GEM, supported by the National Science Foundation, is one of the most prestigious conferences in the field of space physics. Approximately 125 space physics students from around the world participated in the poster competition.
Li’s achievement marks the second time since 2017 that a WVU student has won this award, positioning WVU as the institution with the second-highest number of winners in the inner magnetosphere category, just behind Boston University.
Li’s winning presentation, titled “ULF Wave Transport of Relativistic Electrons in the Van Allen Belts: Criteria for Transition to Radial Diffusion” challenges the traditional assumption that the motion of energetic electrons within the Earth's Van Allen radiation belts is purely diffusive. Instead, he highlights critical conditions within the Earth’s magnetosphere that must be met for electron motions to be described by a diffusive process.
Additionally, Li presented another work titled “Quantifying the spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation wave-drivers through the modeling of multi-point POES/MetOp observations.” This work focuses on using proxy measurements taken near Earth to understand the global state of the vast magnetosphere without the need for measurements to be taken everywhere. These presentations scored 99% and 97% respectively, placing Li at the top of the competition.
Both of Li’s works aim to deepen our understanding of the dynamics and variability of Earth’s hazardous Van Allen Radiation Belt environment, which is a key research focus of Professor Weichao Tu’s group in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Insights gained from this research are expected to contribute significantly to the advancement of space science and the future of human space exploration.