Dr. Alexander J. Klimas NASA/GSFC, Code 673 Greenbelt, MD 20771 Phone: (301) 286-3682 Fax: (301) 286-1433 Email: Alex.Klimas@nasa.gov

PRESENT POSITION:

Astrophysicist, Geospace Physics Laboratory
Heliophysics Science Division
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

EDUCATION:

B.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1962
S.M. Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1962
Ph.D. Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1966

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Dr. Klimas was born on May 24, 1938. He received B.S. and S.M. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1962 and his Ph.D. from the same institute in 1966. He joined ARAP, Inc., Princeton, New Jersey in 1966 where he worked with G. Sandri on the theory of plasma transport with particular attention to cosmic ray transport in turbulent magnetic fields. Dr. Klimas joined the Goddard Space Flight Center as a National Research Council Senior Resident Research Associate in 1973 where he continued his cosmic ray transport studies. He joined the scientific staff at Goddard Space Flight Center in 1975. In the early 80's, Dr. Klimas's attention was drawn to the theory and simulation of electrostatic plasma phenomena. He has studied the electron plasma phenomena of Earth's foreshock and, more recently, has undertaken a study of the fundamentally nonlinear BGK type solitary wave modes associated with the late evolution of beams in collisionless plasmas. In addition, in the last several years Dr. Klimas has turned to the methods of the emerging science of nonlinear dynamics to understand the dynamic nonlinear response of Earth's magnetosphere to varying conditions in the solar wind. Dr. Klimas has been a principal investigator on the ISEE Guest Investigator program, the NASA Space Physics Supporting Research and Technology Program, and the Goddard Space Flight Center Director's Discretionary Fund program. He is the recipient of the NASA Special Service Award and a decent tennis player.

EXPERIENCE:

1975-present -- Astrophysicist, NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center
1973-1975 -- NRC Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate, NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center
1966-1973 -- Associate Research Scientist, ARAP, Inc., Princeton, NJ
1964-1966 -- NASA Predoctoral Research Assistant, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1962-1964 -- Physics Teaching Assistant, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

1. 1997 "Data-derived analogues of the magnetospheric dynamics", A. J. Klimas, D. Vassiliadis, and D. N. Baker, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 26,993.
2. 1997 "Re-examination of driven and unloading aspects of magnetospheric substorms", D. N. Baker, A. J. Klimas, D. Vassiliadis, T. I. Pulkkinen, and R. L. McPherron, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 7169.
3. 1996 "The organized nonlinear dynamics of the magnetosphere", A. J. Klimas, D. Vassiliadis, D. N. Baker, and D. A. Roberts, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 13,089.
4. 1996 "The nonlinear dynamics of the magnetosphere: Where are we now?", A. J. Klimas, D. Vassiliadis, and D. N. Baker, In Multiscale Phenomena in Space Plasmas, T. Chang, editor, Scientific Publishers, Inc., Cambridge Massachusetts, 299.
5. 1994 "Substorm recurrence during steady and variable solar wind driving: Evidence for an normal mode in the unloading dynamics of the magnetosphere", A. J. Klimas, D. N. Baker, D. Vassiliadis, and D. A. Roberts, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 14,855.
6. 1994 "A splitting algorithm for Vlasov simulation with filamentation filtration", A. J. Klimas, and W. M. Farrell, J. Comp. Phys., 110, 150.
7. 1990 "Trapping saturation of the bump-on-tail instability and electrostatic harmonic excitation in earth's foreshock", A. J. Klimas, J. Geophys. Res., 95, 14,905.
8. 1988 "On the persistence of unstable bump-on-tail electron velocity distributions in the earth's foreshock", A. J. Klimas, and R. J. Fitzenreiter, J. Geophys. Res., 93, 9628.
9. 1987 "A method for overcoming the velocity space filamentation problem in collisionless plasma model solutions", A. J. Klimas, J. Comp. Phys., 68, 202.
10. 1985 "The electron foreshock", A. J. Klimas, In Collisionless Shocks in the Heliosphere: Reviews of Current Research, Tsurutani, B. T. and R. B. Stone, editors, Geophysical Monograph 35, American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C., 237.
11. 1983 "A mechanism for plasma waves at the harmonics of the plasma frequency in the electron foreshock boundary", A. J. Klimas, J. Geophys. Res., 88, 9081.