- Graduate Study Overview
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Space Physics
Gayley, Gurnett, Howes, Kletzing, Mutel, Scudder, Spangler
Space Physics is the study of everything that is above Earth's atmosphere but inside the solar system. It includes the Earth's ionosphere (the ionized gas just above the atmosphere), the magnetosphere and magnetotail (beyond the ionosphere), the Sun's corona and solar wind, the planets, inter-planetary space, and cosmic rays. Our research program includes all these subjects. Student research projects include analyzing spacecraft data, performing theory, building equipment for sounding rocket experiments, or simulating space physics conditions using laboratory experiments. Students also participate in a weekly Astronomy / Space Physics seminar.
With the strong international reputation of our space physics faculty, including a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and our commitment to graduate research, Iowa is a long-established leader amongst universities in space physics. Our faculty includes experimenters who have built instruments for spacecraft including, Voyager, Cassini, Polar, Cluster, and many other major space exploration missions. Upcoming missions include Juno, Magnetospheric Multiscale, and Radiation Belt Storm Probes. Space physics research at Iowa attained international prominence in 1958 when Prof. Van Allen discovered energetic particles trapped in Earth's geomagnetic field, forming the "Van Allen Radiation Belts." Iowa has always been a preeminent center of space research since then.
Kenneth Gayley, Theoretical space physics
- Analytic calculations in ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) of Alfvén-wave growth in accelerated plasmas; detection volumes for neutrinos striking solar-system targets
- Students perform analytic work followed by more complete computations
- Students' experience in writing dynamic numerical simulations prepares them for positions either as academic postdocs or as software specialists in industry
Donald Gurnett, Experimental space physics
- Experimental studies of planetary radio emissions and plasma waves
- Analysis of plasma data from Voyagers 1 and 2 now approaching interstellar space; Cassini in orbit around Saturn; Cluster, which consists of four spacecraft in Earth orbit; and Mars Express in orbit around Mars
- Students analyze spacecraft data
- Supervised over 50 space physics thesis projects; former students now at NASA centers, industry, other universities
- Students also interact with other group members, including research scientists, engineers, and programmers
Gregory Howes, Theoretical plasma physics
- Turbulence in the magnetized plasmas found in laboratories, space and astrophysics
- Analysis of spacecraft data from the turbulent solar wind
- Students develop skills including high-performance computing on the nation's fastest supercomputers, analysis of simulation and observational data, and development of simple analytical models to interpret results
- Students also interact with group members including a postdoc and collaborators around the world
Craig Kletzing, Experimental space plasma physics
- Auroral and magnetospheric physics
- Space missions include Cluster (a joint NASA-ESA four-spacecraft mission to study the Earth's magnetosphere); Correlated High-Frequency and Auroral Roar Measurement 2 (CHARM-2); Magnetospheric Multiscale; Radiation Belt Storm Probes
- On-campus facilities include clean room; two vacuum chambers and an electronics lab
- Students participate in hardware construction of detectors and electronics to fly on NASA sounding rockets
- Students also interact with other group members including research scientists and an engineer, as well as scientists from UCLA, Dartmouth, and NASA's Wallops Flight Facility
Robert Mutel, Observational and computational space physics
- Spacecraft observations made using Cluster, which is a group of four spacecraft operated by the European Space Agency, and Cassini, and international spacecraft orbiting Saturn
- Planetary radio emissions are studied using the Cluster and Cassini spacecraft
- Students develop programming skills
- Students also interact with group members including a programmer as well as other astronomy faculty
Jack Scudder, Experiment and observation of space plasmas
- Analysis of data from NASA's Polar spacecraft, in Earth orbit
- Search for geophysically important plasma processes in near-Earth plasmas
- Computer-intensive research
- Students develop skills in: writing codes in C, Fortran and IDL, and numerical methods
- Employment opportunities are postdoc positions at universities and national labs
- Students will also interact with group members including software engineers as well as other faculty
Steven Spangler, Observational and theoretical space physics
- Solar wind and the transition from the solar corona to the solar wind
- Students analyze data from both ground-based instruments and spacecraft
- Students analyze data from: ACE, which is NASA's spacecraft in the solar wind, and ISEE, which is a NASA and European Space Agency spacecraft
- Students develop skills in numerical methods, writing code in C and other languages