CV

Publications

Brief Career History

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa

Associate Professor

Spring 2013—present

  1. Teaching graduate level Plasma Physics.
  2. Teaching High-Performance Computing to graduate students across the university.
  3. Nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of kinetic astrophysical turbulence, with application to the solar wind, accretion disks around compact objects, and the interstellar medium.
  4. Analytical models of the turbulent cascade in kinetic plasmas and of the thermodynamics of the plasma species in the solar corona and solar wind.
  5. Analysis of in situ measurements of the turbulence in the solar wind aimed at understanding its heating and acceleration.

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa

Assistant Professor

Fall 2008—Spring 2013

  1. Teaching graduate level Plasma Physics.
  2. Teaching High-Performance Computing to graduate students across the university.
  3. Nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of kinetic astrophysical turbulence, with application to the solar wind, accretion disks around compact objects, and the interstellar medium.
  4. Analytical models of the turbulent cascade in kinetic plasmas and of the thermodynamics of the plasma species in the solar corona and solar wind.
  5. Analysis of in situ measurements of the turbulence in the solar wind aimed at understanding its heating and acceleration.

Department of Astronomy, UC Berkeley

Visiting Assistant Professional Research Astronomer

Mentor: Professor Eliot Quataert

Fall 2004—Summer 2008

  1. Nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of kinetic astrophysical turbulence, with application to the solar wind, accretion disks around compact objects, and the interstellar medium.
  2. Analytical models of the turbulent cascade in kinetic plasmas and of the thermodynamics of the plasma species in the solar corona and solar wind.
  3. Analysis of in situ measurements of the turbulence in the solar wind aimed at understanding its heating and acceleration.

Plasma Theory Group, Department of Physics, UCLA

Graduate Student

Advisor: Professor Steven C. Cowley

Spring 1999—Fall 2004

  1. Development of Gradient Particle Magnetohydrodynamics (GPM), a new algorithm for Lagrangian MHD simulation.
  2. Development of a high-performance, parallel GPM code for the investigation of the origin and evolution of the Galactic magnetic field.
  3. An analytical and numerical investigation of gravitational stability of a plasma in the presence of magnetic shear and shear flow.

Plasma Physics Group, Department of Physics, Imperial College, London

Visiting Graduate Student

Advisor: Professor Steven C. Cowley

Summer 2001—Summer 2003

  1. Development of Gradient Particle Magnetohydrodynamics (GPM), a new algorithm for Lagrangian MHD simulation.
  2. Development of a high-performance, parallel GPM code for the investigation of the origin and evolution of the Galactic magnetic field.

Department of Physics, Occidental College

Adjunct Instructor

Fall 2000

  1. Taught Physics 105—Light: An introductory course on optics, waves, relativity, and quantum mechanics.
  2. Taught Physics 105—Light Laboratory: Standard optics laboratory experiments.

Plasma Physics Laboratory, Department of Physics, UCLA

Graduate Student

Advisor: Professor Alfred Y. Wong

Fall 1997—Spring 1999

  1. Experimental research studying chlorofluorocarbon destruction through dissociative electron attachment using free electrons and negative ions under stratospheric and upper tropospheric conditions.

Department of Physics, Occidental College

Adjunct Instructor

Mentor: Professor George Schmiedeshoff

Fall 1996—Spring 1997

  1. Taught Physics 110—Mechanics: An introductory course on classical mechanics.
  2. Taught Physics 110—Mechanics Laboratory: Experiments on classical mechanics.
  3. Taught Physics 140—Light and Modern Physics Laboratory: Experiments on optics, waves, and nuclear physics.

Research School of Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar

Advisor: Professor Tim Stern

1995

  1. Performed field tests and analyzed the performance of a new high-resolution engineering seismograph for shallow seismic exploration.

Department of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology

Undergraduate Student Researcher

Advisor: Professor Paul Bellan

Winter 1993—Spring 1994

  1. Assisted in the group's plasma physics research developing spheromak injection as a means of refueling tokamak controlled fusion reactors.

Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Wisconsin

National Undergraduate Fellow in Plasma Physics and Fusion Engineering

Advisor: Professor Raymond Fonck

Summer 1993

  1. Developed and assembled the vacuum system for a small-aspect ratio tokamak.

Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory

Summer Laboratory Co-op Student

Advisor: Dr. Michael Nitschke

Summer 1991, Summer 1992

  1. Performed nuclear physics research as part of an international collaboration for the development of a proposed radioactive nuclear beams facility, the IsoSpin Laboratory.
  2. Wrote FORTRAN programs incorporating scientific codes, used them along with analysis tools to predict the properties of the system in order to improve design and performance, and prepared results for publication.

Department of Physics, Occidental College

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Advisor: Professor John Essick

Fall 1991—Spring 1992

  1. Developed FORTRAN routines for data acquisition and analysis for use in solid-state research characterizing the properties of amorphous silicon-carbon alloys.