Month: June 2022

Dr. Lu’s proposal to the NSF Grand Challenges in Integrative Geospace Sciences program, Advancing National Space Weather Expertise and Research award Societal Resilience (ANSWERS), has been awarded. This grant will support a multidisciplinary team led by Dr. Lu to study space weather – in particular they will explore how terrestrial weather events originating at lower altitudes and the solar wind lead to variations in space weather. The principle driver behind this work is developing the tools to better predict space weather and ameliorate the damage that can result. This award from NSF provides $900k over three years to advance this work as well as support the development of a new space weather curriculum. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Lu and her team for their success. I’m sure we all eagerly anticipate learning about the results of this work in the near future.

Professor Yao Wang was awarded a DOE Early Career Award for a proposal titled, “Analog Quantum Simulation for Solid-State Spectroscopies”. He has proposed to develop analog quantum simulation protocols for spectroscopy of quantum materials and extend this work to the simulation of spectroscopy of laser-engineered non-equilibrium matter. Quantum materials are characterized by having entangled electrons that behave in ways that cannot be described classically. Engineering such materials opens the door to developing novel types of superconductors and batteries, but to take full advantage of these possibilities, it is crucial to accurately and efficiently characterize the properties of the electrons. Classical computers are not capable of running such simulations, but quantum computers will be able to do so. The protocols developed by this work will enable theorists to harness the power of quantum machines that will be available in the near term. Dr. Wang’s work will transform our knowledge of exotic materials and has the potential to lead to breakthrough discoveries in superconductors, energy storage, and quantum devices.

The DOE Early Career Award are “a part of the DOE’s long-standing efforts to develop the next generation of STEM leaders who will solidify America’s role as the driver of science and innovation around the world.” This year 83 awards were granted to faculty at 47 different universities and 13 national labs. These awards provide $750k over five years that in the words of U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm,  “…[allows] the recipients the freedom to find the answers to some of the most complex questions as they establish themselves as experts in their fields.”

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Wang for this great honor. I’m sure we all look forward to seeing the results of this work.

German radio journalist Kristian Thees and German actress and entertainer Anke Engelke, talk about the NASA sounding rocket experiment INCAA and the image of tracer releases in Alaska submitted by listener Prof. Gerald Lehmacher, who was co-investigator for the experiment. Prof. Steve Kaeppler and Prof. Miguel Larsen were principal investigator and co-investigator, respectively. The photo taken by Danute Paukstys from Wasilla, Alaska is featured in the podcast’s blog and discussed (in German) in the episode of May 26, 2022 (starting at about 8:50 min). Two sounding rockets were successfully launched on April 7, 2022 from Poker Flat, Alaska to study ion-neutral coupling under active aurora. The payloads carried experiments from the University of California Berkeley, the University of Calgary and Clemson University.

Clemson undergraduates Austin Smith and James Hutchinson presented the student rocket experiments carried out under the supervision of Prof. Steve Kaeppler and graduate student Alvaro Guerra over the last two semesters at the 25th ESA Symposium for European Rocket and Balloon Programmes and Related Research in held on May 1-5, 2022 in Biarritz, France.  Their oral presentation entitled “Clemson University Student Space Program: Educating Students in the Field of Space Physics” was given in the “Rockets & Balloons in Space Education” session and received broad attention and feedback from scientists and students in the audience.