Assistant Professor Paul Cassak joins the Department

Dr. Paul Cassak received his Ph. D. in 2006 from the University of Maryland-College Park in theoretical and computational plasma physics. He is joining the WVU Physics Department following a one-and-a-half year postdoctoral position at the University of Delaware. His work has focused on a physical phenomenon called magnetic reconnection, in which magnetic field lines release their stored energy when they break and cross-connect, not unlike the slinging out of a stretched rubber band. Reconnection is the underlying cause of solar flares, as well as substorms in the geomagnetic field and disruptive events in fusion devices. His research has helped to develop a better understanding of why reconnection begins explosively and how it occurs in the Earth’s magnetosphere. At WVU, Cassak intends to involve graduate and undergraduate students in performing massively parallel numerical simulations on large supercomputers and using theoretical tools to answer unsolved problems about magnetic reconnection with applications in solar, laboratory, and magnetospheric settings as it concerns space weather. He is excited about teaching graduate level plasma physics courses and undergraduate level electromagnetism, and is interested in public outreach.