12/01/2023
By Lynne Schaufenbil

Please join the Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology for the virtual seminar "Consequences of Fields and Flows in the Interior and Exterior of the Sun (COFFIES)" presented by Todd Hoeksema on Thursday, Dec. 7 at 1 p.m.

The COFFIES Drive Science Center seeks to understand the sources of solar activity. The COFFIES team expects to develop the capability to forecast long-term solar activity using observations and theory by bringing together researchers with expertise in helioseismology, dynamo theory, stellar convection, surface observations, and model integration.

Teams from the 14+ institutions involved in COFFIES are investigating three primary science themes – the tachocline at the bottom of the solar convection zone, the near-surface shear layer of the Sun, and the emergence and transport of magnetic flux on and beneath the surface. The group is investigating the drivers of variable large-scale plasma motions in the Sun and stars, how flows and fields create varying activity cycles, and why active regions emerge when and where they do.

COFFIES is one of three DSC's sponsored by NASA that supports mentorship of STEM students, fosters public outreach and education, and works to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in heliophysics. Find us online at COFFIES.stanford.edu.

Brief Bio

Todd Hoeksema is a Professor of Physics at Stanford University and is the Principal Investigator of the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument on NASA' Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), as well as the director of the COFFIES project and the Wilcox Solar Observatory. He received his PhD at Stanford in the Applied Physics Department and his research group is part of the cross-disciplinary Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory. His principal scientific interests include solar and coronal magnetic fields, helioseismology, space weather, and instrumentation. He spent four years as a discipline scientist in the Heliophysics Division at NASA HQ and has served as the Chair of the Solar Physics Division of the AAS. He is also a founding member of the Silicon Valley Book Club.

Please email Lynne_Schaufenbil@uml.edu for the Zoom link if you wish to attend.