Jan Josef Sojka joined the American Geophysical Union in 1979. He is currently head of the Department of Physics and the assistant director of the Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences at Utah State University in Logan. His areas of scientific interest include global-scale modeling of the ionosphere, magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, solar-terrestrial weather forecasting, data compression, and small satellite technology. He received his B.S. degree in physics from Edinburgh University (UK) in 1972 and his Ph.D. in space physics from University College, London (UK) in 1976. Sojka was employed by Utah State University in 1978 as a postdoctoral fellow, became a research assistant professor in 1980, research associate professor in 1982, research professor in 1986, and full tenured professor in 1988. He became assistant director in the Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences in 1983 and head of the Department of Physics in 2005. He received the D. Wynne Thorne Research Award at Utah State University, 1999. He was chosen Utah Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 2002. Memberships and committee assignments he has held include co-associate director, Rocky Mountain Space Grant Consortium, 1989–; joint chairman, NSF CEDAR PRIMO Working Group, 1990–1998; joint chairman, NSF CEDAR HLPS Working Group, 1991–; member, NASA IMI STDT Committee, 1993–1995; member, NASA SMEX Science Review Board, 1993; member, British Antarctic Survey, Upper Atmospheric Review Panel, 1995–2000; Guest Editor, Radio Science Special Section on the Second HLPS Workshop, 1997; and Third HLPS Workshop, 1999, both published by AGU; joint chairman, NASA SEC Geospace Electrodynamic Connection STDT, 1998–2005; member, NASA Sun-Earth Connection Advisory Subcommittee, 1998–2001; NSF CEDAR Science Steering Committee, 2001–2007; member of NSF CISM Science Advisory Board, 2002–; chairman, NSF CEDAR Science Steering Committee, 2005–2007. He has published over 180 refereed papers, of which 94 are in AGU journals.