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William Lotko
Sue and John Ballard '55 TT'56 Professor of Engineering, Emeritus
Professor Lotko discusses his research in space weather prediction and his approach to teaching at Dartmouth.
Research Interests
Geospace environment; space plasma physics, modeling, simulation; magnetohydrodynamics; electromagnetic fields and waves
Education
- BS, Engineering Physics, University of Kansas 1973
- MS, Physics, University of Missouri 1976
- PhD, Physics, University of California, Los Angeles 1981
Awards
- Fellow, American Geophysical Union
Professional Activities
- Affiliate Scientist, High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research (current)
- Dartmouth Society of Fellows (current)
- International Space Science Institute, Bern, Team Investigation of Global Conductance Pattern and its Influence on the Dynamics of Geospace (current)
- Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics (2005-11)
- Chair, Senior Review of the NASA Mission Operations and Data Analysis Program for the Heliophysics Extended Missions (2013)
- Research Area Coordinator and Focus Group Co-Chair, NSF Geospace Environment Modeling Program (current)
- Panelist, National Research Council, Decadal Strategy for Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society (2010-11)
- Project Team Leader, NASA Living With a Star Targeted Research & Technology Program (2007-11)
- Co-Investigator, Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling (2002-13)
- New Hampshire Space Grant Consortium (current)
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
Selected Publications
- Ionospheric control of magnetotail reconnection (2014), W. Lotko, R.H. Smith, B. Zhang, J.E. Ouellette, O.J. Brambles, J.G. Lyon, Science, 345(6193), 184-187, doi:10.1126/science.1252907.
- Properties of outflow-driven sawtooth substorms (2013), J.E. Ouellette, O.J. Brambles, J.G. Lyon, W. Lotko, B.N. Rogers, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics 118, 3223–3232, doi:10.1002/jgra.50309.
- Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society (2013), W. Lotko (contributing author, Panel on Atmosphere-Ionosphere-Magnetosphere Interactions), National Academy Press, ISBN: 978-0-309-16428-3.
- Enhancement of thermospheric mass density by soft electron precipitation (2012), B. Zhang, W. Lotko, O. Brambles, M. Wiltberger, W. Wang, P. Schmitt, J. Lyon, Geophys. Res. Lett. 39, L20102, doi:10.1029/2012GL053519.
- Magnetosphere sawtooth oscillations induced by ionospheric outflow (2011), O.J. Brambles, W. Lotko, B. Zhang, M. Wiltberger, J. Lyon, R.J. Strangeway, Science 332, 1183, doi:10.1126/science.1202869.
- The magnetosphere-ionosphere system from the perspective of plasma circulation: A tutorial (2007), W. Lotko, J. Atmos. Solar-Terr. Phys. 69(3), 191-211, doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2006.08.011.
- Inductive magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling (2004), W. Lotko, J. Atmos. Solar-Terr. Phys., 66(15-16), 1443-1456, doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2004.03.027.
- Auroral Plasma Physics (2003), W. Lotko (contributing author) edited by G. Paschmann, S. Haaland and R. Treumann. International Space Science Institute, vol. 15, Springer, ISBN: 978-1402009631.
Videos
Seminar: Forecasting Space Weather
News
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