← LeaderboardsInvestigatorsiAttributed = a PI's even-split share of each grant — a $1M grant with 2 PIs counts $500K each.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Inc.
$25,987,254
Total funding
69
Grants
Funding over time
peak $6.7M · FY2008–25$10M$7.5M$5M$2.5M$0
'08
'09
'10
'11
'12
'13
'14
'15
'16
'17
'18
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24
'25
Funding mix
By agency
NASA$15,006,210 · 43
DOD$8,497,338 · 23
DOE$1,985,280 · 2
USDA$498,426 · 1
By mechanism
—$25,987,254 · 69
Investigators at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Inc.
InvestigatorsiAttributed = a PI's even-split share of each grant — a $1M grant with 2 PIs counts $500K each.
Exposure= the full size of every grant they're on ($1M each).
Rising Stars
First grant in the last 5 yrs
Not enough data
Emerging Leaders
6–10 yrs in
Not enough data
All-Time
Most funded here, all years
Not enough data
Largest grants
SPORADIC E (ES) LAYERS ARE CHARACTERIZED BY DENSITY ENHANCEMENTS IN THE E-REGION OF THE IONOSPHERE THAT VARY FROM SEVERAL TIMES TO AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE HIGHER THAN BACKGROUND PLASMA DENSITY. UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS AND PHYSICS OF ES LAYERS IS OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE DUE TO WHAT THEY REVEAL ABOUT THE DYNAMICS AND ELECTRODYNAMICS OF THE IONOSPHERE AND THE AFFECT THESE IONIZED LAYERS HAVE ON VARIOUS RADIO COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS. OUR RECENT WORK HAS SHOWN THAT NEAR THE EQUATOR ES LAYERS ARE PRODUCED NOT JUST BY WIND SHEARS BUT ALSO BY UNDULATIONS IN THE VERTICAL ELECTRIC FIELD HIGHER UP IN THE E REGION. THE UNDULATIONS SEEM TO THEMSELVES BE TRIGGERED BY THE VERY MODULATION OF THE ES LAYER BY THE NIGHT-TIME F REGION DYNAMO THEREBY INTRODUCING A COMPLEX FEEDBACK MECHANISM THAT STRONGLY AFFECTS THE POSITION AND EVOLUTION OF THE LAYER . WE ALSO SHOWED ELECTRON TEMPERATURE DATA THAT CONFIRMED MULTIPLE OBSERVATIONS OF ELECTRON TEMPERATURES AROUND ES LAYERS THAT CAN BE ENHANCED BY UP TO 1000 K. WE MADE A CASE FOR THE HEATING RATE BEING PRODUCED BY PARALLEL CURRENT DENSITIES OF THE ORDER OF 1 TO 2 MICROAMPS/M^2. THESE CURRENTS WERE CAUSED DIRECTLY BY THE F REGION DYNAMO ITSELF IN THE DENSITY TROUGHS WHILE IN THE DENSITY MAXIMA REGIONS THEY WERE TRIGGERED BY A DIVERGENCE IN THE CURRENTS PERPENDICULAR TO THE MAGNETIC FIELD RESULTING FROM THE ES LAYER ITSELF IN THE PRESENCE OF THE OBSERVED F REGION GENERATED ELECTRIC FIELDS.$3,519,278
· FY2020 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
THE PURPOSE OF THIS AGREEMENT IS TO FUND RESEARCH SUPPORTING THE DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCYS DARPA ATMOSPHERE AS A SENSOR ATMOSENSE PROGRAM. THIS EFFORT SHALL BE CARRIED OUT GENERALLY AS SET FORTH IN EXHIBIT B, RESEARCH DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT, DATED AUGUST 25, 2023, AND IN THE RECIPIENTS, PROPOSAL TITLED, ATMOSENSE AIRWAVES ATMOSPHERE IONOSPHERE RESPONSES TO WAVE SIGNALS, PHASE II, ORIGINALLY DATED APRIL 21, 2023 AND REVISED AND RESUBMITTED TO THE GOVERNMENT ON AUGUST 25, 2023, COPIES OF BOTH ARE IN POSSESSION OF ALL PARTIES.$1,985,349
· FY2025 · Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
STUDY ON ION HEATING EFFICIENCY IN PLASMA COMPRESSION PREHEATED BY MAGNETIC RECONNECTION$1,277,321
· FY2022 · Department of Energy
THE PROPOSED WORK PLANS TO INVESTIGATE THE ROLE OF ELECTRON PRECIPITATION IN PRODUCING AURORAL SCINTILLATION$1,155,258
· FY2021 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
21-LWS21_2-0052 IONOSPHERIC RESPONSES TO THUNDERSTORM-GENERATED ACOUSTIC AND GRAVITY WAVES OVER THE CONTINENTAL US$953,267
· FY2022 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
MULTI-DOMAIN APPROACH TO INCREASED USV CAPABILITY FOR FUTURE NAVAL MISSIONS$900,000
· FY2017 · Department of the Navy
ONE OF THE PENDING PROBLEMS IN COLLISIONLESS PLASMAS IS TO UNDERSTAND THE PLASMA HEATING AND TRANSPORT ACROSS THREE FUNDAMENTAL SCALES: FLUID ION AND ELECTRON. THE PLASMA INSIDE EARTH S MAGNETOTAIL PLASMA SHEET IS ~50 TIMES HOTTER THAN IN THE MAGNETOSHEATH. FURTHERMORE THE SPECIFIC ENTROPY INCREASES BY TWO ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE FROM THE MAGNETOSHEATH TO THE MAGNETOSPHERE WHICH IS A SIGNATURE OF A STRONG NON-ADIABATIC HEATING. ALSO THE COLD COMPONENT IONS ARE HOTTER BY ~30 % AT THE DAWNSIDE COMPARED TO THOSE MEASURED ON THE DUSKSIDE. OUR RECENT STATISTICAL STUDY USING THEMIS DATA INDICATES THAT THE MAGNETOSHEATH SEED POPULATION IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS ASYMMETRY SO ADDITIONAL PHYSICAL MECHANISMS AT THE MAGNETOPAUSE OR PLASMA SHEET MUST BE AT WORK TO EXPLAIN THIS ASYMMETRIC HEATING. RECENT WORKS SUGGEST THAT DAWN-FLANK MAGNETOPAUSE BOUNDARY IS MORE PRONE TO THE FLUID-SCALE KELVIN- HELMHOLTZ INSTABILITY (KHI) AS WELL AS TO THE ION-SCALE ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE ACTIVITY WHICH MAY HELP EXPLAIN THE OBSERVED PLASMA SHEET ASYMMETRY. SCIENCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO EXAMINE THE ROLE OF CROSS-SCALE WAVE COUPLING PROCESSES FROM FLUID TO ION SCALES WITHIN KELVIN- HELMHOLTZ (KH) VORTICES IN THE MAGNETOPAUSE BOUNDARY LAYER. WE PLAN TO ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING SCIENCE QUESTIONS: 1. WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SMALL-SCALE WAVES OBSERVED IN KH VORTICES? 2. WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE WAVES AND HOW DO THEY RELATE TO LARGE-SCALE VELOCITY DRIVEN MODES? 3. WHAT IS THEIR ROLE OF MIXING DIFFUSION AND HEATING OF IONS? METHODOLOGY: THE INVESTIGATION WILL INVOLVE EXTENSIVE THEORY AND SIMULATION ELEMENTS AS WELL AS THOROUGH ANALYSIS AND COMPARISON MAINLY WITH THEMIS AND CLUSTER SPACECRAFT DATA. WE WILL UTILIZE BOTH PRE-IDENTIFIED KH EVENTS AS WELL AS NEW EVENTS WITH 80-1500 KM SPACECRAFT SEPARATION CAPTURING THE TRANSITION FROM FLUID TO ION-SCALES. WE WILL ANALYZE THE WAVE SPECTRA TO DETERMINE THE WAVE MODES BASED ON THE DISPERSION RELATION USING A 2-SPACECRAFT TECHNIQUE E/B RATIO AND WAVE POLARIZATION. WE WILL PERFORM MULTISPECTRAL NONLINEAR ANALYSIS TO DETERMINE HOW THE WAVES ARE COUPLED TO THE KH STRUCTURES. BASED ON THE RESULTS OF MULTI-SPACECRAFT ANALYSIS WE WILL ALSO IDENTIFY SINGLE SPACECRAFT SIGNATURES SO THAT WE CAN ANALYZE EVENTS FROM A LARGE STATISTICAL DATABASE OF THEMIS KH OBSERVATIONS. THESE OBSERVATIONS WILL BE COMPARED WITH THEORY AND LOCAL HALL-MHD AND 3D HYBRID SIMULATIONS OF KHI THAT CAN DESCRIBE COUPLING TO KINETIC-SCALE WAVES SUCH AS KINETIC ALFVEN AND MAGNETOSONIC-WHISTLER WAVES. THEORY WILL BE USED TO EXAMINE STABILITY WAVE TRAPPING AND TRANSPORT. THE HYBRID CODE WILL BE USED TO EXAMINE NONLINEAR DEVELOPMENT TRANSPORT AND ION HEATING WITHIN THE KH VORTICES AS WELL AS THE GENERATION OF THE KINETIC PLASMA WAVE MODES WITHIN KH VORTEX STRUCTURES. ION DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS ARE EXAMINED IN THE SIMULATION AND IN THE DATA DURING ION-SCALE WAVE OBSERVATIONS AND IN THE VICINITY OF THE RECONNECTION REGIONS SO THAT THAT SOURCES OF FREE ENERGY FOR THE WAVE GENERATION ARE BETTER UNDERSTOOD. RELEVANCE TO NASA: THIS PROPOSAL BELONGS TO THE MAGNETOSPHERIC CATEGORY SCIENCE AREA 8: SOLAR WIND MAGNETOSPHERE COUPLING. PROPOSED STUDY HAS DIRECT RELEVANCE TO THE FOLLOWING DECADAL SURVEY GOALS: GOAL 2 ``DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERE IONOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS.'' THE PROPOSED STUDY IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE INTERACTION OF THE SOLAR WIND WITH EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERE INVESTIGATING TRANSPORT PROCESSES AT THE MAGNETOPAUSE BOUNDARY. GOAL 4 ``DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE.'' VELOCITY SHEARS ARE UBIQUITOUS THROUGHOUT THE HELIOSPHERE AND THE UNIVERSE AND PROVIDE AN INPUT OF ENERGY THAT CAN CASCADE TO SMALL SCALES WHERE NONADIABATIC PROCESSES SUCH AS HEATING AND TRANSPORT OCCUR.$749,696
· FY2017 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
DE-FE0031227 ''IMPROVING NOX ENTITLEMENT WITH AXIAL STAGING''$707,959
· FY2017 · Department of Energy
THE SCIENCE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY IS TO UNDERSTAND THE MESO-SCALE PLASMA TRANSPORT PROCESSES DRIVEN BY THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL (3- D) NONLINEAR INTERACTION BETWEEN KELVIN-HELMHOLTZ INSTABILITY (KHI) AND MAGNETIC RECONNECTION AT THE EARTH'S MAGNETOPAUSE. IT HAS BEEN WELL DEMONSTRATED THAT BOTH RECONNECTION AND KHI ALONE CAN PLAY THE CRITICAL ROLES TO THE SOLAR WIND-MAGNETOSPHERE COUPLING UNDER DIFFERENT INTERPLANETARY MAGNETIC FIELD (IMF) CONDITIONS. RECENTLY BOTH NUMERICAL SIMULATION AND IN-SITU OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES INDICATED THE FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE OF THE NONLINEAR INTERACTION BETWEEN KHI AND RECONNECTION IN A 3-D CONFIGURATION IN ALL IMF ORIENTATIONS. HOWEVER THIS NONLINEAR INTERACTION HAS NOT BE FULLY UNDERSTAND DUE TO ITS INTRINSICALLY COMPLEX STRUCTURE. THUS A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO OUR SCIENCE OBJECTIVE IS ADDRESSING THE FOLLOWING THREE COMPELLING SCIENCE QUESTIONS BY SYNERGY BOTH NUMERICAL SIMULATION AND IN-SITU OBSERVATIONAL DATA.1. HOW EFFICIENTLY IS THE PLASMA TRANSPORTED BY THE 3-D NONLINEAR INTERACTION BETWEEN KHI AND RECONNECTION UNDER DIFFERENT IMF CONDITIONS? 2. HOW IS PLASMA NONADIABATICALLY HEATED DURING THE NONLINEAR INTERACTION IN DIFFERENT IMF CONDITIONS? 3. WHAT ARE THE ROBUST OBSERVATIONAL SIGNATURES OF THIS NONLINEAR INTERACTION IN DIFFERENT IMF CONDITIONS? THOSE QUESTIONS REQUIRE THE LOCAL PROCESSES (I.E. RECONNECTION AND KHI) TO BE FULLY RESOLVED WHICH IS A SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE FOR GLOBAL SIMULATIONS. MEANWHILE THE NONADIABATICALLY HEATED PLASMA MUST FILL THE VOLUME WHOSE DIMENSION IS ON THE ORDER OF AN EARTH RADIUS. THIS INDICATES THAT THE SIMULATION DOMAIN MUST BE MUCH LARGER THAN THE ION INERTIAL LENGTH WHICH IS NOT SUITABLE FOR PARTICLE-IN-CELL SIMULATIONS. OUR MESOSCALE 3-D SIMULATION (MHD HALL MHD AND HYBRID SIMULATION) DOMAIN COVERS ABOUT 2 TO 6 EARTH RADII IN ALL DIRECTIONS WITH A BEST RESOLUTION OF 0.1 OF THE ION INERTIAL LENGTH WHICH ADEQUATELY MATCHES THE REQUIREMENT. THE RATES FOR THE TRANSPORT OF MASS MOMENTUM ENERGY AND MAGNETIC FLUX UNDER DIFFERENT IMF CONDITIONS WILL BE ESTIMATED BASED ON THOSE SIMULATION RESULTS. IT HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED THAT THE STRONG NONADIABATIC HEATING OF PLASMA DURING ITS PENETRATION FROM THE MAGNETOSHEATH INTO THE MAGNETOSPHERE CANNOT BE EXPLAINED BY HEATING THROUGH MAGNETIC RECONNECTION ALONE. PLAUSIBLE NONADIABATIC HEATING MECHANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE KHI INCLUDE FOR EXAMPLE ENERGETIC MAGNETOSHEATH PARTICLES CAN BE TRAPPED IN THE MAGNETOSPHERE BY INTERMITTENT RECONNECTION FOR NORTHWARD IMF CONDITIONS. THIS PROCESS FILTERS HIGH ENERGY PARTICLES AND CAN INCREASE THE SPECIFIC ENTROPY OF THE NEWLY CAPTURED PLASMA IN THE MAGNETOSPHERE. THUS TEST PARTICLES IN THE FLUID SIMULATION RESULTS AND HYBRID SIMULATIONS WILL BE USED TO INVESTIGATE THE ASSOCIATED MESO-SCALE NONADIABATIC HEATING MECHANISMS DURING TRANSPORT. OUR THEORY/SIMULATION RESULTS WILL BE COMPARED WITH OBSERVATIONAL DATA. CO-I S. ERIKSSON HAVE ALREADY IDENTIFIED SEVERAL RECONNECTION EMBEDDED IN KHI EVENTS IN THEMIS AND MMS DATA.THE OBSERVED ION DISTRIBUTIONS CAN BE COMPARED WITH HYBRID SIMULATION RESULTS DIRECTLY OR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF PARTICLE DISTRIBUTIONS BASED ON LIOUVILLE'S THEORY BY REVERSE TRACING THE TEST PARTICLES IN THE FLUID SIMULATION. ALL NUMERICAL SIMULATION CODES AND DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED AND HAVE BEEN APPLIED TO THE OTHER STUDIES. THE OBSERVATIONAL DATA FROM THEMIS CLUSTER AND MMS DATA ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE NASA S SPDF. THIS PROPOSAL BELONGS TO THE BROAD CATEGORIES: MAGNETOSPHERE AND SCIENCE AREAS: SOLAR WIND MAGNETOSPHERE COUPLING. THUS THE PROPOSAL IS BY DEFINITION RELEVANT TO SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY: DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH S MAGNETOSPHERE IONOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS.$614,308
· FY2020 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
STEM EASYUSV: MAKING USV TECHNOLOGY ACCESSIBLE FOR HIGH SCHOOL THROUGH GRADUATE STUDENTS$600,000
· FY2025 · Department of the Navy
TIME RESOLVED PIV SYSTEM FOR HIGH RESOLUTION FLOW MEASUREMENTS$586,625
· FY2017 · Department of the Navy
THE KEY OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY IS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE SOURCE AND CAUSE OF HIGH-ENERGY ELECTRONS OBSERVED BY THE MMS IN THE DAYSIDE MAGNETOSHEATH. THE MAGNETOSPHERIC MULTI-SCALE (MMS) MISSION IS A FOUR-SPACECRAFT CONSTELLATION ORBITING IN FORMATION AROUND EARTH WITH A MAIN GOAL TO STUDY THE MICROPHYSICS OF MAGNETIC RECONNECTION AT THE DAYSIDE MAGNETOPAUSE. RECENT MMS OBSERVATIONS SHOWED HIGH ENERGY (40 KEV) ELECTRONS LEAKING INTO THE MAGNETOSHEATH (COHEN ET AL. JGR 2017). HOWEVER THE DOMINANT LEAKING MECHANISM HAS NOT BEEN FULLY UNDERSTOOD. GLOBAL LYON-FEDDER-MOBARRY (LFM) WITH TEST PARTICLE SIMULATIONS SUGGEST THAT LOW LATITUDE RECONNECTION AND THE NONLINEAR KELVIN-HELMHOLTZ (KH) INSTABILITY CAN CAUSE THE LEAK OF HIGH ENERGY ELECTRONS INTO THE MAGNETOSHEATH. BUT IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTICE THAT MANY OF THE ELECTRONS LEAKING EVENTS WERE OBSERVED CLOSE TO FALL EQUINOX WHEN THE MMS ORBIT HAS A SIGNIFICANT Y-COMPONENT AND THE Z_GSM COORDINATE CAN BE SUBSTANTIAL (UP TO ~7 R_E). THEREFORE MMS HIGHENERGY ELECTRON EVENTS MAY HAVE A HIGH-LATITUDE SOURCE. FOR INSTANCE IT IS WELL DEMONSTRATED THAT MAGNETIC RECONNECTION BETWEEN THE INTERPLANETARY MAGNETIC FIELD (IMF) AND EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD SURROUNDING THE CUSPS CAN LEAD TO THE FORMATION OF CUSP DIAMAGNETIC CAVITIES (NYKYRI ET AL. JGR 2011A B; ADAMSON ET AL. ANGEO 2011) EXTENDED REGIONS OF DECREASED MAGNETIC FIELD WHICH CAN BE FILLED WITH HIGHER ENERGY (>30 KEV) ELECTRONS PROTONS AND O+ IONS. CLUSTER OBSERVATIONS REVEALED 90-DEGREE PITCH ANGLE ELECTRONS IN THE CAVITY STRONGLY SUGGESTIVE OF A LOCAL ACCELERATION MECHANISM (WALSH ANGEO 2010; NYKYRI ET AL JASTP 2012). TEST PARTICLE SIMULATIONS IN A HIGH-RESOLUTION 3D CUSP MODEL UNCOVERED THAT TRAPPED PARTICLES IN THE DIAMAGNETIC CAVITIES CAN BE ACCELERATED WHEN THEIR DRIFT PATHS GO THROUGH REGIONS OF "RECONNECTION QUASI-POTENTIAL" (NYKYRI ET AL JASTP 2012). ONCE THE IMF ORIENTATION CHANGES IT IS POSSIBLE FOR TRAPPED PARTICLES IN THE CAVITY TO END UP INTO THE LOSS CONE AND "LEAK OUT" OF THE CAVITY. A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO OUR SCIENCE OBJECTIVE ADDRESSES THE FOLLOWING COMPELLING SCIENCE QUESTIONS BY SYNERGY USING MMS OBSERVATIONAL DATA AND NUMERICAL SIMULATION. GOALS 1. WHAT IS THE DOMINANT ORIGIN OF HIGH ENERGY ELECTRONS OBSERVED IN MAGNETOSHEATH BY THE MMS? 2. HOW EFFICIENT IS THE LOCAL ELECTRON ACCELERATION IN DIAMAGNETIC CAVITIES UNDER DIFFERENT IMF/SW CONDITIONS? 3. HOW EFFICIENT IS THE LOCAL ELECTRON ACCELERATION IN LOW-LATITUDE RECONNECTION AND NONLINEAR KH INSTABILITY UNDER DIFFERENT IMF/SW CONDITIONS? METHODOLOGY OUR METHODOLOGY CONSISTS OF MMS DATA ANALYSIS AS WELL AS GLOBAL AND LOCAL MHD SIMULATIONS WITH TEST PARTICLES: 1. GENERATION OF LFM GLOBAL SIMULATIONS OF SELECT MMS HIGH-ENERGY ELECTRON EVENTS CLOSE TO FALL EQUINOX WHEN MMS ORBIT PASSES CLOSE TO DIAMAGNETIC CAVITIES. TEST PARTICLES WILL BE PLACED IN LFM SIMULATIONS TO STUDY THE POSSIBLE LEAKAGE DUE TO KH-INSTABILITY AND RECONNECTION CLOSE TO DIAMAGNETIC CAVITIES. 2. GENERATION OF HIGH-RESOLUTION LOCAL 3D CUSP SIMULATIONS WITH TEST PARTICLES THAT ARE GENERATED USING LFM PLASMA AND FIELD PROFILES AS AN INPUT. 3. HOW EFFICIENT IS THE LOCAL ELECTRON ACCELERATION IN LOW-LATITUDE RECONNECTION AND NONLINEAR KH INSTABILITY UNDER DIFFERENT IMF/SW CONDITIONS? DATA MMS OBSERVATIONAL DATA ARE AVAILABLE FROM NASA'S SPACE PHYSICS DATA FACILITY (SPDF). WE HAVE EXPERIENCE USING SPACE PHYSICS ENVIRONMENT DATA ANALYSIS SOFTWARE (SPEDAS) FOR MMS DATA ANALYSIS. ALL NUMERICAL SIMULATION CODES AND DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED AND HAVE BEEN APPLIED TO OTHER STUDIES. RELEVANCE THIS PROPOSAL IS TARGETED AT THE DECADAL SURVEY KEY SCIENCE GOAL: "DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERE [...] AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS." IT ALSO SUPPORTS THE SCIENCE PLAN FOR NASA'S SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE (2007-2016)'S OBJECTIVE TO "UNDERSTAND THE PLASMA PROCESSES THAT ACCELERATE AND TRANSPORT PARTICLES" (SECTION 6.2.1).$520,543
· FY2020 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
GOAL: PLASMA RADIAL TRANSPORT IN SATURN S MAGNETOSPHERE IS A FUNDAMENTAL PROCESS THAT IS STILL POORLY UNDERSTOOD DESPITE DECADES OF THEORETICAL OBSERVATIONAL AND MODELING STUDIES. THE STEADY-STATE CONFIGURATION OF THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE REQUIRES$517,677
· FY2022 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
SATELLITE IMAGERY HAVE BEEN USED IN AGRICULTURE FOR SOME TIME AND THE INCREASING IMPLEMENTATION OF DRONES INTO AGRICULTURE AND AGRICULTURE SCIENCE HOLDS UNIQUE PROMISE. HOWEVER, THE SYNERGY BETWEEN MODERATE RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGERY, FINE RESOLUTION DRONE IMAGERY, FINE RESOLUTION LIDAR (LIGHT DETECTION AND RANGING) DATA, FINE RESOLUTION METEOROLOGICAL DATA, AND GENERALLY AVAILABLE GIS (GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS) DATA MUST BE IDENTIFIED AND OPTIMIZED. TO BE MOST USEFUL, THIS FUSION OF DATA SHOULD HELP PROVIDE ESTIMATES IN HEALTH AND YIELD OF AGRICULTURE SYSTEMS AS WELL AS INSIGHT INTO THE MICROCLIMATE AND ECOSYSTEM VARIATION WITHIN A FARM SITE. THESE DATA WILL BE INTEGRATED TO PRODUCE A VARIETY OF FINE RESOLUTION MAPS THAT CAN BE ANALYZED TO IDENTIFY WHAT TOOLS, INPUTS, AND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES MOST EFFECTIVELY CONTRIBUTE TO AN INCREASE IN THE PRODUCTIVITY, AGROECOLOGICAL SYSTEM HEALTH, AND RESILIENCY OR RESTORATION (TYPICALLY IN RESPONSE TO A WEATHER OR CLIMATIC DISTURBANCE)OF A GIVEN FARMING OPERATION AND SITE. THIS RESEARCH WILL APPLY THESE DATA SCIENCE METHODS AND TOOLS TO VARYING FARM TYPES IN PUERTO RICO. WE EXPECT NEW INSIGHT INTO HOW THE FUSING OF A MULTITUDE OF DATA CAN BE EFFECTIVELY INTEGRATED INTO AN AGRICULTURE OPERATION AND, SUBSEQUENTLY, DETERMINE WHICH OUTPUTS ARE MOST VALUABLE TO THE VARIED FARM TYPES, PRACTICES, AND LOCATIONS. THIS INVESTIGATION WILL ALSO PROVIDE CRITICAL INFORMATION ON THE RESISTANCE AND RESILIENCE OF AN IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM TO A MAJOR WEATHER OR CLIMATE RELATED DISTURBANCE AND, SUBSEQUENTLY, INFORM MANAGEMENT DECISIONS RELATED TO CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION.$498,426
· FY2019 · National Institute of Food and Agriculture
WE PROPOSE A QUANTITATIVE INVESTIGATION OF THE IONOSPHERIC AND THERMOSPHERIC (IT) RESPONSES TO ACOUSTIC AND GRAVITY WAVES (AWS AND GWS OR HERE AGWS WHEN TOGETHER IN A SPECTRUM) THAT COMBINES DATA FROM GROUND AND SPACE WITH STATE-OF-THE-ART NUMERICAL MODELING. AWS ARE THE FIRST-ARRIVING WAVES ABOVE METEOROLOGICAL SOURCES AND GWS AT SMALL-SCALES (~10S-100S OF KM) AND SHORT PERIODS (~FEW TO TENS OF MINUTES) PROVIDE A DOMINANT MECHANISM FOR VERTICAL COUPLING VIA THEIR FLUXES OF MOMENTUM AND ENERGY FROM THE LOWER ATMOSPHERE TO THE IT AND MESOSPHERE (ITM). GWS IN PARTICULAR STRONGLY PERTURB SPECIES DENSITIES AND ARE THUS READILY IMAGED IN AIRGLOW AND IONOSPHERIC TOTAL ELECTRON CONTENT (TEC) MEASURED BY DENSE NETWORKS OF GLOBAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEM (GNSS) RECEIVERS. NEVERTHELESS TEC DATA REMAIN REMARKABLY UNDERUTILIZED AS A ROUTINE DIAGNOSTIC OF IMPORTANT IT COUPLING PROCESSES DRIVEN BY AGW. IT IS NOW NECESSARY AND TIMELY TO BUILD A COMPREHENSIVE QUANTITATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE OBSERVABLE TEC RESPONSES TO AGWS. WE WILL INVESTIGATE VIA THEORY MODELING AND DATA ANALYSIS THE SPECTRUM OF HIGH PHASE VELOCITY (>100 M/S) AWS AND GWS THAT IS STRONGLY CONTROLLED BY ITM TEMPERATURES LEADING TO "NATURAL RESPONSE" DETERMINED BY REFLECTION DUCTING AND RESONANCE COMBINED WITH DISSIPATION. THESE EFFORTS FORM A KEY STEP TOWARDS SEPARATING AND QUANTIFYING THE AGWS THAT ARISE THROUGH PRIMARY OR SECONDARY FORCING FROM BELOW AND IN ESTABLISHING THE UTILITY OF OBSERVED ITM WAVE SPECTRA (WHICH MAY BE MODAL) IN ASSESSING AGW SOURCES AND EFFECTS. EQUALLY WE SEEK TO UNDERSTAND THE PHYSICS OF REMOTELY-SENSED TEC MEASUREMENTS THAT ARE STRONGLY DEPENDENT ON THE STATE OF THE BOTTOMSIDE IONOSPHERE AND FURTHER THAT ARE SPATIALLY-INTEGRATED AND THUS INHERENTLY FILTERED. THUS IN SUPPORT OF THE OVERARCHING SCIENCE QUESTION: "WHAT ARE THE DOMINANT QUANTIFIABLE LOCAL-SCALE RESPONSES OF THE IONOSPHERE AND THERMOSPHERE TO ACOUSTIC AND GRAVITY WAVES OVER SHORT PERIODS OF TIME?" WE PURSUE THREE OBJECTIVES TO INVESTIGATE AND QUANTIFY THE: (1) NATURAL (RESONANT DOMINANT) ATMOSPHERIC RESPONSES THAT SHAPE AGW SPECTRA IN THE ITM; THE (2) LINEAR AND NONLINEAR SIGNATURES OF AGWS IN GROUND-BASED TEC DATA; AND THE (3) SENSITIVITY AND DEPENDENCE OF GNSS/GPS TEC OBSERVABLES ON THE STATE OF THE IT. TO ACHIEVE CLOSURE WE WILL APPLY OUR NEW 3D HIGH-RESOLUTION MODELS TO NASA MISSION AND GROUND-BASED DATA TO BUILD A QUANTITATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF OBSERVABLE AGW SIGNATURES IN TEC UNDER REALISTIC CONDITIONS VIA CASE STUDIES. ANALYSES OF GROUND-BASED GNSS TEC WILL CHARACTERIZE ITM WAVE DYNAMICS ABOVE BROADBAND NEUTRAL FORCING SUCH AS DUE TO SEVERE WEATHER. ANALYSES OF TIMED'S SABER INSTRUMENT DATA TOGETHER WITH CLIMATOLOGIES AND EMPIRICAL MODELS WILL DEFINE THE NEUTRAL ITM TO INVESTIGATE ITS ROLE IN CONTROLLING WAVE SPECTRA. FURTHER THIS WILL PROVIDE REALISTIC MODEL ENVIRONMENTS FOR SIMULATIONS OF THEORETICAL AND OBSERVED AGW DYNAMICS. IONOSPHERIC MAPS OF O/N2 RATIO FROM TIMED'S GUVI ALONG WITH COSMIC RADIO OCCULTATION MEASUREMENTS OF ELECTRON DENSITY JPL MAPPED TEC DATA PRODUCTS AND EMPIRICAL MODELS WILL PROVIDE INSIGHT AND WILL VALIDATE (AND AUGMENT) OUR SELF-CONSISTENT IONOSPHERIC STATES TO BE USED IN MODELING CASE STUDIES. TOGETHER OUR SUITE OF MODELS WILL INVESTIGATE THE COMPRESSIBLE AND NONLINEAR AGW DYNAMICS THAT ARISE FOLLOWING BROADBAND FORCING AND THE SUBSEQUENT RESPONSES OF A COUPLED AND SELF-CONSISTENT DIPOLE IONOSPHERE AND PLASMASPHERE. TO ENABLE MODEL-DATA COMPARISONS AND TO ASSESS THE 3D NATURE OF WAVE FIELDS WE WILL SIMULATE TEC INTEGRATIONS ALONG MOVING PATHS FROM SATELLITES TO RECEIVERS TO LEVERAGE MULTIPLE LINES-OF-SIGHT FOR ASSESSMENTS OF AGWS VIA SLANT-TEC. OUR UNIQUE MODELING AND ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK WILL ADDRESS OUR SCIENCE OBJECTIVES AND QUESTION AND WILL ENABLE FUTURE APPLICATIONS TO DIVERSE PROBLEMS IN ITM AGW DYNAMICS WITH DIRECT POTENTIAL BENEFITS FOR THE PENDING ICON AND CONCEPTUALIZED GDC AND DYNAMIC MISSIONS.$483,323
· FY2020 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
DUE TO THE CONTACT OF MATERIAL PARTICLES AT SOLID/WATER-AIR INTERFACES THE MECHANICAL ENERGY GENERATED WITHIN THE EARTH AND OCEAN INTERIORS LEAKS INTO THE ATMOSPHERE IN THE FORM OF ACOUSTIC AND GRAVITY WAVES (AGWS OR MORE SPECIFICALLY COSEISMIC ACO$476,023
· FY2022 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
TOPOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY OPTIMIZATION OF 3D PRINTED CONTINUOUS FIBER COMPOSITES$468,390
· FY2020 · Department of the Navy
ARIZONA MATH AND SCIENCE LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE$464,491
· FY2008 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
TAS::57 3600::TAS "SELF-SUSTAINED FLOW-ACOUSTIC INTERACTIONS IN AIRFOIL TRANSITIONAL BOUNDARY LAYERS"$435,919
· FY2012 · Department of Defense
ACCURATE STELLAR AGES CONSTRAIN A HOST OF ASTROPHYSICAL QUESTIONS OF INTEREST RANGING FROM THE HABITABILITY OF PLANETS TO THE GALAXY'S STAR FORMATION HISTORY AND AGE. GYROCHRONOLOGY AN EMPIRICAL RELATION BETWEEN ROTATION AND AGE IS BELIEVED TO BE$435,702
· FY2022 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration