Fall 2023

DateSpeakerTitle / Video Link
Sept. 14Herman MarshallImaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE)
Sept. 21Yuta NotsuRecent observational attempts to observe stellar coronal mass ejections (CMEs)
Sept. 25Emiel PorHiCAT testbed
Oct. 5Wajih ElsallalIntroduction to MITRE FUSE
Oct. 12Glenn HoweTailored Photoacoustic Apertures with Superimposed Optical Holograms
Oct.19Derek CaponFreeform Optical Systems with NURBS Surfaces
Oct. 26Azim AhmadzadehReal-time Analysis of Solar Filaments: the Challenges and the Solutions
Nov. 2John MeriwetherApplication of the modern-day Fabry-Perot interferometer to study aeronomy and space physics dynamics
Nov. 6Jung-Tsung LiSmall-Scale Magnetic Fields are Critical to Shaping Solar Gamma-Ray Emission
Nov. 9Keith GrovesThe Science of Forecasting Instabilities in the SPARTA Center of Excellence
Nov. 16Joseph SamaniegoFusion Propulsion
Nov. 30Richard WoolfComPair
Dec. 7Todd HoeksemaCOFFIES Drive center

Spring 2023

DateSpeakerTitle / Video Link
Jan. 26Kristina MonschProtoplanetary Disks
Feb. 2Yeimy RiveraSimulating the Thermal Evolution of a Coronal Mass Ejection Using a 3D MHD Model and Time-Dependent Ionization of Heavy Ions
Feb. 9Erin R. BertelsenUnderstanding Extraction Chromatography Materials for f-element Separations
March 2Tirna DebThe social life of galaxies: unfolding the mystery of galactic interactions and transformations in different environments
March 16Carl SchmidtAlkali emissions in the lunar atmosphere
March 23Seth GossageMagnetic Braking in Open Clusters and Low Mass X-ray Binaries
March 30Macy HustonAn Overview of SETI and Technosignatures
April 6Rebecca MastersonREXIS (REgolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer) – a Student Instrument on OSIRIS-REx: The Short Story video
April 20Graham KerrInterrogating Solar Flare Models with IRIS Observations and Looking to the Future
April 27Eleonora PuzzoniDeveloping a theoretical model for the Gamma Ray Mission from the sun

Fall 2022

DateSpeakerTitle
Sept. 8Philip MannheimIs dark matter fact or fantasy - clue from the data
Sept. 15Susanna FinnHighlights and Updates from the NASA Heliophysics Division.
Sept. 22Andre-Nicolas CheneThe fabulous journey of observatory staff
Sept. 29Keith BrownDielectrophoresis of Fluids from Fundamentals to Propellant-free Propulsion
Oct. 6Shanti RaoCarbon Mapper mission architecture
Oct. 13XY ZhouUnveiling the Secret Covered by Sunlight
Oct. 20Susan RedmondTo the stratosphere and beyond: Quasi-static wavefront error drift correction for balloon-based wide-field instruments and space-based coronagraphic instruments
Oct. 27Cheng ShengMulti-scale Geomagnetic Forcing and Their Impact on the Earth’s Upper Atmosphere
Nov. 3Michael StennerInnovation that Makes a Difference
Nov. 10Pablo ReigBe/X-ray binaries
Nov. 17Yifan HuangA Numerical Model for Understanding Pickup-Ion Dynamics in the Outer Heliosphere and IBEX Observations of the ENA Ribbon
Dec. 1Stephen MerkowitzThe Critical Role that Space Geodesy Plays in Earth Observation

Summer 2022

DateSpeakerTitle
June 3Kalpa HenadhiraArachchigePredicting the Solar Wind at the Parker Solar Probe Encounter
June 10Lukas HansonModeling the solar wind in time with SWMF
June 17Thaddeus PotterThe PICTURE-C Observatory: Thermal Model
June 24Charmi PatelUltraviolet Airglow Intensities as seen by LITES
July 1Sunip MukherjeeExploring the upper atmosphere using multiwavelength imaging
July 8Guangfeng YuProgress report on MANIC Performance Test
July 15Liam NeeleyAutomation of Schueller Observatory
July 22Dimitris ChristodoulouSome Obviously Damped Exoplanets
July 29Sayantan BhattacharyaMulti-Wavelength Observations Of IC 10 X-1
Aug. 5Mitchell BaileyLunaSat and GLEE2023: Lunar Experiments and Operations
Aug. 12Nicholas SorabellaS.M.I.L.E: A Self-Lensing and Doppler Boosting Model with Wide Application Across the Entire Mass Spectrum
Aug. 19Ankur RoyInitial discoveries by the James Webb Space Telescope

Spring 2022

DateSpeakerTitle
Jan. 20Monica YoungScience Journalism: An Astronomer's Perspective
Jan. 27Amy PetersonInterfacial Phenomena in Additive Manufacturing
Feb. 3Prantika BhowmikMagnetofrictional Modeling of the Global Coronal Magnetic Field
Feb. 10Jeremy DrakeReturning to the Unobservable Extreme Ultraviolet
Feb. 17Philip StahlWebb Space Telescope: The First Light Machine
Feb. 24Mehr Un NisaMapping the TeV Sky with HAWC
March 3James HeissSaltwater intrusion into aquifers along estuaries and open coasts: The role of sea level rise, tidal flooding, and estuarine circulation
March 17Ioannis ContopoulosQuantum interference: reality, or just an illusion of our detectors? 
March 24Dag EvensbergetConstraining the history of the Solar wind from stellar magnetic field observations
March 31Kaitlin RasmussenAre we alone in the Universe?
April 7Jon LaptingtonVHE Gamma-ray astronomy with the Cherenkov Telescope Array
April 14Jayachandran P. ThayylMonitoring the Arctic Ionosphere – Research and Applications
April 21Ennio SanchezTest of Energetic Particle Precipitation Theories: Van Allen Probes, ARASE and Incoherent Scatter Radar Coordinated Measurements
April 28Xeuyi WangKinetic Modeling of the Magnetosphere : Global Hybrid Simulation
May 5Itumeleng M. MonagengA multiwavelength study of neighboring Be X-ray binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud
May 12Joy WinbourneNature-based solutions to climate change?

Fall 2021

DateSpeakerTitle
Sept. 9Chris Beaudoin, Ph.D.The Geodetic Reference Instrument Transponser for Small Satellites (GRITSS) and the Space Geodetic Constellation (GEOCON) concept
Sept. 23Bob BroughtonUnderstanding the Phased Array Antenna, an Intuitive Approach
Sept. 30Thaddeus Potter, Kalpa HenadhiraArachchige, Sayantan BhattacharyaSTOP modeling for the PICTURE-C telescope, Comparing the Performance of a Solar Wind model from the Sun to 1 au using Real and
Synthetic Magnetograms, Spectroscopic Monitoring of WR+BH High Mass X-ray Binary: IC 10 X-1
Oct. 7J.J. HermesSearching for Signposts of failed white dwarf supernovae
Oct. 14Breanna BinderThe Effects of Metallicity on X-ray Binary Populations
Oct. 22David WexlerFETCH Concept: Investigating Quiescent and Transient Magnetic Structures
Oct. 28Saurav AryalGOLD mission's solar eclipse observations in the thermosphere
Nov. 5Demos KazanasFaraday rotation of Spacecraft Radio Signals
Nov. 19Lawrence TownsendExtreme Solar Particle Events: Safe or Sorry?
Dec. 2Farzad KamalabandiToward Milli-Arcsecond Imaging: Diffraction-Limited UV Telescopes Enabled by Formation Flying
Dec. 9Shu LaiSpacecraft Charging in Sunlight; Physical Mechanisms; Mitigation Techniques

Spring 2021

DateSpeakerTitle
Jan. 21Caroline NowlanMonitoring Air Quality from Space: Observations from Global to Urban Scales
Jan. 28Soumitra HazraModeling Solar Wind Variations over an 11-year Cycle with Alfvén Wave Dissipation: a Parameter Study
Feb. 4Evgenya ShkolnikA Holistic View of Exoplanets, their Environments, and their Potential to Host Life
Feb. 11Stella KafkaThe AAVSO Program: A Resource for Variable Star Research
Feb. 18Vanessa McBrideAstronomy for Development
Feb. 25Frans SnikA polarized view of exoplanets
March 4Stephen FrasierRemote Sensing of Precipitation and Severe Storms with X-Band Radar
March 11Ruolin ZhouDeep Learning-Enabled Intelligent Radio
March 18Meredith ElrodePEDE 2018 as observed by MAVEN NGIMS
March 25Lara WaldropWide-field UV Imaging of Earth's dynamic exosphere by NASA's GLIDE mission
April 1Dimitris ChristodoulouOn the observed clustering of major bodies in (extra)solar subsystems
April 8Parisa MustafaviHeliospheric shock waves propagating into the outer heliosphere and interstellar medium
April 15Kathleen OramHadamard Transform Spectral Imaging with Digital Mircomirror Devices (DMDs)
April 22Pallamraju DuggiralaRecent results in the upper atmospheric dynamics over low latitudes
April 29Xuejun LuPlasmonic optical antenna enhanced infrared sensing and imaging
May 6Ruizhe MaTime Series Analysis of of Solar Events
May 13Allona VazanNew insights on interiors of exoplanets

Fall 2020

DateSpeakerTitle
Sept. 24Yash SarkangoUnderstanding Jupiter's magnetosphere through large scale MHD simulations and small scale in-situ observations
Oct. 1Jared BellAtmospheric Escape from Alien Worlds
Oct. 15Brian KilpatrickProbing the Three Dimensionality of Exoplanet Atmospheres
Oct. 22Wei GuoIntegrated Photonics Research and Potential Space Applications
Oct. 29Mary KnappSearching for small exoplanets with a tiny spacecraft: the story of ASTERIA
Nov. 5Matthew HorsleyNanosat-based Stellar Occultation: Developing inexpensive methods to observe atmospheric gravity waves and high-altitude turbulence
Nov. 12Randy GladstoneLyman Alpha at Pluto and Beyond
Nov. 19Andrew RogersImpacts of exotic nuclei on the ashes of accreting neutron stars
Dec. 3Marina GalandUltraviolet aurora revealed at comet 67P

Spring 2020

DateSpeakerTitle
Jan. 31Marcos Diaz Quezeda (University of Chile, Santiago)Potentialities of nano-satellites of Cubesat type: The case of the SUCHAI space program
Feb. 7SeungWoo Son (UMass Lowell)AD2: Improving Quality of IoT Data through Compressive Anomaly Detection
Feb. 21Carl Schmidt (Boston University)Observing the Exospheres of Mercury and the Moon
Feb. 28William KammererCubeSat Laser Infrared CrosslinK Mission Development Status
March 20Caroline Nowlan (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory)Monitoring Air Quality from Space: Observations from Global to Urban Scales

Fall 2019

DateSpeakerTitle
Sept. 13Avi Shporer (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)Science with orbital phase curves in the space age
Sept. 20David Wexter (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)On the Fluctuations of Electron Density and Magnetic Field in the Solar Mid-Corona: Spacecraft Radio Observations
Sept. 27Wen Li and Qianli Ma (Boston University)Recent Advances in Understanding Energetic Electron Precipitation in the Earth's Van Allen Radiation Belts.
Oct. 4Ankur Roy, UML LoCSSTPresenting a comprehensive library of SMC X-Ray Pulsars: A Public Resource for Scientific Analysis
Oct. 11Toshi Nishimur (Boston University)STEVE: A new type of upper atmospheric emission and unusual magnetosphere-ionosphere processes
Oct. 25Erno Sajo (University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Physics)Nano-Film, X-ray Detectors with Potential Large-Area Space Application
Nov. 1Archana Kamal (University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Physics)Quantum reservoir engineering: beating dechoherence at its own game
Nov. 8Nick Murphy ( CfA, Harvard University)Building an open source Python ecosystem for plasma physics
Nov. 15Derek Buzasi (Florida Gulf Coast University)A New Window Into Massive Stars: Asteroseismology over Multiple Epochs
Nov. 22Antonija Oklopcic (CfA, Harvard University)Probing the Escaping Atmospheres of Exoplanets
Dec. 6American Geophysical UnionAGU Practice Talks

Alternate speaker: Jiannan Tu (UMass Lowell) - A simulation study of neutral dynamo in the ionosphere.

Fall 2018

DateSpeakerTitle
Sept. 14Seth Redfield (Wesleyan)Properties of the Interstellar Medium Surrounding the Sun and Nearby Stars
Sept. 21William Longley (Boston University)Chromospheric heating by the Farley-Buneman instability
Sept. 28Juliette Rooney-Varga (UMass Lowell, Biological Sciences)An adventure in science communication: Understanding the drivers of climate change, mental models, and human decision-making
Oct. 5Tony Case (CfA)Solar Probe Cup on Parker Solar Probe
Oct. 12Sagi Ben-ami (CfA)High Resolution Spectographs for Extremely Large Telescopes
Oct. 19Saurav Aryal (Lowell Center for Space Science & Technology)Multi-spectral observation of Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances
Oct. 26Rick Eason, University of MaineHigh Altitude Ballooning for student research, incl. the 2017 Eclipse Ballooning project
Nov. 2Majd Mayyasi (Boston University) / Kim Mcleod
Nov. 9Paul Song (Space Science Lab)
Nov. 16Kate Follette (Amherst College)
Nov. 30Raphaelle Haywood (Harvard College Observatory)
Dec. 7AGU practice talks