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Ajeet Kumar Maurya received the 2019 Sunanda and Santimay Basu International Early Career Award in Sun–Earth Systems Science at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2019, held 9–13 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “work that shows promise of making outstanding contributions to research in Sun–Earth systems science and furthers the understanding of plasma physical processes and their applications for the benefit of society.”

Response

Ajeet K. Maurya received his B.S. in physics and astronomy from the University of Lucknow in 2004 and an M.Sc. in physics from the University of Lucknow in 2006. In 2014, he received his Ph.D. in space physics under the supervision of Rajesh Singh from the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Mumbai, India. He is currently working as an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at Doon University, Dehradun, India. His research interests include radio remote sensing of the ionosphere, space weather, and seismoelectromagnetic and atmospheric gravity waves.

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Zama T. Katamzi-Joseph will receive the 2018 Sunanda and Santimay Basu (International) Early Career Award in Sun–Earth Systems Science at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2018, to be held 10–14 December in Washington, D. C. The award recognizes “outstanding contributions to research in Sun–Earth systems science that further the understanding of both plasma physical processes and their applications for the benefit of society.”

Response

Zama T. Katamzi-Joseph received her B.S. in physics from the University of Cape Town in 2004 and her M.Sc. in astrophysics under the supervision of Lee-Anne McKinnell and Pierre Cilliers from Rhodes University in 2008. In 2011, she received her Ph.D. under the supervision of Cathryn Mitchell from the University of Bath. Her research interests include thermosphere–ionosphere dynamics and the influence of gravity waves and traveling ionospheric disturbances, tides, and geomagnetic storms on the ionosphere and thermosphere.

Quanqi Shi will receive the 2017 Sunanda and Santimay Basu Early Career Award in Sun–Earth Systems Science. He will present a talk and will be formally presented with the award at the 2017 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 11–15 December in New Orleans, La. This award recognizes “outstanding contributions to research in Sun–Earth systems science that further the understanding of both plasma physical processes and their applications for the benefit of society.”

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Quanqi Shi received his B.S. in 2000 and M.S. in space physics in 2003, from Peking University in China, under the supervision of Prof. Zuyin Pu. He obtained his Ph.D. in space physics from Peking University in 2010 under the supervision of Prof. Zuyin Pu and Prof. Qiugang Zong. He is currently working in Shandong University, Weihai, Shandong, China. His research interests include the study of solar wind interactions with magnetospheres.

Joseph Olwendo will receive the Sunanda and Santimay Basu Early Career Award in Sun-Earth Systems Science. He will present a talk and will be formally presented with the award at the 2016 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 12–16 December in San Francisco, Calif.

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Joseph Olwendo received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in theoretical physics in 2005 and 2008, respectively, from the University of Nairobi. He got his Ph.D. in space physics under the supervision of Paul Baki from Pwani University, Kilifi (Kenya) in 2014. His research interest has been on equatorial ionospheric dynamics and ionospheric plasma density irregularities using GNSS signals over the East African sector. He also works on ionospheric model validation and navigation applications and, since 2015, has been visiting the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) on a short-term basis in his capacity as a junior associate scientist. At ICTP he works with NeQuick 2 model research group under Sandro M. Radicella.

Chaowei Jiang will receive the Sunanda and Santimay Basu Early Career Award in Sun-Earth Systems Science. He will present a talk and will be formally presented with the award at the 2015 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif.

Citation

Chaowei Jiang has been awarded the Sunanda and Santimay Basu Early Career Award in Sun-Earth Systems Science. The award recognizes an individual scientist from a developing nation for making outstanding contributions to research in Sun-Earth systems science that further the understanding of both plasma physical processes and their applications for the benefit of society.

Chaowei Jiang received his B.S. in astronomy from Beijing Normal University in 2006 and a Ph.D. in space physics from the Graduate College of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2011 under the supervision of Xueshang Feng and Fengsi Wei. He is currently working as an associate research scientist within the SIGMA Weather group at the State Key Laboratory for Space Weather, National Space Science Center of CAS. His research interests include reconstruction and analysis of the solar magnetic field, data-driven models of solar flares and coronal mass ejections, and advanced numerical techniques for space weather–related modeling.

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John Bosco has been awarded the Sunanda and Santimay Basu Early Career Award in Sun-Earth Systems Science. He presented a talk and was formally presented with the award at the 2014 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. John Bosco has been awarded the Sunanda and Santimay Basu Early Career Award in Sun-Earth Systems Science. The award recognizes an individual scientist from a developing nation for making outstanding contributions to research in Sun-Earth systems science that further the understanding of both plasma physical processes and their applications for the benefit of society. Bosco’s thesis is entitled “A contribution to TEC modelling over southern Africa using GPS data.” He presented a talk and was formally presented with the award at the 2014 AGU Fall Meeting, held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. John Bosco received his B.S. in physics and mathematics with education from Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda, in 2004, B.S. Honors in astrophysics and space science at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, in 2005, and a M.Sc. in space physics from Rhodes University, South Africa, in 2008 under the supervision of Lee-Anne McKinnell and Pierre Cilliers. He received a Ph.D. in space physics from Rhodes University, South Africa in 2011 under the supervision of Lee-Anne McKinnell and Ben Opperman.  He is currently working as a researcher within the space science and applications group at the South African National Space Agency, Hermanus, South Africa.  His research interests include ionospheric modeling and characterization, ionospheric electrodynamics, observational data analysis on traveling ionospheric disturbances (including mapping), and other space weather–related studies.

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Xin Cheng has been awarded the Sunanda and Santimay Basu Early Career Award in Sun-Earth Systems Science. The award recognizes an individual scientist from a developing nation for making outstanding contributions to research in Sun-Earth systems science that further the understanding of both plasma physical processes and their applications for the benefit of society. Cheng’s thesis is entitled “On the origin, structure, and evolution of coronal mass ejections.” He presented an invited talk and was formally presented with the award at the 2013 AGU Fall Meeting, held 9–13 December in San Francisco, Calif. Xin Cheng received his B.S. in physics from Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, in 2007. In 2012, he received a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, under the supervision of Mingde Ding and Jie Zhang. Xin is currently working as an assistant research scientist at the School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. His research interests include coronal mass ejections and associated solar active phenomena, magnetic structure of active regions, and space weather.

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Marco A. Milla has been awarded the Sunanda and Santimay Basu Early Career Award in Sun-Earth Systems Science. The award recognizes an individual scientist from a developing nation for making outstanding contributions to research in Sun-Earth systems science that further the understanding of both plasma physical processes and their applications for the benefit of society. Milla’s thesis is entitled “Study of Coulomb collisions and magneto-ionic propagation effects on incoherent scatter radar measurements at Jicamarca.” He presented an invited talk and was formally presented with the award at the 2012 AGU Fall Meeting, held 3–7 December in San Francisco, Calif. Marco A. Milla finished his B.S. in electrical engineering at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú in 1997. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. under the supervision of Erhan Kudeki from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 2006 and 2010, respectively. His research interest involves the development of incoherent scatter radar techniques for the estimation of ionospheric state parameters.

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Hui Wang has been awarded the Sunanda and Santimay Basu Early-Career Award in Sun-Earth systems science. This award recognizes an individual scientist from a developing nation for making outstanding contributions to research in Sun-Earth systems science that further the understanding of both plasma physical processes and their applications for the benefit of society. Wang's thesis is entitled "High latitude ionospheric current system and its response to substorm and geomagnetic storm." She delivered an invited talk and was formally presented with the award at the 2011 AGU Fall Meeting, held 5–9 December in San Francisco, Calif. Wang received her B.S. in radio physics from Wuhan University, in China, in 2000. She received her Ph.D. in space physics from Wuhan University in 2006 under the joint supervision of Hermann Luehr at Helmholtz Centre Potsdam–GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany, and Shuying Ma at Wuhan University. Her research interests include ionospheric current systems, field-aligned currents, substorm and magnetotail processes, subauroral polarization streams, thermospheric zonal wind, and air mass density.

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Kaiming Huang has been awarded the Sunanda and Santimay Basu Early Career Award in Sun-Earth Systems Science. The award recognizes an individual scientist from a developing nation for making outstanding contributions to research in Sun-Earth systems science that further the understanding of both plasma physical processes and their applications for the benefit of society. Huang’s thesis is entitled “Numerical studies on wave-wave and wave-mean flow interaction for gravity waves.” He is scheduled to present an invited talk in the Frontiers in Aeronomy session (SA12) during the 2010 AGU Fall Meeting, held 13–17 December in San Francisco, Calif. Huang will be formally presented with the award at the Space Physics and Aeronomy section dinner on 14 December 2010. Kaiming Huang received his B.S. in physics from Hubei University in 1991, and an M.S. in radio physics from Wuhan University in 2004. He received a Ph.D. in space physics in 2007 under the supervision of Zhang Shaodong and Yi Fan at Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. His research interests include numerical modeling of atmospheric waves and circulation, observational data analysis on atmospheric dynamics, and lidar and radar techniques in atmospheric remote sensing.

Citation

Samireddipalle Sripathi has been awarded the AGU Sunanda and Santimay Basu Early Career Award in Sun-Earth Systems Science. The award recognizes an individual scientist from a developing nation for making outstanding contributions to research in Sun-Earth systems science that further the understanding of both plasma physical processes and their applications for the benefit of society. Sripathi's thesis is entitled “VHF radar studies of E-region plasma irregularities at low latitude.” He was formally presented with the award at the Space Physics and Aeronomy section dinner during the 2009 AGU Fall Meeting, held 14–18 December in San Francisco, Calif. Sripathi received a B.S. in physics in 1995, an M.S. in physics in 1997, and an M.Tech in atmospheric sciences in 2000 from Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, India. He received a Ph.D in physics from Sri Venkateswara University in 2007 under the joint supervision of P. B. Rao of National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, and S. Vijayabhaskara Rao of Sri Venkateswara University. His research interests include ionospheric physics, ionospheric electrodynamics, and ionosphere-atmosphere coupling.

Citation

Yao Chen received the Sunanda and Santimay Basu Early Career Award at the 2008 AGU Fall Meeting, held 17 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes an individual scientist from a developing nation for making outstanding contributions to research in Sun-Earth systems science that further the understanding of both plasma physical processes and their applications for the benefit of society. Citation Yao Chen, of Shandong University, has been awarded the 2008 Sunanda and Santimay Basu Early Career Award, given by the Space Physics and Aeronomy section of AGU. This award honors a young scientist from a developing nation for making outstanding contributions to research in Sun-Earth systems science that further the understanding of both plasma physical processes and their applications for the benefit of society. Chen has made significant contributions to the field of solar physics with a novel two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model for both the solar wind and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Us-ing this model, he has studied the effect of Alfvén waves on the solar wind, the roles of the ideal MHD instability and magnetic reconnection in driving coronal flux rope ejecta for CMEs, and the effect of the background solar wind on the propagation of the flux rope ejecta. After studying at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Chen returned to China, earning his Ph.D. and working at the University of Science and Technology of China until 2006. In 2007, he took a faculty position at Shandong University, in China, where he currently plays an important role in developing the new Institute of Space Science. On behalf of the Space Physics and Aeronomy section, I am pleased to present Yao Chen with the 2008 Sunanda and Santimay Basu Early Career Award. —Jonathan J. Makela, University of Illinois, Urbana

Response

I am deeply honored and humbled to be the first recipient of the Basu Early Career Award in Sun-Earth systems science.I sincerely thank, from deep in my heart, Sunanda and Santimay for their generous bestowal and establishment of the award, and for their very kind consideration of the benefit of the scientific community in developing nations like China and India, especially young researchers in the early stage of their career. I thank my nominator, Xiaohua Deng, at Nanchang University, and the selection committee, chaired by Jonathan Makela. I also thank Chingsheng Wu and Youqiu Hu for supporting my nomination.The honor is shared by every member of my group at Shandong University (SDU), where we are working together to build a new space physics program. Especially, I thank my colleague Lidong Xia, who moved from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) to our present affiliation together with me. So what we have accomplished at SDU is really a team effort that also involves our younger colleagues, like Quanqi Shi, Hongqiang Song, Shiwei Feng, Hui Fu, and our even younger students. The group is still expanding, taking advantage of the strong support from university authorities and the Chinese space physics community.The honor is also shared by my thesis advisors, Ruth Esser, at University of Tromsø, and Youqiu Hu and Zhongyuan Li, at USTC, who have taught me how to do the science and be a part of the commu-nity. The honor is certainly shared by my lovely daughter and my wife, the other half of me. —Yao Chen, Shandong University, Weihai, China