Christopher Fowler
Research Assistant Professor
“Planetary magnetospheres are tenuous - things don't physically collide very frequently. Electromagnetic forces (i.e. plasma physics) are thus really important: they play central roles in everything that happens.”
Plasma & Space Physics
Biography and Research
Chris is a planetary science researcher who analyzes in-situ plasma measurements obtained by spacecraft to understand the plasma environments at various planets in the solar system. His primary research interests include understanding the physical processes that energize the ionospheres of unmagnetized planets (in particular Mars and Venus), and how this energization can impact ionospheric escape to space. Chris is also interested in the comparative study of planetary ionospheres, with a focus on the phenomena driven by the collisional coupling between neutrals and ions in the lower ionospheres of Mars and Earth. Chris received his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2016 while working as part of the Langmuir Probe and Waves (LPW) instrument team on NASAs Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission. Currently, Chris is a member of the SupraThermal And Thermal Ion Composition (STATIC) instrument on MAVEN and is heavily involved in instrument calibration and data product generation.
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