Postdocs:
Jeffersson Agudelo
(04/2022-present)
Originally from Colombia, currently I am postdoc researcher at Darthmouth College. I finished my PhD student at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UCL. My main research interest is to unravel the physics plasma turbulence and magnetic reconnection. Magnetic reconnection and turbulence are two of the main phenomena frequently invoked to address the longstanding question of collisionless energy dissipation. The latter has been studied for quite a while already and it might remain unsolved for a few decades more. Nevertheless, the outstanding computational power and cutting edge measurements that are now available make this a wonderful time for space plasma research and I am up for this challenge.
Xiaocan Li
(02/2020-01/2022; now a research scientist at Dartmouth)
My research focuses on addressing plasma energization and particle acceleration processes in magnetic reconnection and plasma turbulence through numerical simulations and theoretical analysis. I aim to explain the origin of the energetic particles that are responsible for the high-energy emission in solar flares and other explosive astrophysical events. I obtained my Ph.D. degree from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2016. Before joining Dr. Liu's group, I worked as a postdoc at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Tak Chu Li
(10/2017-04/2020; now a research scientist at Dartmouth)
I am a postdoc working with Prof. Yi-Hsin Liu in theoretical and computational plasma physics. My primary interests are magnetic reconnection and plasma turbulence. They are fundamental processes operating ubiquitously in the universe and sometimes in conjunction. Magnetic reconnection is a mechanism that converts magnetic energy to plasma kinetic and thermal energy. It is believed to be responsible for the energy release in solar and stellar flares, heating of the solar upper atmosphere and substorms in the Earth's magnetosphere leading to aurorae. Plasma turbulence governs the flow of energy from large injection scale to small kinetic scales. It provides a pathway of energy transport in accretion disks and plasma heating in the heliosphere, and presents the biggest challenges in fusion devices. My current research focus on understanding the fundamental physics of the two processes using massively parallel numerical simulations and simplified analytic theory.
Graduate Students:
Shan-Chang Lin
(01/2019-present)
I have broad interests in theoretical physics. My current focus is on the theoretical/computational plasma physics; I am studying magnetic reconnection physics and its rate. My previous institute is National Taiwan University.
Sarah Peery
(06/2019-present)
I am interested in studying theoretical and computational plasma physics, focusing on magnetic reconnection. I am interested in space-based phenomena and relativistic reconnection, but also in applications in fusion energy research.
Jacob Willard
(02/2022-present)
I am a PhD student studying magnetic reconnection in astrophysical plasma. In particular, I am interested in understanding the effect of general relativity in black hole magnetospheres. I use GRMHD simulations and theoretical modeling in my research.
Kai Huang (12/2018-12/2019, graduated from USTC; now a postdoc at USTC)
I'm using PIC (particle-in-cell) simulations to study magnetic reconnection. My research interests include the fundamental process of magnetic reconnection & using simulation method to explain the observation and experiment data & the energy dissipation and particle acceleration in magnetic reconnection and their applications to solar and astrophysics. My home institute is the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), and I am visiting Dartmouth for one year.
...recruiting more.......
Undergraduate Students:
Matthew Goodbred
(06/2020-present)
I am an undergraduate in the Dartmouth class of 2023 and am from Nashville, Tennessee. I plan on majoring in physics and have interests in many areas of fundamental physics and astrophysics.
...recruiting more.......