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About Allison
Allison Jaynes is an Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, and Department Liaison to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at The University of Iowa. Her research in Space Science centers on plasma physics and space physics, including space weather, inner magnetosphere and radiation belt dynamics, auroral physics, and magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. She utilizes data from major NASA missions such as the Van Allen Probes, where she serves as Co-Investigator on the Relativistic Electron Proton Telescope instrument, the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission as a team member for the Energetic Particle Detector suite, and Voyager as a Co-Investigator. Jaynes joined the University of Iowa faculty in 2017 after earning her PhD in Physics from the University of New Hampshire in 2013 and conducting postdoctoral research at the University of Colorado Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. She leads instrument development efforts, including the Proton eLectron Advanced Sensor for M-I Coupling (PLASMIC), and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on spaceflight hardware design and planetary magnetospheres.
Jaynes has earned prestigious awards recognizing her contributions, including the NSF CAREER Award in 2020, Dean's Scholar Award in 2022, University of Iowa Postdoctoral Association Mentor Award in 2021, James B. Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union in 2023, Katherine E. Weimer Award from the American Physical Society in 2023, Mid-Career Faculty Scholar Award from the University of Iowa in 2023, and Harriet Wenger Crafton Research Award. She holds leadership roles on the NASA Heliophysics Advisory Committee, the National Academies Decadal Survey Steering Committee for Solar and Space Physics, the AGU Nomination Task Force, and previously co-chaired the Geospace Dynamics Constellation Science and Technology Definitions Team. Key publications include 'The Origin of Pulsating Auroras' (Nature, 2018), 'Fast diffusion of ultrarelativistic electrons in the outer radiation belt: 17 March 2015 storm event' (Geophysical Research Letters, 2018), 'Source and seed populations for relativistic electrons: Their roles in radiation belt changes' (Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 2015), and 'Energetic electron acceleration observed by MMS in the vicinity of an X-line crossing' (Geophysical Research Letters, 2016). Her work elucidates energetic particle impacts on Earth's upper atmosphere and has influenced space weather forecasting and mission design.
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