Space Research from Alaska Spaceports
February 21, 2012
Lecture Description:
The vast state of Alaska provides an exciting laboratory for scientists at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to study a wide range of geophysical phenomena. The Institute interests include: volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, snow, ice, permafrost, atmospheric physics and space physics and remote sensing. Selected examples of research carried out at the Institute will be highlighted in the context of how space platforms (rockets and satellites) are used to study the earth and space. Access to space has been slow and expensive. New and innovative ideas to get scientific instruments into space more quickly and cheaply than we do today will be discussed.
Presenter Information
Bob McCoy
Bob McCoy received his A.B. in Physics from Cornell University in 1974, his M.S. in Physics from Texas A&M in 1976 and his Ph.D. in Astro-Geophysics from the University of Colorado in 1981. Dr. McCoy is the author of more than 70 publications in scientific and technical journals. He has more than 15 years of research administrative experience at the Office of Naval Research and currently serves as the Technical Director for the Operationally Responsive Space Office and the Team Leader for the Space Science Team for the Office of Naval Research. In 1998 Dr. McCoy received the NRL 75th Anniversary Innovator Award and received the Alan Berman Publication Award in 1994 and 2001. Additionally, he earned the NRL Group Achievement Award in 1983 and the NASA Group Achievement Award in 2004. Dr. McCoy assumed the position of Geophysical Institute Director in October 2011.