The Redemption of Reason
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Patricia H. Reiff
Patricia H. Reiff is a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Director of the Rice Space Institute at Rice University. Her research focuses on space plasma physics, mostly in the area of magnetospheric physics. Her research includes study of the aurora borealis, solar wind-magnetosphere coupling (including solar wind control of magnetospheric and ionospheric convection), and magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling.
She is a Co-I on the "IMAGE" magnetospheric imaging mission (launched March, 2000). She was the first person to propose radio sounding of the magnetosphere, which that spacecraft includes as a key instrument. She is a Co-Investigator on two missions which are part of the ISTP (International Solar-Terrestrial Research Program). She is a Co-I on the Magnetic Fields Experiment , (Chris Russell , P.I.) of the "Polar" spacecraft (successfully launched February 24, 1996!) and a Co-I on the "Peace" plasma instrument (begun by the late Alan Johnstone of Mullard Space Science Lab) on the ESA Cluster 24-spacecraft suite which was launched in July and August 2000. She is instrumental in bringing real-time WIND data and "Space Weather" information to the public.
She is PI for a major project which has developed an off-ramp for the information highway by "Creating the Public Connection" , bringing real-time earth and space science data to museums and schools (originalloy sponsored by NASA's Digital Library Technology Program), and now sponsored by the IMAGE program and the NASA Office of Earth Science. Nearly a million people have interacted with her exhibits and planetarium shows at the Houston Museum of Natural Science , and another half-million with her web sites. She has also been quite involved in other public education activities, including being director for four years for teacher education projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Eisenhower Foundation, in collaboration with Dr. Carolyn Sumners of the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS). She has guided many scientific tours, including a total solar eclipse trips to Peru, Mexico, the Caribbean, the Black Sea, and an upcoming trip to Madagascar in 2001.
She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union , where she serves in the SPA Public Education Committee . She is the Rice University representative and Vice Chair of the Council of Institutions of the USRA - the Universities Space Research Association. She is presently serving on advisory committees for NASA, NCAR, and Los Alamos National Laboratory, and has served NAS/NRC and AAU.
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