George Mason University (GMU) has initiated a new program within the School of Computational Sciences (SCS) centered on space weather. In order to implement and go forward with this program, three new tenure-track faculty positions in space weather are anticipated that will be joint with both the SCS and the Department of Physics and Astronomy (DPA). This proposal is for support for one of the positions. Given the already strong solar physics faculty at SCS, highest priority for the NSF-supported position will be given to a magnetospheric scientist. The new faculty member will work with the senior scientists at GMU to implement a novel curriculum focusing on an end-to-end systems approach to space weather. Students will be trained to have a working knowledge of the Sun, heliosphere, magnetosphere, and upper atmosphere/ionosphere, and how societal activities are affected by changes in the system. Research carried out by the faculty and students will focus on this approach, which is envisioned to lead to new knowledge about how the Sun-Earth system works and how to forecast consequences of space weather. In keeping with the missions of the SCS and the DPA, there will be a strong emphasis on the interdisciplinary nature of the space weather program and its applications to other fields. There will be a dedicated focus on exposing undergraduate students in physics and astronomy to space weather, on establishing a PhD track in space weather (as an option within the existing PhD programs), and on developing a strong education and outreach program in space weather. Graduates will meet the growing need for specialists in space weather brought on through the implementation of the National Space Weather Plan by various Government agencies, private industry, and other universities. Existing partnerships between GMU and nearby Federal and industrial laboratories will be strengthened by the new space weather program.
The primary outcome of this activity was the advancement and development of a research scientist to a tenured position at a university that was developing a new Space Weather program. During this time, the support was used to address several major broader impacts related to Space Weather. The faculty member worked with senior scientists at GMU to implement a novel graduate curriculum that focused on an end-to-end systems approach to space weather; he helped develop an new program in Space Weather that has grown from 5 students to over 25 graduate students over the past 6 years. The faculty member also developed an undergraduate curriculum for computational and data sciences and mentored several high school students. As proposed, graduate students in the program have been trained to have a working knowledge of the Sun, heliosphere, magnetosphere, and upper atmosphere/ionosphere, and how societal activities are affected by these systems. A new graduate course was developed, Statistical Methods in the Space Sciences, which placed a heavy emphasis on understanding data and the impacts of Space Weather. One outreach project was a student-developed Space Weather Forecasting Contest [http://swxcontest.gmu.edu/], now in its third year, where students from across the U.S. learn about space weather by learning how to forecast it. The faculty member has mentored students who have spent summers at the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder CO and are actively collaborating with the Community Coordinated Modeling Center at NASA/GSFC. The faculty member emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of the space weather program and its applications to other fields. Student projects include data analysis, simulation, and theoretical considerations of various space weather systems. As proposed, graduates met the growing need for specialists in space weather brought on through the implementation of the National Space Weather Plan by various Government agencies, private industry, and other universities: The faculty member has been on the dissertation committee or taught independent studies courses ad-hoc for students from Director of the Office of Nuclear Detonation Detection in the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy, National Geophysical Data Center, Naval Research Lab, Aerospace, and AFRL. New collaborations are being pursued, including a summer school or collaborative courses with Catholic University.
