Faculty Development in Space Physics at the University of Minnesota

随着我们更加依赖对空间环境条件敏感的技术系统，如全球定位系统和高速通信网络，空间科学家对我们的社会越来越有价值。通信、导航以及能源生产和分配受到空间天气和近地空间环境气候学的重大影响。预测可能影响这些技术的扰动的能力取决于对相互关联的太阳-地球系统的详细知识和了解，该系统包括太阳物理、日光层物理、磁层物理和大气学等学科。该项目是由空间科学学院发展计划资助的，其目的是确保大学教学人员的太阳和空间物理的健康和活力。通过在组成空间科学的智力学科中设立新的终身教职，太阳和空间物理的研究主题将被整合到基础物理、天文学、电气工程、地球科学、气象学、计算机科学和应用数学课程中，并导致空间物理研究生课程的发展，能够培养该领域的下一代领导者。该项目将支持明尼苏达大学物理和天文学学院的一个新的终身教员职位，目的是扩大空间物理小组内研究和教学专门知识的广度和深度。基于在空间物理研究和教育方面的长期创新和卓越历史，新招聘的目标是一名实验空间科学家，以继续并进一步加强集团-S在该领域独特且非常成功的国家地位。新物理和纳米技术大楼的启用带来的协同效应，空间物理技术人员在设计和建造天基仪器方面的专业知识，以及经验丰富的机械车间，为新教员在涉及航天器、立方体卫星、亚轨道火箭或气球的新项目中发挥领导作用提供了独特的优势。增加一名新的空间科学初级教员将使空间物理课程能够更经常地提供，并开发一个或多个新课程，以满足空间物理和天体物理研究生、物理专业、天体物理专业和航空航天工程专业学生的需要。除了加强该机构对进入该领域的年轻研究人员的培训外，这也将极大地帮助成功、高质量地招聘相同的研究人员。额外雇用的人员将进一步加强和扩大与若干部门和研究所的现有伙伴关系，还将鼓励与空间科学界广泛建立新的伙伴关系。物理与天文学学院有着悠久的成功推广计划的历史，旨在引起孩子(和教育工作者)对物理的兴趣和兴奋，教育公众有关有趣的研究或直接让他们参与研究，并让高中教师和本科生参与研究。所有教职员工都应该参与并为这些项目做出贡献，新的教职员工也将被鼓励为相关项目开发新的活动。资金包括在这方面的预算中。利用几个已建立和成功的部门和机构范围的计划，该项目将确保在招收学生加入该计划和新教师的过程中，更加注重增加多样性。

Space scientists are becoming ever more valuable to our society as we rely more heavily upon technical systems sensitive to conditions in the space environment, such as global positioning systems and high-speed communications networks. Communications, navigation, and energy production and distribution are significantly affected by Space Weather, and the climatology of the near-Earth space environment. The ability to forecast disturbances which may impact these technologies hinges upon detailed knowledge and understanding of the connected Sun-Earth system, comprising the disciplines of solar physics, heliospheric physics, magnetospheric physics and aeronomy. This project is funded under the Faculty Development in Space Sciences program, the aim of which is to ensure the health and vitality of solar and space physics on university teaching faculties. Through the creation of new tenure-track faculty positions within the intellectual disciplines that comprise the space sciences, research topics in solar and space physics will be integrated into basic physics, astronomy, electrical engineering, geoscience, meteorology, computer science, and applied mathematics programs, and lead to the development of space physics graduate programs capable of training the next generation of leaders in this field. This project will support a new tenure-track faculty position in the School of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Minnesota, with the purpose of expanding the breadth and depth of the research and teaching expertise within the Space Physics group. Building on a long history of innovation and excellence in space physics research and education, the new hire targets an experimental space scientist to continue and further strengthen the group?s unique and highly successful national standing in this area. Synergies enabled by the opening of a new Physics and Nanotechnology building, the expertise of the space physics technical staff in design and building of space-based instrumentation, and an experienced machine shop provide a distinct advantage to the new faculty member in taking on a leadership role in new programs involving spacecraft, CubeSats, suborbital rockets, or balloons. The addition of a new junior faculty member in space sciences will allow for more regular offerings of space physics courses and the development of one or more new classes, designed to meet the needs of space physics and astrophysics graduate students, physics majors, astrophysics majors and aerospace engineering students. In addition to enhancing the training of young researchers entering the field at this institution, this will also greatly aid the successful, high quality recruitment of the same. The additional hire will further strengthen and grow existing partnerships with several departments and institutes and will also be encouraged to pursue new partnerships broadly with the space sciences community. The School of Physics and Astronomy has a long history of successful outreach programs, designed to interest and excite children (and educators) about physics, to educate the public about interesting research or directly involve them in research, and to involve high school teachers and undergraduates in research. All faculty members are expected to participate and contribute to these programs and the new faculty member will also be encouraged to develop new activities for relevant programs. Funds are included in the budget for this. Utilizing several established and successful departmental and institution wide programs the project will work to ensure a strong focus on increasing diversity in the recruiting both of students into the program and of the new faculty member.