NASA Postdoctoral Program - Heliophysics: Coronal Mass Ejections and Space Weather

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific opportunity focuses on coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are large-scale magnetized plasma structures ejected from the Sun with speeds ranging from a few to more than 2000 kilometers per second. The research involves experimental and theoretical investigations of various aspects of CMEs from their initiation at the Sun, their interplanetary propagation, and the subsequent impact on various heliospheric structures. Studies also include the shock-driving capability of CMEs, as derived from the interplanetary radio emission associated with these solar eruptions. Spacecraft data obtained by white-light coronagraphs and radio instruments are used for these investigations. Emphasis is placed on space weather studies that relate the properties of CMEs to the intensity of geomagnetic storms and solar energetic particle events. The fellowship is based at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.