The American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics will honor Prof. Allison Jaynes with the Katherine E. Weimer Award, which recognizes and encourages outstanding achievement in plasma science research by a woman physicist in the early years of her career.

Prof. Jaynes is being recognized for outstanding scientific contributions to understanding fundamental space plasma physics processes in the Earth’s magnetosphere and exemplary leadership. Her research focuses on the aurora, the inner magnetosphere, and the radiation belts and how those regions of geospace connect to atmospheric physics.

She joined the faculty at the University of Iowa in 2017 after receiving a PhD from the University of New Hampshire and working as a researcher at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She has been a co-investigator on many NASA satellite, Cubesat, and sounding rocket missions. She is currently serving as a member of the National Academies Solar and Space Physics Decadal Survey Steering Committee tasked with drafting the priorities for the next decade of research in the field. She was awarded the prestigious NSF CAREER award in 2020. Prof. Jaynes was a recipient of the University of Iowa Dean’s Scholar Award in 2022 and the Mid-Career Faculty Scholar Award in 2023. She received the named F. Wendell Miller Distinguished Professorship in 2023. She is deeply committed to equity and inclusion in STEM.

Dr. Katherine E. Weimer was a pioneering research physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory at Princeton University. She made many important contributions to magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium and stability theory for magnetically confined plasmas. This award has an important role in recognizing the contribution and potential of women in plasma science and will help to attract and retain women in this field. 

Prof. Jaynes will receive a $5,000 award and free registration to the Division of Plasma Physics annual meeting Oct. 30 to Nov.3, 2023 in Denver, Colorado, where she will be presented with a certificate citing her contributions and invited to give a talk about her research.