Professional Title/Position

Research Areas, Topics, and Interests

I am interested in the heating of the solar corona, the energetics of solar flares, and the solar spectral irradiance and its variability. I am also interested in how these phenomena are controlled by the structure and evolution of the sun's pervasive magnetic field.

Services, Roles, and Activities

• SPD Committee, 2006-2007

Candidate Statement

I have been involved in solar physics for almost 20 years now and I have been very fortunate to have participated in many of the exciting missions that have launched during this time. The spectacular data that they've returned presents a significant challenge for the future. Further advancing our knowledge will require us to overcome the twin challenges of understanding the complex nature of the solar atmosphere and building the instrumentation that can test this understanding in an era of reduced resources. I would look forward to assisting the SPD leadership with these goals.

Degrees and Education

• Ph.D., Physics and Astronomy, UCLA

Research Areas, Topics, and Interests

I'm an observer with a research focus on the dynamics of solar magnetism, both short time-scales such as MHD waves and long time-scales such as the dynamo. Some recent papers of mine are on the topics of N-S hemispheric coupling, anti-Hale statistics of sunspots, and magnetic flux emergence rates.

Professional Experience and Positions

• Council Member, Solar Observatories Council, AURA (current)
• Adjunct Astronomer, University of Southern Queensland, Australia (current)
• Assistant Astronomer, National Solar Observatory, 2006-2009
• Project Scientist, High Altitude Observatory, NCAR, 2003-2006

Candidate Statement

I'd be delighted to work with the AAS SPD council in the capacity of Secretary in order to ensure delivery of the SolarNews newsletter to the community, take notes at the council meetings, set up the information for SPD elections and keep track of membership, etc. I'm happy to do other work as needed to serve the SDP council and the greater solar physics community.

Professional Title/Position

Degrees and Education

• Ph.D., Physics (Boston College)
• B.S., Physics (Duquesne University)

Affiliations

• New Mexico State University, Department of Astronomy

Research Areas, Topics, and Interests

Dr. Jackiewicz studies helioseismology, which involves using oscillations to probe the Sun and determine its internal structure and dynamics. His work employs a combination of high-resolution observations, local helioseismology techniques, large-scale numerical simulations, and quantitative analysis of synoptic maps of subsurface solar properties. Recent efforts include: testing and validating time-distance helioseismology techniques, understanding supergranulation structure, studying filament oscillations, and attempting to measure the meridional flow accurately. Dr. Jackiewicz is heavily involved in research that enables the Sun to be studied in the context of stars, in particular with connections to solar-like oscillation patterns, rotation, and eclipsing-binary systems. He is also leading an effort to develop and employ a new instrument in New Mexico to probe Jupiter's interior by measuring Jovian oscillations.

Services, Roles, and Activities

• SPD Studentship Committee (ex officio, 2011-present)

Professional Experience and Positions

• 2011 SPD Annual Meeting (LOC chair, SOC member)

Candidate Statement

I am very excited to have the chance to serve as an SPD committee member. I believe my experience with the 2011 SPD meeting, as the PI of an NSF grant to deliver student awards for travel to solar physics meetings, and my involvement in planning for the future of the DST will be valuable for the committee as a whole. Also, being a part of a university and department that is building and strengthening a solar physics graduate program gives me the chance to address some of the educational/student priorities of the SPD. I hope to be able to carry on some of the great work the past and current committee members have accomplished for the Division, and add some new and fresh ideas as we move forward in this exciting time for our field.

Degrees and Education

• Ph.D., Physics (Montana State University)
• M.S., Physics & Astronomy (University of Wyoming)
• B.S., Physics (University of South Alabama)

Affiliations

• NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

Research Areas, Topics, and Interests

My research is focused around capturing observational signatures of energy release from magnetic reconnection during long duration solar eruptive events. I am particularly interested in supra-arcade downflows and their associations with reconnection outflows, particle acceleration, and termination shocks above post-flare arcades. I am also part of the NASA/MSFC heliophysics sounding rocket group developing high energy and high resolution spectroscopic instrumentation. Currently, however, the bulk of my work revolves around maintaining high productivity within the international Hinode mission effort to remain inline with the goals of the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and the greater heliophysics community. As the Hinode Project Scientist, I have the responsibility of prioritizing its science goals for NASA in conjunction with our international partners and advocating our role in the Heliophysics System Observatory to SMD and Congress.

Candidate Statement

My observational experiences span the gamut from ground-based instrumentation capturing gamma-ray burst afterglows in the mountains of Wyoming to operating spacecraft telescopes pointed at the Sun from Japan. Much of my training and development has involved data analysis, observation, and mission operations, but I am also eager to spend hours in a cleanroom building instrumentation for space. I am an enthusiastic proponent of scientific research and communication at all levels (K-12 to HQs) and have been rapidly gaining experience working within the NASA agency’s collaborative construct since arriving at MSFC in 2012. I would earnestly appreciate the opportunity to serve the community as an SPD committee member in the coming years!

Professional Title/Position

Degrees and Education

• Ph.D., Astronomy (University of Texas at Austin, 2001)
• B.S., Astronomy & Physics (University of Arizona, 1996)

Affiliations

• Space Science Institute

Research Areas, Topics, and Interests

• asteroseismology
• exoplanet host stars
• solar-stellar connection
• solar analogs
• stellar magnetic activity and variability

Services, Roles, and Activities

• AAS Committee on Employment (2006-2010, chair:2008-2010)

Professional Experience and Positions

• AIP Career Network Advisory Committee (2010-2013)
• Astro2010 Decadal Survey Demographics Study Group (2009-2010)
• Stellar Observations Network Group Steering Committee (2009-)
• Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium Steering Committee (2007-)

Candidate Statement

I believe passionately in the idea that solar physics and astrophysics can benefit from each other through the combination of depth and breadth that each field encompasses. I led a successful campaign in 2005 to place solar and stellar physics together when the astro-ph preprint service was being divided into subject classes. I published a Solar Physics paper in 2006 that demonstrated a citation boost from posting digital preprints, at a time when the solar physics community was not fully utilizing astro-ph. As a staff scientist at NCAR's High Altitude Observatory from 2006-2012, I advocated tirelessly for the solar-stellar connection. As a member of the SPD committee, I will continue this advocacy to the best of my ability.

Professional Title/Position

Degrees and Education

• Ph.D. (2004, University of Cambridge)
• M.S., Physics (2000, University of Wales, Aberystwyth)

Affiliations

• William Marsh Rice University (Houston, TX)

Research Areas, Topics, and Interests

My research program is broadly concerned with the plasma physics of the solar atmosphere and, more recently, investigating fundamental physical processes in laboratory plasmas that are relevant to solar contexts. In particular, my research focuses on heating in the solar atmosphere, the mechanisms responsible for driving the evolution of flares, and the heating and acceleration of the solar wind. The ultimate goal of this research is to develop a deep physical understanding of the processes which govern these phenomena. The temperature of the solar corona, for example, can reach several million degrees and yet surface temperatures may be just a few thousand degrees. The way in which such tremendous temperatures are achieved and maintained remains poorly understood. Similarly, the mechanisms that drive powerful flares and the manner in which they evolve, perhaps transitioning from beam- to thermal conduction-driven heating as the flare proceeds, remain perplexing. Finally, the processes leading to the heating and acceleration of the slow solar wind have been difficult to identify, due in part to the challenges associated with locating its source region and in determining whether/how it is connected to the overall heating of the atmosphere. These are among the most challenging problems of modern astrophysics and I pursue them with a combination of theoretical and numerical tools. One approach that I take requires constructing sophisticated models of these phenomena and exploring their evolution in response to particular driving mechanisms. Spectral signatures are predicted, based on the model output data, and then quantitatively compared with observed spectra to place strong constraints on the model input parameters and the key physics. I also construct advanced 3D visualizations using these tools to provide further insights. Analytical forms are employed to explore the basic physical processes that dominate particular phenomena and are used to make predictions, e.g., scaling relationships, which can be tested against observations.

Services, Roles, and Activities

I have served on the Public Policy Committee of the AAS Solar Physics Division since January 2013-present. In this capacity I have taken part in Congressional visits with our elected representatives, and meetings with senior administrators at NASA and the NSF, to advocate on behalf of the solar and heliospheric physics communities.

Professional Experience and Positions

I have served on the scientific organizing committees of several conferences, including the annual meetings of the AAS Solar Physics Division in 2011 (Las Cruces, NM) and 2014 (Boston, MA). In addition, I served on the SOC for the 5th coronal loops workshop held in 2010 (Palma de Mallorca, Spain) and am a member of the SOC for the 7th coronal loops workshop to be held this year in Cambridge (UK). I procured and managed travel funding from the NSF, on behalf of the SOC, to support the attendance of graduate students and early-career scientists at the 5th coronal loops workshop in 2013 (La Roche-en-Ardenne, Belgium). Finally, I am a member of the Coronal Loops Workshops Steering Committee

Candidate Statement

The service that I have undertaken to-date has shown me just how important it is to play a role within the solar physics community in addition to contributing to its science. Passivity simply will not do in the face of serious problems, particularly with regard to funding for basic science and for the younger members of our community who must contend with a great deal of uncertainty concerning their futures, that our organization must tackle head-on. It is chiefly for these reasons that I am keen to become more deeply involved in working for and on behalf of the solar physics community. As someone based at a university I am in a position to advocate for both research and education, the graduate students and post-docs who I would like to provide career enhancing opportunities for, and the scientists who are at the same career stage as myself (tenure-track). I have greatly appreciated the enormous efforts that others have made on my behalf and the time they have put in behind-the-scenes of the SPD, which have helped to make being a solar physicist hugely fun and rewarding. I would now be most grateful for the opportunity to repay their time and effort by shouldering some of that responsibility.