My research involves theoretical investigations in plasma physics, heliospheric physics, and astrophysics. I am particularly interested in plasma turbulence and its role in heating the Sun's corona and accelerating the solar wind. I have also worked on particle acceleration in solar flares, the origin of cosmic magnetic fields, the acceleration and propagation of cosmic rays, and the thermodynamics of galaxy-cluster plasmas.

• Selected papers
• Curriculum vitae

COLLABORATIONS ON NASA MISSIONS

I am a co-investigator on the FIELDS Experiment, led by Dr. Stuart Bale of UC Berkeley, which will be flown on NASA's Solar Probe Plus (SPP) spacecraft. Following its expected launch in 2018, SPP will visit the near vicinity of the Sun, making multiple passes to within 10 solar radii of the Sun's surface. FIELDS will provide measurements of electric and magnetic fields in the near-Sun solar wind. I am also a collaborator on the SWEAP Experiment led by Dr. Justin Kasper of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. SWEAP is also a part of the SPP payload, and will measure the properties of protons, electrons, and alpha particles at the SPP orbit.

BACKGROUND

I was born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1968, and grew up in Amherst. I received a BA in physics and history from Yale University in 1990, spent a couple years working outside academia, and then went to Princeton University, where I received my PhD in Astrophysical Sciences in 1997, working with Russell Kulsrud on astrophysical dynamos. I worked as a postdoctoral researcher for three years at UCLA with Steve Cowley, and then joined the faculty at the University of Iowa in 1999. I joined the faculty at UNH in the fall of 2005.

PERSONAL

I live in Madbury, NH, with my wife Jeannie and son Evan.