Courses

From Space Weather Lab

1. Introduction

Note that in the Summer of 2011, the Department of Computational and Data Sciences and the Department of Physics and Astronomy merged into the School of Physics, Astronomy, and Computational Sciences. The course names and numbers (e.g., CSI 763) and degree names (e.g., MS in Computational Sciences and Informatics) have not changed.

The graduate program in both the department of Physics and Astronomy and the department of Computational and Data Sciences offers degrees at the Masters (M.S.) and Doctoral (Ph. D) levels. A wide variety of Space Weather courses are offered jointly by the two departments, in addition to the traditional training in physical sciences and modern computational techniques.

Students wishing to study Space Weather at the graduate level have several options for Ph.D. programs in the College of Science. The Department of Physics and Astronomy offers the Physics Ph.D. and the Department of Computational and Data Sciences offers a Ph.D. in Computational Sciences and Informatics with a concentration in Space Sciences and Computational Astrophysics. Courses listed below can be used to fulfill some of the requirements of both degrees.

The main objective of the Ph.D. program for students wishing to specialize in Space Weather is to train students to be research scientists for future careers in academia, industry, and government. The program provides students with an interdisciplinary academic environment to comprehensively develop their ability/intellect to successfully pursue a scientific career in all aspects of Space Weather. The graduates of this program should therefore be better capable of attacking the interdisciplinary research problems that characterize the new challenges we face in the coming years than students whose graduate coursework and research is entirely within a single discipline.

The basic requirement for entry as a graduate student is a science degree and computational experience. However, the system is flexible and provides opportunities for taking courses to compensate for deficiencies in a student's educational background. We accept full-time and part-time graduate students.

2. Curriculum Requirements

2.1. CSI Ph.D.

For the Ph.D. in Computational and Data Sciences [1], there is a Space Sciences and Computational Astrophysics concentration with the following requirements:

CSI 785 Electromagnetic Theory
CSI 661 Astrophysics, or CSI 662 Space Weather
CSI 769 Space Plasma Physics, or CSI 764 Computational Astrophysics,
Two from: CSI 763 Statistical Methods in Space Sciences, CSI 780 Computational Physics and Applications, CSI 782 Statistical Mechanics for Modeling and Simulation, CSI 783 Computational Quantum Mechanics, CSI 721 Computational Fluid Dynamics

2.2. Physics Ph.D.

See [2]

3. Course Notes

See Courses Taught for a list of past and present course taught by GMU faculty.

CSI 796 (Directed Reading and Research) Depending on interest and needs of students, reading courses on Space Weather topics may be offered:

Special Topics in Solar, Heliospheric, Magnetospheric, and Ionospheric Physics
Special Topics in Processes and Techniques: Radiative transfer, spectroscopy, space-based data analysis, etc.

CSI 769/ASTR 769 (Topics in Space Sciences) Courses under this heading vary by semester. Previous courses include

Magnetospheric Physics
- Large-scale current systems
- Ionospheric convection
- Geomagnetic storms and substorms
- Waves
- Solar wind driving of geomagnetic activity
- The radiation belt
- The plasma sheet
Plasma Physics
- An introductory course on space plasma physics
Introduction to the Space Environment
- Applicable physics concepts: charged particle orbits, Maxwell and fluid equations, Ohm's law, diamagnetism, ionization, excitation and radiation. The solar cycle and basic phenomenology of the solar atmosphere and corona
- Solar wind and the earth's bow shock,
- The magnetosphere and geomagnetism,
- The ionosphere, radio propagation in the ionosphere, and satellite environment effects.
Solar Atmosphere. Internal Structure and convection zone, magnetic cycle and solar dynamo; solar atmosphere, observations, spectra, spectroscopy, non-LTE radiative transfer, plasma properties; solar wind observations and theory; solar activity, flares, coronal mass ejections and solar energetic particles; coronal heating, magnetic recombination, MHD, and acceleration and transport of energetic particles.

4. Courses Taught

4.1. 2012 Fall

Zhang - (tentative) Astrophysics
Weigel - (tentative) Statistical Methods in the Space Sciences or Magnetospheric Physics
Pulkkinen - (tentative) Space Weather: Physics, Applications and Operations (at Catholic University of America) We are pursuing a collaboration between Catholic University of America and GMU in which graduate students can earn credit by taking advanced specialty Space Weather courses at either institution via the Consortium of Universities [3]. In this course "... students will learn how to use state-of-the-art modeling capacity to generate space weather applications. Unique features of the course include student participation to operational space weather forecasting activities in collaboration with scientists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center." For more information, please contact rweigel@gmu.edu or PULKKINEN@cua.edu.