Research Interests

Alicia K. Petersen, PhD

AGU Education Profile Pic 2

Dr. Petersen joined the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering as an Assistant Professor in 2022 after being an NRC Research Fellow at the Space Vehicles Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory where she researched the propagation of space weather events in order to improve space weather forecasting, with the aim of enhancing space situational awareness and protecting space-based assets for the US Air Force and Space Force. Dr. Petersen earned her PhD and MS from the Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering Dept. at the University of Michigan, College of Engineering.

Dr. Petersen leads the Space Weather Impacts, Forecasting and Transit (SWIFT) lab, which researches the kinetic physics, magnetism and dynamics at play during the transit and interaction of space weather phenomena in the inner solar system, their impacts on spacecraft, and strategies for mitigating the impacts of space weather.

Her research has covered some of the following topics:

  • The impacts of interplanetary transit and interactions with magnetic structures on solar energetic particles as they propagate through the inner heliosphere.
  • The magnetic topology of the inner heliosphere and the evolution of Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections as they propagate out from the Sun.
  • Identifying characteristics of Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections using Advanced Compositional Explorer (ACE) in situ observations of heavy ion charge states, suprathermal electrons and plasma properties.
  • How the magnetic environment of the inner heliosphere impacts Solar Energetic Particles using in situ observations.

Conference Presentations

  • Astronomical Society of the Pacific Summer Symposium – Invited Panelist – August 2022
  • Solar Heliospheric Interplanetary Environment (SHINE) Conference – June 2022
  • Space Weather Workshop – April 2022
  • American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting – December 2021
  • American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting – December 2020
  • American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting – December 2019
  • Solar Heliospheric Interplanetary Environment (SHINE) Conference – August 2019
  • Air Force Research Laboratory Space Scholar Research Symposium, Research Talk – July 2019
  • Heliophysics Summer School – July 2019
  • Michigan Geophysical Union Symposium – April 2019
  • American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting – December 2018
  • Michigan Space Grant Consortium Symposium – November 2018
  • Solar Heliospheric Interplanetary Environment (SHINE) Conference – July 2018
  • Michigan Geophysical Union Symposium – April 2018
  • American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting – December 2017
  • Michigan Space Grant Consortium Conference – November 2017
  • Solar Heliospheric Interplanetary Environment (SHINE) Conference – July 2017
  • Solar Heliospheric Interplanetary Environment (SHINE) Conference, Student Day Tutorial Talk – July 2017
  • Air Force Research Laboratory Space Scholar Research Symposium, Research Talk – July 2017
  • Space Weather Workshop – May 2017
  • Michigan Geophysical Union Symposium – April 2017
  • Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS) Women in Data Science Conference – February 2017
  • University of Michigan, College of Engineering, Engineering Graduate Symposium – November 2016
  • American Women in Science (AWIS) Regional Conference – September 2016
  • Solar Heliospheric Interplanetary Environment (SHINE) Conference – July 2016
  • Solar Heliospheric Interplanetary Environment (SHINE) Conference, Student Day, Space Weather Tutorial – July 2016

Publications

Petersen, A. K., White, S.M. and S.W. Kahler. Quantifying the Impact on SEP Intensity-Time Profiles of ICME Interactions in the Inner Heliosphere; in preparation for submission to JGR Space Physics. 

Petersen, A. K., Lepri, S. T., and M. W. Liemohn. A Characterization of Counterstreaming Suprathermal Electrons and Their Correlation with Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections; in preparation for submission to JGR Space Physics. 

Petersen, A. K., Lepri, S. T., Liemohn, M. W. and A. R. Azari. Now-Casting Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections Using Heavy Ion Charge Distributions; in preparation for submission to AGU Space Weather. 

Petersen, A. K., Kahler, S. W., Henney, C. J. and C. N. Arge. Characterizing Magnetic Connectivity of Solar Flare Electron Sources to STEREO Spacecraft Using ADAPT-WSA Modeling, 2021, The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 921, Number 1, https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac07a7.

Liemohn, M. W., Shane, A. D., Azari, A. R., Petersen, A. K., Swiger, B. M. and A. Mukhopadyay. RMSE is not enough: Guidelines to robust data-model comparisons for magnetospheric physics; Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Volume 218, July 2021, 105624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2021.105624. 

Petersen, A. K. Space Weather Propagation in the Inner Heliosphere, 2020, PhD dissertation. University of Michigan, Deep Blue Documents, Dissertations and Theses (PhD and Masters), https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/162882.

Henney, C. J., Hock, R. A., Schooley, A. K. et al. Forecasting Solar Extreme and Far Ultraviolet Irradiance, 2015, AGU Space Weather, 13, 141–153, DOI: 10.1002/2014SW001118. Published in Space Weather Quarterly; Vol. 12, Issue 2, 2015.

Comparing Experimental and Calculated Electron-Capture Rates of pf-shell Nuclei in Explosive Stellar Environments; Cole, A. et al.; Published in Proceedings of Science and can be found at: http://pos.sissa.it/archive/conferences/146/098/NIC%20XII_098.pdf.

Outreach & Leadership

AGU Education Section Executive Committee, Early Career Representative: May 2020 – January 2022

AGU Education Section Executive Committee, Student Representative: July 2019 – May 2020

CLaSP Dept. Core Curriculum Committee, Student Committee Member: September 2017 – May 2018

Rackham Professional Development Leaders Program: August 2017 – May 2018

Appraiser for the Destination Imagination Michigan Region 2 Competition, a K-12 STEM program: February – March 2017

CLaSP Dept. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Seminars with the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching Players: Organizer, November 2016 – October 2017

CLaSP Graduate & Undergraduate Student Organization (GUStO): Co-President, April 2016 – May 2018

Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering (CLaSP) Ladies Lunch: Lead Organizer, April 2016 – May 2019

Graduate Society for Women Engineers (gradSWE), UM Chapter: Member, September 2015 – December 2019

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