Research Interests: 

Experimental space plasma physics; laboratory plasma physics.

Research: 

• Experimental measurements of wave electric and magnetic fields in the Earth's Van Allen radiation belts
• Plasma wave and particle processes that occur in the aurora
• Electric field measurements near regions of magnetic reconnection
• Students get hands-on experience with spaceflight hardware
• Laboratory experiments to test theory for Alfvén waves, turbulence, and collision operators
• Experiments are prepared at Iowa and then performed at UCLA's Large Plasma Device (LAPD) user's facility
• On-campus facilities include: two vacuum chambers, an electronics lab, and spaceflight hardware assembly lab
• Students perform both laboratory and rocket experiments and work on data from satellite missions
• Students also interact with other group members including two research scientists, and electronics system engineer, postdocs, as well as scientists at other institutions including those at UCLA