NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Dr. Vassilis Angelopoulos Credit: UCLA Vassilis Angelopoulos, the principal investigator for THEMIS, is a Professor of Earth and Space Sciences and a member of the Institute of Geophysics and Space Physics at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has 15 years of experience in space physics with emphasis in magnetospheric processes. His research interests include plasma sheet transport, electromagnetic instabilities in the plasma sheet and its boundary, beam-induced ionospheric low frequency waves, substorm physics, turbulence and self-organized criticality. Angelopoulos is also a member of the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley and of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena California. He has authored and co-authored more than 100 publications in refereed journals on data analysis, plasma theory and space plasma phenomenology, space technology, space instrumentation and mission analysis and design. In his free time he enjoys playing classical violin and chess.

Awards and Honors:

January 2001: Macelwane Medal, conferred by the American Geophysical Union in recognition of significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by young scientists.
July 2000: Zeldovich Medal, conferred by the Russian Academy of Sciences and COSPAR on young sci-entists for excellence and achievement.
June 1994: Fred Scarf Award, conferred by AGU’s Space Physics and Aeronomy Section to the best Ph.D. thesis in that section.
1986-1992: Fulbright fellowship for the duration of Ph.D. program.