Thomas Zurbuchen

Professor, Space Science and Aerospace Engineering; Director, Center for Entrepreneurship

Education:

Ph.D., M.S., University of Bern

Research:

Solar and Heliospheric Physics, Experimental Space Research

Doctoral Students:

Daniel Gershman
Drew Heckathorn
Jacob Gruesbeck
Pran Mukherjee
Liang Zhao

If it's not exploration or innovation, I am usually not too interested in getting involved... But, if I can be part of a team that takes it to the next level, that will not back off in the face of challenges or adversity, that's when I get really, really excited... 

Check out my blog at: http://cfe.engin.umich.edu/blog/

Specializations and Research Interests

• Advance our understanding of the space environment and its behavior.
• Developing and  analyzing space mission architectures for various exploration and commercial applications. 
• Developing new space instruments to explore these space plasmas
• Exploring and fabricating new particle detectors and instrument technologies suitable for such instruments.
• Transfer technologies to industry in the form of patents, or by supporing or participating in innovative startup companies.
• Developing and investigating new theoretical and predictive model of the space environment, including:
  • Solar wind acceleration
  • Formation and properties of solar wind magnetic field
  •  Propagation and acceleration of energetic particles
• Developing new theoretical concepts and experimental exploration methods of interaction between heliosphere and local interstellar medium

Honors, Awards and Accomplishments

• Recipient, Presidential Early Career for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) Award
• Recipient, Young Researcher Award, Swiss National Science Foundation
• Leading data analysis of active missions and of hardware development efforts, Solar and Heliospheric Research Group
• Participant, development, construction and calibration of several flight instruments (IND, ACE and SOHO)
• Leading data analysis projects finding new applications for composition data, most recently as method to trace matter through the magnetosphere
• Author or Coauthor, 150+ articles in refereed journals on solar and heliospheric phenomena

Professional Service

• Director, Center for Entrepreneurship, College of Engineering.
• Part of two standing committees of the National Academy, science and technology definition teams of new NASA missions.
• Invited speaker, over 50 international conferences and colloquia in many leading Universities and Research Institutions