SuperDARN Workshop 2020, May 31 to June 5, South Africa

From: Michael Kosch (mkosch at sansa.org.za)

SuperDARN workshop 2020 - South Africa

We are pleased to announce that the  SuperDARN 2020 workshop will be held in South Africa, 31 May to 5 June. 

The conference web site is: https://superdarn2019.ukzn.ac.za. 
We invite abstract submissions (deadline 10 April) and registrations (early bird 30 April, late bird 10 May).

The location will be the Sani Pass hotel in the beautiful Drakensberg mountains. We will provide a single shuttle bus on 31 May and 5 June to/from this remote location. The venue is at high altitude in the winter, so please expect freezing but dry conditions at night, yet warm and sunny conditions in the daytime. Those venturing to the top of Sani pass into the Kingdom of Lesotho can expect freezing conditions all day with possible snow (with no skiing), but the highest pub in Africa has a solution for this.

Any enquiries, please contact Judy at superdarn2020 at gmail.com.

Mike and Judy


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MEETING: Helio Hackweek, June 8-12, 2020, College Park, Maryland

From: Barbara J Thompson (barbara.j.thompson at nasa.gov)

You are invited to apply to participate in Helio Hackweek 2020, a five-day event to be held June 8-12, 2020 at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD.  Hackweek participants will learn about technologies used to access and process heliophysics data with a focus on machine learning. The format consists of interactive lectures, facilitated exploration of datasets, and hands-on software development.  Applicants who are experienced in Heliophysics and Machine Learning may elect to serve as a mentor;  mentors may help provide training resources and propose projects and tasks to be addressed during the hackweek.

This event is hosted by the National Center for Climate Studies (Mark Carroll and Sean Keefe), the University of Maryland Department of Geographical Sciences (Jack Ma), and the NASA Goddard Center for HelioAnalytics (Christopher Bard, Michael Kirk, Burcu Kosar, and Barbara Thompson).

Interested participants may apply online at https://heliohackweek.github.io/  This Open-Science Hackweek encourages collaboration between participants, rather than competition, and provides extensive opportunities each day for participants to work with each other. We welcome applications from researchers at all stages in their careers (from student to senior level) as well as those from industry.  Some participants will have experience with Heliophysics data, while others will have backgrounds in areas such as computer science, machine learning, and statistics.  Participant selection will prioritize balance and broad representation.  Applications are due March 31, 2020. 

The contact email is heliohackweek20 at gmail.com  and information is available at https://heliohackweek.github.io/.  Updates on schedule and travel information will be posted to the site in coming weeks.  


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MEETING: SDO 2020 Science Workshop: A Decade of Discovery, October 12-16, 2020, Vancouver, Canada

From: W. Dean Pesnell (william.d.pesnell at nasa.gov)

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) invites you to the SDO 2020 Science Workshop: A Decade of Discovery, to be held October 12-16, 2020, at the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver, BC, Canada. All members of the science community are welcome and encouraged to attend. 

The ten years since the launch of SDO has seen many papers in wide ranges of science results from this mission. As Solar Cycle 25 begins its rise to maximum, we will get together to discuss what we learned about the Sun and anticipate what the new cycle will look like. 

The invited speakers who will introduce themed sessions spanning SDO‘s wide range of research topics are:
Junwei Zhao: Subsurface Flows, the Dynamo, and the Solar Cycle 
Stan Solomon: Phun with Photons: Response of atmospheres to EUV variability
Paulo Simoes: Short-term Solar Variability
Aimee Norton: Magnetic Flux in the SDO Era: From Emergence to Eruption
KD Leka: SDO for Space Weather: Science and Applications
Dan Seaton: The SDO Corona and Beyond
Patrick Antolin: Energy and Mass Transfer Between the Corona and the Chromosphere
Xudong Sun: Vector Magnetic Field: Progress and Prospects 

There will also be one day of parallel mini-workshops and an EUV calibration workshop.

Registration, abstract submission, and other information about SDO 2020 will be made available at http://sdo2020.lws-sdo-workshops.org/. 

The Hyatt Regency can be explored at https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/canada/hyatt-regency-vancouver/yvrrv

We are assessing the need for childcare suring this workshop. Please send your care requirements to William.D.Pesnell (at) NASA.gov.

Dean Pesnell 
Chair, SDO 2020 Science Organizing Committee


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ESWW17/ESWW2020 Call for Sessions Extension

From: Dr Mario M. Bisi (Mario.Bisi at stfc.ac.uk)

Dear All,

This is a reminder for the call for all types of science sessions (except for the TDMs) for ESWW17/ESWW2020 in Glasgow in November of this year – we have briefly extended the deadline for submission to Sunday 23rd February 2020 with the caveat that those submission submitted ahead of the original deadline of Friday 14th February 2020 will be given preference in the cases of overlap.  The full details of the calls can be found here: http://esww17.iopconfs.org/call.

Please ensure you submit your session through the website and not in any other way for it to be included in the PC discussions for inclusion in the programme.

Mario (on behalf of the PC)
PC Chair ESWW17/ESWW2020


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JOB OPENING: Postdoctoral Position at NASA/GSFC

From: Michael R. Collier (michael.r.collier at nasa.gov)

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center invites applications for a postdoctoral researcher position in the area terrestrial exospheric and/or magnetosheath/magnetopause and/or soft X-ray background science. The position supports cross-cutting work in the Heliophysics and Astrophysics Divisions at GSFC.

The duration is two years with the potential for renewal. Salary will follow standards for post-doctoral scholars and will scale with the applicant’s experience. A PhD in physics, space physics, plasma physics, or related discipline is required.

Applicants should submit the following materials to David Sibeck (David.G.Sibeck at nasa.gov) with cc to Michael R. Collier (Michael.R.Collier at nasa.gov) and Scott Porter (Frederick.S.Porter at nasa.gov):

1. A cover letter describing the applicant’s background, qualifications, and experience relevant to the position
2. A full curriculum vitae (CV) detailing education, awards, publications, research experience, etc.
3. Contact information for three professional references

Review of applications will begin February 2020 and continue until the position is filled. Start date in Spring 2020 is desirable.


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JOB OPENING: Postdoctoral Position in Space Physics at Los Alamos National Laboratory

From: Misa Cowee (mcowee at lanl.gov)

The Space Science and applications (ISR-1) Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory seeks postdoctoral candidates to participate in areas of magnetospheric and heliospheric research.  Examples of postdoc projects include:

• MHD and test particle simulations of heavy ion transport from the ionosphere into the magnetosphere
• Quantification of ionospheric conditions for M-I coupling models
• Radiation belt event case studies using the LANL DREAM3D diffusion model
• Theoretical and numerical investigation of the transition from quasi-linear to nonlinear wave-particle interaction regimes, and application of results to global scales
• Numerical modeling of EM wave propagation in the ionosphere and magnetosphere
Candidates are required to have: a Ph.D. degree in physics or related field, completed within the past five years, or soon to be completed; a demonstrated ability to work independently and as a member of a team; and good communication skills.

Experience in any one of the following is desired: 
• Magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, radiation belt physics, or wave-particle interaction theory
• Numerical modeling of space or ionospheric plasmas (i.e. MHD, particle-in-cell, Fokker-Planck diffusion, test particle, FDTD full wave modeling, ray tracing)
• Numerical model development with C, C++ and/or FORTRAN
• High-performance computing
• Observational analysis of magnetospheric, heliospheric, or ionospheric plasmas

Interested candidates can view the full job ad and submit a cover letter and CV at jobs.lanl.gov and search for vacancy IRC78854.  


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JOB OPENING: Postdoctoral Position in Ionospheric Remote Sensing at Los Alamost National Laboratory

From: Erin Lay (elay at lanl.gov)

The Space and Remote Sensing Sciences (ISR-2) Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory is looking for an outstanding applicant for a position in ionospheric remote sensing. The successful candidate will work on ionospheric data analysis from some combination of ground-based GPS receivers, digisonde measurements, and incoherent scatter radar. The chosen ionospheric research project can be focused on ionospheric/magnetospheric coupling, midlatitude ionospheric disturbances, or equatorial electrodynamics. Postdoctoral
candidates are required to have a Ph.D. degree, completed within the past five years, or soon to be completed. 

The successful candidate should have familiarity with scientific data processing,  programming, and statistical analysis as well as familiarity with atmospheric and ionospheric phenomenology, especially as it involves the generation and propagation of radiofrequency signals.   The candidate should also have a background in a relevant branch of physics (e.g., atmospheric, ionospheric, astronomy, plasma), or electrical engineering, or a closely related discipline; excellent communication skills; ability and desire to work both independently and as part of a multi-disciplinary team; and willingness to expand into new fields.  

We especially seek candidates with familiarity in the design and deployment of RF remote sensing systems, experience with large-volume data analysis techniques and statistical analysis skills, or experience with signal processing of ground-based GPS receiver data to produce total electron content.

The position is open to all citizenships, but candidates with the ability to obtain a Q clearance, which normally requires U.S. citizenship, will have more opportunities.

For more details of the position visit jobs.lanl.gov and search for vacancy IRC76197.  Interested candidates should submit a CV and cover letter explaining the candidate’s experience relevant to the position.


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PhD Student Position in Space Physics, Umeå University, Sweden

From: Herbert Gunell (herbert.gunell at physics.org)

The Department of Physics at Umeå University in Sweden is looking for a candidate for a PhD student position in space physics. The start date will be in September 2020 or by agreement. The last day to apply is 30 April 2020.

Project description
In this PhD project the global current systems at Mars will be studied. These currents couple the Martian ionosphere to regions in the upstream solar wind. The currents affect the formation of the induced magnetosphere and they are hence important also for atmospheric loss from Mars. Data obtained by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft will be used and compared to global simulations of Mars-solar wind interaction.

For more information about the position and how to apply see the online advertisement at

https://www.umu.se/en/work-with-us/open-positions/phd-student-position-in-space-physics_317273/


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SPA Newsletter Editorial Team: Peter Chi (Editor), Guan Le (Co-Editor), Sharon Uy, Marjorie Sowmendran, and Kevin Addison

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