Valeriy Tenishev

Affiliation: NASA MSFC/ST13

Email: valeriy.m.tenishev@nasa.gov

Phone: (256) 961-7415

Dr. Valeriy Tenishev is a Research Astrophysicist at the Heliophysics and Planetary Science Branch (ST 13) of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Previously, he was a Research Scientist at the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan. His research focuses on the design and development of the Adaptive Mesh Particle Simulator (AMPS), a general-purpose DSMC code with implicit PIC capabilities, and its application to various planetary, magnetospheric, and heliophysics problems.

Under Dr. Tenishev’s leadership, AMPS became the leading kinetic particle code in cometary and planetary sciences. He has adapted AMPS to study heliophysics, magnetospheric, and kinetic plasma phenomena. AMPS is a fully integrated component of the Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF), where it is the second-largest component. Dr. Tenishev and his postdoc Dr. Yinsi Shou extended AMPS with implicit PIC code capabilities and developed the MHD with Adaptively Embedded PIC (MHD-AEPIC) algorithm for modeling kinetic plasma phenomena.

Dr. Tenishev has transitioned AMPS to NASA’s Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), where it is available to the heliophysics community for runs on request. His work has resulted in over 70 publications, an h-index of 33, and 3485 citations

Research Areas

• Heliophysics: Galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles in the heliosphere and geospace; acceleration of electrons during solar flares.
• Planetary Science: Upper planetary atmospheres (Mercury, Mars, and Venus); exospheres of planetary satellites (Moon, Enceladus, Titan); cometary comae (67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko); interactions with solar wind plasma and planetary magnetospheres.
• Numerical Model Development: PIC, Monte Carlo kinetic, MHD, and hydrodynamic models; the Adaptive Mesh Particle Simulator (AMPS); MHD with Adaptively Embedded PIC (MHD-AEPIC) algorithm.

Education

Ph.D., Space Science and Scientific Computing
University of Michigan, 2006

M.E., Mechanical Engineering
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 2000

M.S., Applied Physics and Mathematics
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 1998

Experience

Research Astrophysicist
Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA
2024-present

Research Scientist
University of Michigan
2021-2024

LEO Adjunct Lecturer
University of Michigan
2023-2024

Associate Research Scientist
University of Michigan
2014-2021

Assistant Research Scientist
University of Michigan
2008-2014

Primary Responsibilities:

• Lead the design, development, and testing of the Adaptive Mesh Particle Simulator (AMPS), a general-purpose DSMC code with implicit PIC capabilities.
• Modeling the dynamics of solar energetic particles (SEPs) and galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) in Earth’s magnetosphere and the heliosphere.
• Modeling neutral species, ions, and neutral/charged dust in cometary comae, and exospheres of planets and planetary satellites.

Awards

• 2019 – University of Michigan College of Engineering Ted Kennedy Family Faculty Team Excellence Award
• 2018 – University of Michigan College of Engineering Kenneth M. Reese Outstanding Research Scientist Award
• 2018 – NASA Group Achievement Award (MAVEN Mission Team)
• 2017 – ESA Certificate of Outstanding Contribution (Michigan Rosetta Modeling team)
• 2017 – NASA Group Achievement Award (Michigan Rosetta Modeling team)
• 2017 – University of Michigan, Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering (CLaSP) Outstanding Accomplishment Award
• 2016 – NASA RHG Exceptional Achievements for Science Award (MAVEN Science Team)
• 2016 – NASA Group Achievement Award (MAVEN Science Team)

Publications

Ma Y., Combi M., Tenishev V., Shou Y., Bougher S. (2023)

“The Effects of the Upper Atmosphere and Corona on the Solar Wind Interaction With Venus”
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 128(4)

Sokolov I., Sun H., Toth G., Huang Z., Tenishev V., et al. (2023)

“High resolution finite volume method for kinetic equations with Poisson brackets”
Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 476

Tenishev V., Combi M., Shou Y., Bougher S., Ma Y. (2022)

“A 3D Physics-Based Particle Model of the Venus Oxygen Corona: Variations With Solar Activity”
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Vol. 127(5)