Dr. Rachel Filwett is a postdoctoral researcher working for Professor Jaynes. She earned her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2018, and additionally earned a M.S. from there in 2016 and a B.S. from Valparaiso University in Physics and East Asian Studies in 2013. She currently researches the properties of SEPs as they access the radiation belts using data from the Van Allen Probes. Her previous research includes a dissertation entitled "Measuring the Sources and Acceleration Mechanisms of Suprathermal Heavy Ions in Stream Interaction Regions near 1 AU"
Dr. Filwett's other research interests include the development of space instrumentation – particularly for CubeSats and the magnetospheres of the Ice Giants.
Riley is a PhD student who will be working with Professor Jaynes starting in January 2019. He received a B.S. in physics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2018. His undergraduate thesis there involved studying wind speeds at around 240 km above Antarctica to narrow down possibilities for extra atmospheric mass that appears to be held up in the cusp region of the Earth’s magnetic field. His hometown is Fairbanks, Alaska, and his other interests include Science Policy and competitive cycling.
Personal statement: “Growing up in Alaska I was lucky enough to witness the Aurora on countless occasions and now I get to use my physics knowledge to study this incredible phenomena.”
Jayasri is a graduate student working for Prof. Jaynes. She works on designing and implementing the electrical components necessary for operating the PLASMIC device, in particular Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs).
Joshua is a sophomore studying Physics and Computer Science at the University of Iowa. He is working with Professor Jaynes to create programs to analyze data for electron precipitation collected from NASA instruments on NOAA weather satellites. In his spare time, he plays guitar and studies.
Sanjay is a graduate student working for Professor Jaynes. He is currently working on data from MMS. He has a B.A. in Physics from Carleton College, where his research was in radio astronomy, specifically pulsars. He also enjoys trivia and playing the viola.
Kawther Rouabhi is a third-year undergraduate student who began research with Professor Jaynes in July 2020. She studies Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Iowa with an elective focus in big data and machine learning applications. She is currently working with Jaynes Research Group to develop a machine learning model that may identify pulsating aurora events using all-sky imager data. Kawther’s research interests span a wide range of earth and space science topics, from global climate change to space weather throughout the solar system. What she enjoys most as a researcher (and in general) is traveling to new places and meeting diverse people from around the world.
Collin worked with the Jaynes Research Group as an undergraduate research student earning a B.S. in applied physics from the University of Iowa. He is interested in researching the application of machine learning methods on auroral imaging data to study the pulsating aurora. His other interests include hackathons, multicopters, and hiking. He graduated in 2019.
Connor worked as a research intern for the Jaynes Research Group from June 2018 to July 2020. His work involved Geant simulations of particle detectors for PLASMIC as well as using IDL for developing categorization equations. He has a B.A. in physics from Dartmouth College. His other interests include silversmithing and paleontology. Connor left the group to pursue a PhD in physics at Montana State University.