PhD Graduate - Krimigis Postdoctoral Scholarship Program Solar & Space Physics Group

Overview

Would you like to participate as a postdoctoral fellow in cutting-edge space physics research?

Are you interested in the sources and behavior of energetic particles and plasmas?

Can you imagine helping to characterize and predict how the activity of the Sun influences systems on Earth, our technosphere and ultimately the habitability of various places in the Solar System?

If you can answer "yes" to any of these questions, we want you to work with us through the Krimigis Postdoctoral Scholarship (KPS) Program in the Solar & Space Physics Group (SRP) at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). This program is named after Dr. Stamatios "Tom" Krimigis who was a team member on over 50 years of spaceflight investigations of space science, from Mariner 4 to Mars in 1965 through New Horizons to Pluto in 2015.

Krimigis Fellows will be hosted by one of the science groups in the Space Science and Instrumentation Branch of the Space Exploration Sector. Key features of this program include:

• partnering with a research advisor who would provide mentoring on development both as a researcher and a science professional;
• research in cutting-edge fields of space science aligned with the research group;
• support for travel to conferences and publications;
• membership in a postdoc cohort that builds a network among peers;
• training in "soft" professional skills, including proposal-writing;
• ability and support to submit grant proposals as a principal investigator;
• a salary that is competitive in the Baltimore-Washington area;
• and a generous benefits package.

Your professional outcome will include great research opportunities, a foundation for the rest of your career, and building of connections with a variety of researchers and programs at APL, a premier space mission implementation center. We encourage all interested students to apply. Positions are for a 2-year term, with a possibility of extension to a third year. Most positions will be for full-time work, although part-time work (down to 50%-time) is possible by participant's request.

The SRP group consists of 50 full- or part-time scientists, postdocs, 1 administrative staff with 5 thematic sections that focus on particle remote sensing, space-based radiation environment, in-situ plasma and fields, solar and inner heliospheric remote sensing, and space plasma theory and modeling. Collectively we work on over 150 projects. The key science questions we address are how the solar wind is accelerated;

how energy is transported through planetary magneto spheres; and how the large-scale structures of the heliosphere have influenced habitability of the Earth and other places in the Solar System. Members of our group have worked on dozens of missions and hundreds of instruments over a period spanning five decades. Current active missions that group members are participating in through instrument or science affiliation include IMAP, Parker Solar Probe, Solar Orbiter, JUICE, Europa Clipper, Juno, Sun Cet, MMS, EZIE, New Horizons, STEREO, ACE, and the Voyagers.

Active data analysis programs also continue for past missions including Cassini, Van Allen Probes, Geotail, and others. You can learn more about us and our activities by visiting web pages describing Space Weather and Heliophysics.

Research opportunities in the Krimigis Postdoctoral Scholarship Program are primarily mentor-defined opportunities supported by funding from existing grants, missions, and other programs. The topics of the currently available opportunities in Solar and Space Physics are listed below. You should list which opportunities you wish to pursue in your cover letter.

• Develop models and tools for planning and interpreting Energetic Neutral Atom imaging of magnetospheric and heliospheric plasmas to deepen physical understanding of heliophysics environments from current NASA missions (e.g., IMAP) and guide the design of future instruments and missions.
• Analyze IMAPUltra ENA data to illuminate the temporal and spatial evolution of the heliospheric boundary and the Sunlocal interstellar medium magnetic interaction, advancing our understanding of energetic particle acceleration and solarwind-interstellar coupling.
• Analyze and publish on in-situ ion particle data from the MMS/EPD and PSP/EPI-Lo instruments to address outstanding scientific questions related to solar energetic particles, shock acceleration, magnetic reconnection, and magnetospheric dynamics. Support the instrument operations and data processing for the MMS/EIS instrument.
• Develop and build particle instruments, including, but not limited to, laboratory/chamber testing, calibration and testing, design and performance simulation and modeling.

A small number of opportunities could be awarded for 50% coverage, in conjunction with the mentor-defined opportunities for postdoc-defined, original, high-impact research related to the fields of study described above. All applicants are asked to include a 3-page proposal with your cover letter for a…