Philip Erickson named director of MIT Haystack Observatory

Philip J. Erickson has actually been called the brand-new supervisor of MIT Haystack Observatory, efficient Jan. 1, 2024. In leading the radio scientific research observatory in Westford, Massachusetts, Erickson, that is presently Haystack’s associate supervisor, is successful long time supervisor Colin J. Lonsdale, that previously this year shared his intent to tip down.

Maria Zuber, MIT’s vice head of state for study, revealed Erickson’s consultation today, stating, “Phil is an achieved radio researcher and ionosphere-magnetosphere scientist with a solid performance history of management within the Haystack study neighborhood and well past.”

” The observatory and its neighborhood of scientists remain in outstanding hands,” she included.

An interdisciplinary proving ground, MIT Haystack Observatory was constructed in 1961 as component of MIT Lincoln Lab and acquired independent condition in 1970. The Haystack objective is to create innovation for radio scientific research applications, to research the framework of our galaxy and the bigger cosmos, development clinical understanding of our world and its room atmosphere, and add to the education and learning of future researchers and designers. Research study teams in astronomy, geodesy, geospace, and room innovation are joined by a concentrate on radio scientific research. Situated around 30 miles northwest of MIT’s Cambridge school, the Haystack center sustains a variety of big radio telescopes and antennas. Research study and design tasks include both neighborhood radio scientific research and innovation advancement in addition to worldwide management and cooperation in the area.

Erickson got his doctorate precede plasma physics from Cornell College in 1998; he started scientific research and technological operate at Haystack in 1995 and has actually functioned as head of its climatic and geospace scientific researches team because 2015. Erickson signed up with the Haystack supervisor’s workplace as assistant supervisor likewise in 2015 and was assigned associate supervisor in 2020. He is the lead principal detective for numerous tasks, consisting of the National Scientific research Foundation-sponsored Millstone Hillside Geospace Center. He co-directs Haystack’s academic and public outreach programs in addition to the observatory’s pupil study programs.

The observatory will certainly remain to build on its background of radio scientific research development, Erickson states: “Haystack Observatory has actually long been acknowledged as a leader in the scientific research and innovation of radio and radar remote noticing for basic study on areas that extend from our world’s polar caps and top environment to the planetary system, great voids, celebrities, galaxies, and also the framework of the very early cosmos. I am delighted to deal with the committed and really skilled Haystack personnel to proceed and increase our study in all these locations, for the advantage of humankind’s continuous pursuit to increase understanding of our globe and cosmos.”

Within the geospace scientific research area, which researches the combined Earth-sun system, Erickson’s main rate of interests concentrate on basic physics and characteristics of the ionized and neutral parts of Planet’s top environment and bordering magnetosphere, in addition to the empirical method of cumulative Thomson/incoherent scatter radar concept and technique.

Along with the numerous management duties he holds within Haystack, Erickson is devoted to promoting neighborhood interaction in the areas of geospace scientific researches and radio wave remote noticing; he acts as a participant of countless nationwide and global teams, consisting of the National Academies of Scientific Research, Design, and Medication (NASEM) Board on Radio Frequencies, and is a co-chair of the ionosphere-atmosphere panel in the 2024-33 NASEM Heliophysics Decadal Study. He is a regular journal customer and acts as editor for numerous peer-reviewed magazines. Erickson is likewise an energetic participant of the amateur radio neighborhood, with a concentrate on interesting drivers throughout the USA in efficient ionospheric resident scientific research.

Erickson is successful Colin Lonsdale, that is tipping down as Haystack supervisor after greater than 15 years at the helm. Lonsdale, a radio astronomer, gained his doctorate level in 1981 from the Jodrell Financial Institution Observatory, a component of the Victoria College of Manchester in the U.K. He signed up with Haystack in 1986 and was called supervisor in 2008. Lonsdale will certainly be proceeding at Haystack as a primary study researcher, concentrating on study entailing a variety of subjects consisting of energetic galaxies, solar discharges at reduced superhigh frequency, and ideas for ingenious radio scientific research room objectives.

” Phil Erickson is a superior option for the brand-new supervisor, and the observatory will certainly flourish under his qualified management,” states Lonsdale.