About Professor Allison Jaynes

Assistant Professor Allison Jaynes’s research focuses on space weather, the inner magnetosphere, and the radiation belts and how those regions of geospace connect to atmospheric and auroral physics. She joined the faculty at the University of Iowa in 2017 after receiving a PhD from the University of New Hampshire and working as a researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder. She has been a Co-Investigator on the MMS and Van Allen Probes NASA satellite missions. Prof. Jaynes is currently serving as Co-Lead on the SCOSTEP PRESTO committee for predictions of the Sun-Earth environment, as a member of the AGU Nomination Task Force, as a member of the National Academies study on Increasing PI Diversity and Inclusion in the Leadership of Competed Space Missions, and as a member of the Heliophysics Advisory Committee for NASA HQ. She previously served as Co-Chair of the Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) Science and Technology Definitions Team for NASA. She was awarded the prestigious NSF CAREER award in 2020. Prof. Jaynes is currently advising four PhD students and was a recipient of the University of Iowa Postdoctoral Association Mentor Award. She teaches multiple courses including a newly developed course on spaceflight hardware (The Edge of Space: Mission and Instrument Design for Spaceflight). She is deeply committed to equity and inclusion in STEM, and is passionate about promoting active learning and positive team dynamics.

Research:

Inner magnetosphere and radiation belts particle dynamics, particularly high-energy electrons and protons

The physics of the aurora in Earth’s ionosphere

Relativistic particle effects throughout the magnetosphere in the vicinity of magnetic reconnection

Solar driving of the near-Earth space environment

Co-Investigator on NASA’s Van Allen Probes and MMS missions

Hardware and instrument development focused on the above science questions