The Next Decade of Discovery in Solar and Space Physics Exploring and Safeguarding Humanity's Home in Space (2025) / Chapter Skim
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4 Toward a Thriving Solar and Space Physics Community
Pages 111-139

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From page 111...
... fields, this report focuses on the practicalities of addressing those issues for the solar and space physics community. Adequate investment is required to ensure a productive and diverse workforce that can realize the vision for solar and space physics.
From page 112...
... identifies barriers and suggests solutions for the advancement of a healthy and sustainable solar and space physics community in the next decade. Guided by that panel report, the 450 white papers submitted by the solar and space physics community to this decadal survey (referred to in this report as community input papers)
From page 113...
... Within NASA's SMD, the term "heliophysics" is used to clearly distinguish it from Earth sciences, astrophysics, and planetary science disciplines. Understanding the people who make up the current solar and space physics community and the ability to study trends to assess the health and vitality of the discipline continues to be difficult due to the lack of a standard name for the discipline within different organizations.
From page 114...
... , postdoctoral researchers, and graduate and undergraduate students working in subfields in solar and space physics. Moreover, consideration of the solar and space physics workforce has not historically recognized the engineers, computer scientists, management personnel, and others who support and enable the science and space weather applications.
From page 115...
... , the AAS SPD, the Space Weather Week attendee lists, and the NSF list of PIs)
From page 116...
... Astronomy and AASc 4,127 1,265 31 Astrophysics 2018 Planetary Sciences AAS Division for Planetary 4,568 1,986 43 2020 Sciences, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Geological Society of America Solar, Space, and AGU Space Physics and 2,344 913 39 Upper Atmosphere Aeronomy, Physicists AAS Solar Physics Division, Space Weather Week, attendees, NSF PIs a Total membership in U.S. with a PhD with unique names.
From page 117...
... . To better capture trends for the solar and space physics community, such a study needs to be carried out for the NSF Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, which accounts for a small fraction of scientists in GEO.
From page 118...
... NOTE: The demographic data were derived from workforce surveys: astrophysics in 2018, Earth sciences in 2018, solar and space physics/heliophysics in 2011, and planetary science in 2020. SOURCES: Based on data from AIP Statistical Research Center (2018)
From page 119...
... showed significant diversification of the workforce from 2011 to 2021, though access for those with disabilities remains very limited: see Figure 4-5. Specifically looking at the solar and space physics community in Figure 4-6, the NASA NSPIRES data on the demographics of proposing PIs and co-Is to the Heliophysics Division show an increasing percentage of proposals FIGURE 4-6 Race, ethnicity, national origin demographics of PIs and Co-Is of proposal submissions to the Heliophysics Division through NSPIRES.
From page 120...
... Because the solar and space physics workforce is spread across multiple professional organizations, the data gathering should be coordinated by an umbrella organization or team of researchers in the form of a solar and space physics consortium. Demographic data-gathering surveys need to involve social science expertise, specifically, demographers and survey researchers, and they need to draw from previous surveys, such as the NSF Survey of Earned Doctorates (NSF 2023)
From page 121...
... It could be one part of a solar and space physics consortium that has broader purposes such as outreach, education, and advocacy. It is vital that survey experts are committed to conducting thorough solar and space physics community surveys, analyzing the outcome, and making the outcomes publicly available on a regular basis.
From page 122...
... . With the solar and space physics workforce evolving to include more applied fields, it is important that such internship programs for undergraduates are broadly advertised to departments beyond physics, including engineering, computer science, data science, Earth sciences, planetary science, and astrophysical science.
From page 123...
... . As the number of departments offering graduate programs in solar and space physics has increased, an increasing percentage of solar and space physics researchers obtain their PhDs in the specialized fields of space physics and solar physics.
From page 124...
... Such teams can involve experts in applied math, space weather prediction, machine learning, data management, and computational applications, among others, working with solar and space physics scientists to achieve the research goals. Physics degrees represent a pathway that can lead to a variety of high-tech careers other than physics research.
From page 125...
... Data scientists, computer scientists, and others with those skill sets will be more attracted to job opportunities in solar and space physics research fields if they have previously been introduced to and engaged in those fields. Conclusion: Solar and space physics needs to engage with professionals in engineering, computer sci ence, and management, to encourage pathways into projects in the solar and space physics fields.
From page 126...
... Some progress has been made to include solar and space physics material into undergraduate education by either incorporating material into undergraduate courses or by teaching a class on space weather or space science. These are individual solutions that are undertaken by only a few professors at a handful of universities across the country.
From page 127...
... Recommendation 4-2: Funding agencies should expand the reach of solar and space sciences in education by expanding the definition of the National Science Foundation's "broader impacts/ societal impacts" and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's "broadening impacts" to specifically include developing solar and space science educational materials aimed at K–12 and college students. 4.3.2 Implementing Education and Student Recruitment Increasing the Number of Faculty in Solar and Space Physics One major factor limiting the exposure of students to solar and space physics is the lack of scientists in this field on the faculty at universities.
From page 128...
... is to integrate topics in geospace science including solar and space physics and space weather research into natural sciences or engineering or related departments at U.S. institutions of higher education (IHE)
From page 129...
... . Long-standing hallmark programs include NSF REUs, NASA's Heliophysics Summer School, and NSF's Space Weather Summer School, as well as such funding opportunities as Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST)
From page 130...
... 130 THE NEXT DECADE OF DISCOVERY IN SOLAR AND SPACE PHYSICS FIGURE 4-11 Student engagement with missions: the top figure shows a professor and students at the Edge of Space Academy in 2022 soldering boards for instruments to be flown on drones and high-altitude balloons; the middle and bottom figures show University of Colorado undergraduate students being trained as operators for Science Operation Centers at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.
From page 131...
... . Conclusion: The solar and space physics community and funding agencies need to identify and be aware of barriers for people from historically marginalized groups in STEM who work in the field and jointly address the need to be more inclusive.
From page 132...
... The ways in which an inclusion plan can meet these needs are varied, and SMD provides a short list of references about inclusion plan pilot programs and barriers to inclusivity in STEM overall.5 Several of the relatively large programs in Heliophysics already require diversity and inclusion plans, including the Explorers program,6 DRIVE Centers, and Space Weather Centers of Excellence. Currently, there is a pilot program to extend the requirement to other program elements in the Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES)
From page 133...
... across the solar and space physics workforce including recruitment, working environments, and retention for all research and mission teams, all the relevant agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation, should, when possible: • Continue and enhance funding of DEIA+ activities by (1) requiring DEIA+ plans for large proposals (more than $1 million)
From page 134...
... is invaluable for public outreach and ripples outward for decades. Notable recent efforts include the Heliophysics Big Year (NASA n.d.)
From page 135...
... Various opportunities for connecting with the public are not being well leveraged. For example, the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, contains only a small space weather display, without offering the context of the solar system surrounding Earth or the many ways the Sun influences it.
From page 136...
... SOURCES: (Top row) Aurora Chasers is an educational card game created by Aurorasaurus, a participatory science project supported by NSF and NASA.
From page 137...
... 2016. "Solar Physics and Terrestrial Effects: A Curriculum Guide for Teachers Grade 7–12." National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Space Weather Prediction Center.
From page 138...
... 2011. Understanding Space Weather and the Physics Behind It.
From page 139...
... ." https://soars.ucar.edu. University of Alaska Fairbanks Space Weather Underground.


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