
2011
March 2011
Congratulations to Silvina Guidoni and J. Lewis Fox: Both successfully defended their PhD dissertations!
And congratulations to Dr. Andrés Muñoz-Jaramillo, one of our recent alumni, for winning a prestigious Jack Eddy LWS postdoctoral fellowship. His proposal was one of only three selected from 30 submissions.

2010
November 2010
Congratulations to Maria Kazachenko for successfully defending her PhD dissertation!
October 2010
Congratulations to Sabrina Savage for successfully defending her PhD dissertation! Way to go, Doc Savage.
August 2010
Congratulations to Ernest Amouzou and Chris Lowder for successfully passing the written component of the PhD comprehensive exam!
July 2010
Congratulations to Sabrina Savage and Maria Kazachenko for winning postdoc positions! In separate competitions, each of them has won funding for their first jobs after PhD graduation: Savage will take a postdoc position supported by NASA, mentored by Dr. Gordon Holman at GSFC; and Kazachenko will take a position at UC-Berkeley supported by NSF and mentored by Dr. George Fisher. Well done!
June 2010
The MSU Solar Physics group hosted the annual Hinode/XRT Team Meeting, June 16-18. For three days, the XRT team discussed technical and operations issues, and the latest scientific results. Click for links to the Meeting Website, and free public concert.
May 2010
Congratulations to Anna Malanushenko for successfully defending her PhD Dissertation! That's Dr. Malanushenko now.
February 2010
MSU is a Co-Investigator in NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission, now scheduled to be launched Wednesday, February 10 at 10:26 EST (8:26 MST). For up-to-the-minute information, see SDO's website. MSU's news story here.
Congratulations to Dave Klumpar and
the SSEL team for securing a launch of Explorer-1 Prime! This will be the
first time that an MSU satellite will be launched from the United States. It will also be the first time that miniature
satellites made at any U.S. university will fly on a NASA mission. MSU's satellite is one of three that will accompany the NASA
mission.
MSU's news story here.

2009
August 2009
Congratulations to Charles Kankelborg,
Dave Klumpar, and
the entire SSEL team for their parts in
attracting NASA support for the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) project.
IRIS fills a large gap in our knowledge of the solar atmosphere by tracing the flow of energy and plasma
through the chromosphere and transition region into the corona using spectrometry and imaging in three
ultraviolet windows.
The unprecedented combination of high angular resolution, short temporal cadence, good
spectral resolution, and high-speed data transmission will provide information critical to understanding the
lower boundary of the heliosphere as well as fundamental astro- and plasma-physical processes.
IRIS is a NASA
small explorer mission ($105M) that completed a phase A concept study in December 2008 and was recently
selected by NASA to continue into the hardware phase. The IRIS Program is led by Lockheed Martin with Alan
Title as PI. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) will provide the telescope and participate in
science and education/public outreach (EPO). Montana State University (MSU) will participate in the uv
spectrometer design, will specify, procure, and test the spectrometer optics, will participate in the
integration and test of the spectrometer at Lockheed Martin in Palo Alto, will participate in the science and
EPO. MSU will also provide the Gegenschein Imager (GI) instrument, as a student collaboration if funding is
available.
MSU's news story here.
April 2009
Congratulations to David McKenzie
for being selected as the 2009 winner of the College of Letters and Science Award for
Meritorious Research and Creativity. The award is based on the significance and lasting
effect of the awardee's research or creative achievement, and evidence of its broad
impact or recognition.

2008
December 2008
Congratulations to Charles Kankelborg on
his selection for a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and
Engineers (PECASE). This Presidential Award is the highest honor bestowed
by the US Government on scientists and engineers beginning their
independent careers. Nominations for the PECASE award come from various
federal agencies, including NSF and NASA, and are intended to recognize
some of the finest scientists and engineers who, while early in their
research careers, show exceptional potential for leadership at the
frontiers of scientific knowledge during the twenty-first century. The
Office of Science and Technology Policy is scheduling an award ceremony
and reception at the White House.
Read MSU's news article here.
June 2008
MSU hosted the International Workshop on
Solar
Variability,
Earth's Climate, and the Space Environment, June 2008. The official
website for the Workshop is
here.

2007
September 2007
Congratulations to Sabrina Savage
for successfully passing the written and oral components of the PhD
comprehensive exam!
And it is with pleasure that we welcome Dr. Junho Shin, a new
postdoctoral researcher joining the MSU Solar Physics Group.
July 2007
Congratulations to newly-minted PhD Angela DesJardins, who
successfully
defended her thesis "The Topology of Magnetic Reconnection in Solar
Flares"!
Also in July, MSU alumnus Dr. Jonathan Cirtain
(MSU 2005) won the Young Scientist Award of the International Association of Geomagnetism
and Aeronomy/International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. This
award was announced at the Annual
Meeting in Perugia, Italy.
June 2007
Congratulations to Assistant
Professor Jiong Qiu! At the
June meeting of the American Astronomical Society she received the 2007 Karen Harvey Prize, which is awarded for a
significant contribution to the study of the Sun early in a person's
professional career.
Maria
Kazachenko has been awarded a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship
for the 2007/2008 year (renewable for up to two more years), to study
"Creation of Twisted Flux in Solar Eruptions". According to her award
letter, "A total of 21 Heliophysics Research applications were received, of
which we were able to offer four (4) awards. Competition was intense, so
being selected is a real mark of distinction." Congratulations, Masha!

2006
September 2006
The Japan/US/UK Solar-B mission was successfully launched on September 22,
and subsequently named Hinode (Japanese for "sunrise").
MSU is a Co-I institution on the X-Ray Telescope (XRT), and will assist in
Mission Operations and Data Analysis. You can see images from the
launch here, replay the video here (slow link), and see MSU's press release here.
February 2006
The MOSES sounding rocket
(PI Charles Kankelborg) successfully flew from White Sands Missile
Range on Wednesday, February 8---Congratulations to the MOSES team! The
MSU news item is here, and one example image from the flight is here (PNG image format). Way to go
team!

2005
October 2005
It is with pleasure that we welcome Dr. Tim Howard, a new postdoctoral
researcher joining the MSU Solar Physics Group.
September 2005
Congratulations to
Trae
Winter
for successfully passing the oral component of the PhD comprehensive exam!
August 2005
The MSU Solar Physics Group is excited to welcome
Dr. Jiong Qiu, who is
joining the group as an Assistant Professor this fall.
July 2005
Congratulations to Trae Winter for
winning not one but two Outstanding Student Paper Awards at the
recent meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Way to go Trae!
March 2005
Congratulations to Jonathan Cirtain who
successfully defended his PhD dissertation!
Physics undergraduate Jason Scott has won the
"2005 Dean's Award for Excellence as the Outstanding Graduating Senior in
Sciences".
And, adding a feather to his cap, Jason won a NASA/Goddard Graduate
Student Researchers Program fellowship with Dr. Joe Gurman as his Goddard
Technical Advisor, and Piet Martens as academic advisor.
Congratulations Jason!

2004
November 2004
Congratulations to
Jonathan
Cirtain
for successfully passing the oral component of the PhD comprehensive exam!
September 2004
Congratulations to Physics graduate students Jonathan Cirtain and Henry (Trae) Winter, who recently passed the comprehensive exams at the PhD level.
April 2004
Congratulations to
Andrew Holt
and
Angela DesJardins
for successfully passing the oral component of the PhD comprehensive exam!
February 2004
This month, the MSU University News featured a story on the NASA's selection of
AIA for the Solar Dynamics Observatory.
February 2004
We welcome Dr. Louise
Harra and Dr. Daniel Tye from Mullard Space
Science Laboratory for February and March, 2004.
January 2004
We welcome Dr. Mark
Linton from NRL for January 2004.

2003
October 2003
We welcome 2003-2004 Harlow Shapley Visiting Lecturer
Professor
John H. Thomas of the University of Rochester, who will give two talks
during his visit:
September 2003
NASA has accepted the AIA proposal submitted by Lockheed Martin Solar &
Astrophysics Lab, with Alan Title as PI. AIA is the Atmospheric
Imaging Assembly, the UV/EUV imager for the Solar Dynamics
Observatory.
Piet Martens
and
David McKenzie
are MSU Co-Investigators on this proposal; MSU will have a significant
role in operations, data analysis, E&PO, and the development of data
analysis software.
September 2003
Congratulations to first-year Physics graduate student
Angela
Colman DesJardins and second-year Physics Graduate student
Andrew
Holt , who recently passed the comprehensive exams at the PhD level.
September 2003
We welcome research scientist and solar computer system administrator
Dr.
Keiji Yoshimura to the MSU Solar Physics group. He is an expert on
computer system management, having managed the solar computers at the Institute
of Space and Astronautical Sciences and Kwasan & Hida Observatories
of the University of Kyoto. He is an accomplished solar physicist, as well,
specializing in the analysis of optical, X-ray, and EUV data from ground
and space-based observatories. He obtained his PhD from Kyoto University
in 1999, writing his thesis on soft X-ray brightenings above emerging flux
regions. He is accompanied by his wife Dr. Aki Takeda (an accomplished
solar physicist in her own right) and their son Yufu. His office is EPS
256, formerly occupied by his predecessor in the solar system administrator
job, Alisdair Davey.
August 2003
We bid fond farewell to Postdoctoral Fellow
Bob
Leamon who is now an EIT
Planner at Goddard Space Flight center.
April 2003
We bid fond farewell to two group members. Postdoctoral Fellow
Tetsuya
Magara is now at the
Solar
Theory Section of the Solar Terrestrial Relationships Branch (STR),
Space Science Division of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington,
DC. Research Scientist Jun
Sato has returned to the
Solar
Physics group at the
Institute
of Space and Astronautical Science in Sagamihara, Japan.
April 2003
Congratulations to Meredith
Wills-Davey, who presented her PhD thesis ``Propagating Disturbances
in the Lower Solar Corona'' to her committee on April 16th, and has started
her new job at
Southwest
Research Institute's Department of Space Studies in Boulder, Colorado.
January 2003
Congratulations to Dana
Longcope, who is the first recipient of the American Astronomical Society
Solar Physics Division's
Karen Harvey Prize, its new early career award for significant contributions
to the study of the Sun. Click
here
for the MSU news release.

2002
October 2002
We welcome Dartmouth College undergraduate physics major
Sarah
Jones for a ten-week REU program. She worked with Bob
Leamon on magnetic flux ropes, continuing the work
Brian
Lundberg did last summer.
September 2002
Congratulations to Loren
Acton, who has received Montana State University's top alumni honor,
the
Blue
and Gold award for "his exemplary service to the scientific community
and the nation".
July 2002
We welcome visiting professor Eric
Priest from St. Andrews University, Scotland, who gave a beneficial
series of lectures on MHD to the graduate students and REU program participants.
May 2002
We welcome postdoctoral fellow Dibyendu
Nandi, who recently finished his thesis work on Babcock-Leighton type
solar dynamos at the Department of Physics of the Indian Institute of Science.
February 2002
Congratulations to Brian
Welsch on his successful defense of his PhD thesis "Magnetic helicity
generation in the quiet Sun". Brian now holds a postdoctoral fellowship
at the Space Science Laboratory at the University of California, working
on the Solar MURI project.
January 2002
We host the Yohkoh
10th Anniversary Meeting on Multi-Wavelength Observations of Coronal
Structure and Dynamics. Yohkoh, a mission of Japan's Institute of Space
and Astronautical Sciences with the cooperation of the United States and
United Kingdom was launched a decade ago on 30 August 1991 and ended in
December 2001. This scientific meeting was organized in celebration of
ten years of successful scientific operation of Yohkoh, which played an
important role in the formation of the MSU solar group.

2001
November 2001
We welcome Postdoctoral Fellow Stéphane
Régnier to the solar research group. He recently finished his
PdD Thesis entitled "Study of solar magnetic structures observed by SOHO.
3D magnetohydrodynamic modelisation" at the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale,
Orsay, France. He currently works on the 3D magnetic configuration of solar
active regions in order to determine the origin, mechanism and frequency
of eruptive events such as filament eruptions, flares and CMEs. This work
is a part of the Solar MURI
project.
September 2001
We welcome three incoming students to the solar research group
-- check out their web pages to find out more about them:
Jonathan
Cirtain and Melissa
Cirtain from the University of Memphis, working on the
TRACE
mission and the
MOSES
rocket respectively, and
Andrew
Holt, working with Dana Longcope on magnetic reconnection in the corona.
August 2001
Angela Colman
was given an Outstanding Student Paper Award by the American Geophysical
Union for her paper with Dick Canfield entitled "Preflare Phenomena in
Eruptive Flares" presented at the American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting
2001. This follows on her selection by the MSU Physics Department as the
outstanding senior MSU physics major for 2001.
July 2001
Meredith
Wills-Davey was selected as an American Dissertation Fellow by the
AAUW (American Association of University Women) Educational Foundation.
These fellows are women from all disciplines near completion of their dissertation
work. The fellowship emphasizes not only Ph.D. studies for women, but also
focuses on gender in education and involvement in community outreach.
March 2001
Congratulations to Tim
Slater. He has been selected to receive the College of Letters and
Science Outstanding Teaching Award for 2001. Also, his protege Erika Offerdahl,
a student in the Directed Interdisciplinary Studies program, was chosen
for the Dean's Award for Excellence (outstanding graduating senior). Tim
nominated her for this award.
February 2001
We welcome Dr Mark
Linton from NRL for February and March 2001.

2000
November 2000
The Yohkoh SXT "Nuggets" Weekly Science Notes, has been chosen as a selection
for the Scout
Report for Science & Engineering (September 13, 2000), the premier
biweekly collection of useful Internet sites for researchers, educators,
and students in the life sciences, physical sciences, and engineering.
Our target audience is science and engineering academics: faculty, students,
staff, and librarians. The Scout Report for Science & Engineering is
provided by the Internet Scout Project, an NSF-funded, university-based
project at University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Internet Scout Project's
(scientific) mission is to make the Internet more useful and accessible
to researchers and educators in the sciences. Among several other reports,
we put out the biweekly 'Science and Engineering Report' which summarizes
25 websites featuring noteworthy research (including government) organizations,
high-quality research/education resources, academic discussion sites (listservs),
new scientific journals (or newly online journals with completely free
access), newly released databases with free access, new grants and job
opportunities, upcoming scientific meetings, recent academic publications,
and a host of other topics.
October 2000
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Congratulations to Dana Longcope who is one of 59 scientists nationwide to receive this year's Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. |
September 2000
Congratulations to solar graduate students Elizabeth Noonan and Rebecca McMullen, who passed the written comprehensive exams at the PhD level on the first try!
July 2000
- Four high school and undergraduate students worked with the MSU
solar physics group this summer. AIRO high school students
Kendall
Harwood and Shanny
Spang produced CD-Rs for a study of solar eruptions using data from
Yohkoh SXT and
Mees
Solar Observatory. High school student Ryan
McWilliams made the Solar Group
"Images"
gallery while undergraduate Paul
Wood carried out a filament study with Piet Martens.
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June 2000
When in Montana...
The Proceedings of IAU 195 rolled off the presses on June 19, and have been mailed to the participants. The table of contents, cover page, abstracts, and foreword are on-line at the IAU 195 page.
May 2000
Congratulations Prof. Richard Canfield - 2000 Wiley Award Winner.
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A solar physicist who discovered a simple way to predict solar storms was of two winners of this year's Charles and Nora L. Wiley Award for Meritorious Research and Creativity from MSU. Richard Canfield, a research professor of physics, will receive $2,000. Canfield is a nationally prominent solar scientist credited with discovering the S-shaped structures that appear on the sun's surface when a hazardous solar storm is about to occur. Canfield has been a major factor behind the success of the MSU Solar Group. He has played a key role in many successful cooperative enterprises in solar research, including leadership in the Japanese/U.S./British mission known as "Yohkoh." He has planned and directed several projects that involved the study of "Yohkoh" information and data from ground-based observatories. |
We welcome Prof. Arnab Rai Choudhuri and Dr. Tetsuya Magara to MSU.
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Prof. Choudhuri, from the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India will be here for two months, May and June. He is an expert on astrophysical magnetohydrodynamics and plasma physics, and will collaborate with us on solar dynamo theory and related topics. He will conduct a series of lectures on the physics of fluids and plasmas for astrophysicists at the graduate level, starting Wednesday, May 10. His e-mail address is arnab@mithra.physics.montana.edu. |
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Dr. Magara, from Hida Observatory of the University of Kyoto, Japan, will be here for one or more years as a postdoctoral fellow. He, too, is an expert on magnetohydrodynamics, specializing in numerical modeling, and will work with Dana Longcope and others on MHD processes of importance for understanding solar coronal mass ejections. His email address is magara@mithra.physics.montana.edu. |
These two scientists will share Room 212.
April 2000
We congratulated and said goodbye to Dr Mark Weber following his Ph.D (Thesis title: "Rotation Patterns in the Large-Scale Solar Corona" [December 1999]) graduation. After a stint as one of the editors of the IAU 195 proceedings, Mark left us to work with Peter Sturrock as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Physics Department and the Center for Space Science and Astrophysics at Stanford.
March 2000
Professor Loren Acton - 2000 Hale Prize Winner
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Professor Loren Acton is the winner of the 2000 Hale Prize. The Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society sponsors with the cooperation of the American Astronomical Society, an Honorary Prize in memory of George Ellery Hale, awarded to a scientist for outstanding contributions to the field of solar astronomy. |
February 2000
| Feb 23, 2000: Congratulations to Angela Colman, who was awarded the MSU Alumni - Chamber of Commerce Award for Excellence for her exemplary academic achievement and community service. In turn, she chose Dick Canfield as the influential faculty member she would like to recognize. |
January 2000
| Job
Opportunities |
SOLAR RESEARCH SCIENTISTS: The Solar Group at MSU invites applications for two research positions, Data Analyst and MHD Theorist, to study the physics of solar magnetic fields, the initiation of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and the relationship of CMEs to space weather at Earth. Click here for more details. |

1999
December 1999
| Sky
and Telescope select
as
the 10th most inspiring
|
Sky and Telescope magazine has been running an online poll to select the 10 most inspiring astronomical images of the *century*. The results are announced (and shown) in the January 2000 issue. The #10 winner is a 1991 Yohkoh image of the X-ray Sun. |
November 1999
| Mercury Transit
11/15/99 ![]() |
Brian Handy put together this page on November's transit of Mercury, as seen by TRACE. |
| Job
Opportunity |
FACULTY POSITION IN EXPERIMENTAL SPACE PHYSICS - The Department of Physics at Montana State University invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position at the rank of assistant professor with the possibility of associate or full professor rank for an exceptionally well-qualified applicant, starting August 16, 2000 (contingent upon funding). Click here for more details. |
August 1999
![]() |
Weekly Notes from
the Yohkoh Soft X-Ray Telescope - The nuggets have been transformed
!
These weekly science notes are intended to give an unspecialised but scientifically fluent view of ongoing X-ray observations of the Sun from the Soft X-Ray Telescope (SXT) aboard the orbiting Yohkoh satellite. A nugget is a lump, esp. of native gold or other precious metal. These weekly science notes are nuggets, in the sense that they may have a rough exterior, but they have a precious substance beneath the surface. |
July 1999
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IAU 195 was held at Montana State University during July. Paper submissions are now due. Click on the image on the left for instructions. |
June 1999
| Congratulations to Alex Pevtsov and Dick Canfield on the publication of their book Magnetic Helicity in Space and Laboratory Plasmas |
Mar 9 1999
![]() |
NASA Press Release on Coronal Mass Ejections |
| Scientists will announce on Tuesday, March 9, 1999, their discovery of a possible way to forecast several days in advance the largest and most violent explosions on the Sun's outer atmosphere. The explosions, called coronal mass ejections, are as powerful as billions of nuclear explosions and can affect radio communications, electrical power systems and satellites orbiting Earth. Features work done by Dick Canfield and Dave McKenzie. |
March 1 1999
The solar group welcomed Scott Wendt as its new assistant system manager.
January 1 1999
The solar group welcomed a new member, Dr Piet Martens, Associate Research Professor and we said goodbye to Aaron Benner who left to reap the reward of his hard work in industry.
October 1998
| Dave McKenzie and Tim Slater published an article titled A Space-Age Portrait of the Active Sun in the October 1998 issue of The Physics Teacher magazine, a publication of the American Association of Physics Teachers. "In the last 50 years, developments in astronomical techniques have allowed us to view the solar atmosphere directly and to view it every day This has revealed fascinating and beautiful physics." | ![]() |
The solar group is featured in the Fall edition of The Collegian - The article details some of the solar research done at MSU, particularly involving Yohkoh. Prominently mentioned, are Loren Acton, Dick Canfield and Dana Longcope. The article also includes a group photo. |

1998
September 1998
The solar group welcomes Angela Colman, who is working working with Dick Canfield.
August 1998
The National Science Foundation awarded $375,000 to Montana State University in response to the proposal "High-Performance Network Connection in Support of Meritorious Research at Montana State University." This project is under the direction of H. David Todd, Director of Information Services. Co-Investigators are Gwen Jacobs and John Miller, Center for Computational Biology, and Dick Canfield and Loren Acton, Department of Physics.
Sean Sandborgh was chosen for the NASA Academy at Goddard Space Flight Center this summer and won the Goddard award for contributing the most to his project.
July 1998
Brian Handy successfully defended his PhD thesis and became the first student to graduate in solar physics at MSU. Photos from the celebration at Acton's acre include the extended solar group, which on this occasion included summer visitor Eric Priest (St. Andrews) and his family and Brian's Lockheed thesis advisor Karel Schrijver, and some of Brian's extended family from Palo Alto, as well as a measure of Montana-sized appetites.
March 1998
Dana Longcope won a prestigious early career award from the National Science Foundation in response to his proposal "A model of magnetic reconnection driving large scale activity in a complex solar corona."
Sean Sandborgh was selected for the Second Undergraduate Research Poster Session on Capitol Hill on April 21, 1998.
January 1998
The solar group gladly welcomed Alisdair Davey as its newest research scientist and system manager.

1997
September 1997
Meredith Wills successfully completed both the written and the oral parts of the comprehensive exam.
August 1997
The solar group gladly welcomes Aaron Benner as our new part-time student system manager, while bidding farewell to Michael Foley.
June 27 - July 1, 1997
The 28th meeting of the AAS Solar Physics Division was held here at MSU in Bozeman, Montana.
Photos from various SPD events can be found here.
June 1997
David Weston left the MSU solar group to join the Physics Technology group at the Boeing Company and is now the lead physicist on the Resource21 commercial remote sensing venture.
March 27, 1997
Sean Sandborgh was awarded a Goldwater Scholarship.

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