SHIELD NASA DRIVE Science Center

Happy New Year! We are looking forward to 2025 full of collaboration, community, and sharing!

Great article in the NYT Magazine by a veteran science writer about Ed Stone's leadership and shepherding of the Voyager science team. https://lnkd.in/eNrcXT3M Looking forward to learning more about this remarkable leader during our "Voyager StoryCorps" webinar series this spring https://lnkd.in/e3kPASqc

Congratulations to the SHIELD Director and member of the 2024 class of AGU Fellows, Merav Opher (here seen posing with outgoing AGU president, Lisa Graumlich)! This honor is well deserved and SHIELD looks forward to her continued leadership. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eYsjjNA6

SHIELD Webinar Series: Voyager StoryCorps "Ed Stone as a Mentor" Friday, Jan. 17th, 2025, 2pm ET To: Register: https://lnkd.in/e3kPASqc As the Voyager Mission approaches its 50 year mark, and continues its extraordinary legacy, a new generation of researchers works with Voyager data to understand the outer regions of our solar system and the interstellar environment outside of the heliosphere, we invite stories that capture the history of this mission and the people that made it happen. The SHIELD Webinar series for 2025 will be devoted to bringing together these unique voices to share stories in a “Voyager StoryCorps”. The inaugural Voyager StoryCorps Webinar will feature a conversation between two proteges of Edward C. Stone. Alan Cummings started working with Ed Stone on the Voyager cosmic ray (CRS) instruments in 1973 and is now PI of those instruments. Jamie Rankin was Ed's last graduate student and earned her PhD in 2019. She is now deputy CRS PI and deputy Voyager project scientist. Alan and Jamie will share their memories working with Ed and working with CRS data from the perspective of the old and new.

SHIELD at American Geophysical Union presenting our science at the NASA Booth. Many thanks to Erick Powell, @Ethan Bair, and Jesse Miller from Boston University, Juan Alonso Guzman and Laxman Adhikari (The University of Alabama in Huntsville) , and Heather Elliott (SWRI) for taking the time to talk to some many people. #AGU24

SHIELD NASA DRIVE Science Center researchers presenting at AGU during a session on the outer-heliosphere. SHIELD includes researchers at all levels, undergraduate REU students, graduate researchers, postdoctoral researchers, and more senior scientists. #AGU24 #NASA

SHIELD Summer School: Plasma Processes at the Edge of the Solar System, Date and Location: June 2nd - 6th, 2025, Boston University, Boston MA The SHIELD Summer School invites applications for the 2025 Summer School running in Boston during the week of June 2nd, 2025. Participate in  lectures from leading research scientists working in the outer heliosphere exploring plasma processes and phenomena in play at the edge of the solar system. Topics covered include reconnection, turbulence, neutral-plasma interactions; particle acceleration; overview of the structure of the heliosphere; and theory and practice of interpreting spacecraft data from missions such as Voyager, New Horizons, Cassini, and IBEX. Topics: overview of the basic physical processes driving the structure of the heliosphere as well as in depth discussion of the plasma processes such as ; reconnection and turbulence processes; neutral-plasma interactions; particle acceleration; these concepts are reviewed with experts in theory and data (from spacecraft data from missions such as Voyager, New Horizons, Cassini and IBEX) complemented with hands on labs that mix theory and data. Applicants: graduate and advanced undergraduate students, as well as new postdoctoral researchers interested in solar and space physics Travel Support: Domestic travel and housing in Boston is supported by the SHIELD.  No funding is available for international travel.  Applications Due: Feb. 15th, 2025 See our website for more details: https://lnkd.in/eHzu5j35

Nicholas Gross Working the NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration booth at the SACNAS annual conference. So great to share SHIELD science with this diverse group of young STEM professionals!

Looking forward to this talk from a leader in the astronomy community. American Astronomical Society (AAS)

If you missed this excellent webinar on "Promoting Mental Health" with Jessica Harris, you can view it here, https://lnkd.in/e3kPASqc Jessica Harris is an astrophysicist and science communicator. One aspect of Ms. Harris’s work is focused on supporting early career researchers to maintain their mental health and grow their mental well-being. This public webinar will focus on how to foster, establish, and maintain mental well-being to build a more inclusive community within space physics. Jessica Harris is the Owner and Founder of Jessica A. Harris, LLC. Her consulting firm specializes in the areas of education and outreach, diversity, equity and inclusion, and mentoring through Auntie Jess programming. She provides coaching and mentoring through her Auntie Jess Programming. She is certified as an Adult Mental Health First Aid Instructor. Her mission is to inspire, empower, and support Black and Brown to not just survive but to THRIVE in STEM. Visit her website: https://lnkd.in/en942sFQ #nasa #science #heliophysics #space