Nancy Crooker
Nancy U. Crooker (born April 1, 1944) is an American physicist and professor emerita of space physics at Boston University, Massachusetts[1]. She has made major contributions to the understanding of geomagnetism in the Earth's magnetosphere and the heliosphere, particularly through the study of interplanetary electrons and magnetic reconnection.
Nancy Crooker | |
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Born | Chicago, USA |
Citizenship | United States |
Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles |
Occupation | Researcher |
Employer | Boston University |
Early life and education
Crooker was born in Chicago in 1944. Her father, Michael Uss, a Lithuanian who emigrated to America as a child, was a foreman at the freight yards of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, and her mother, Helen Narovec, was a housewife.
Crooker holds a BA in Physics from Knox College, Illinois, and an MSc in Meteorology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)[1][2]. In 1972 Crooker was awarded her PhD in Atmospheric Sciences, also from UCLA, with her doctoral dissertation entitled, "The Low-Latitude Asymmetric Disturbance in the Geomagnetic Field"[3].
Research career
Crooker has published 207 peer-reviewed articles (as of 8 October 2019)[4] across a range of topics within space physics. Her early career was as a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University and then the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1970s. There, together with Joan Feynman in their seminal Nature paper[5], she was one of the first physicists to use geomagnetic data as a way to reconstruct solar activity prior to the space age[6]. Crooker then developed the concept of anti-parallel merging of magnetic field lines in Earth's magnetosphere published in Journal of Geophysical Research in 1979[7].
In 1990, she returned to UCLA as an adjunct professor before making her final move to Boston University as a research professor in 1994.[2] Around this time, Crooker switched focus from the magnetosphere to the heliosphere, in particular the interplanetary manifestations of coronal mass ejections. In 1997, she co-edited a monograph on coronal mass ejections[8]. In 2002, she coined the term "interchange reconnection" for describing the dynamic process by which heliospheric magnetic flux introduced by coronal mass ejections is subsequently removed[9], a term which has been comprehensively adopted in the field.
Crooker was president of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Space Physics & Aeronomy Section from 2004 to 2006.[10][11] She is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union[12], where the fellowship program recognizes AGU members who have made exceptional contributions to Earth and space science through a breakthrough, discovery, or innovation in their field[13]. She also received the prestigious Eugene Parker Lecture award from the AGU in 2013, only the third woman to do so.[14]
She has worked closely over decades with several other prominent space physicists, including John T. Gosling, Marcia Neugebauer, Mike Lockwood, Chris Russell and Thomas Zurbuchen.[2]
Scientific Citizenship
Crooker has served on numerous committees, panels and taskforces throughout her career, including:
- AGU Fellows Program Review Task Force (2015)[15] [16]
- Founding member of the new executive board for the American Geophysical Union (2010)[17]
- Media panel member for the NASA Ulysses spacecraft media telecon (2008)[18]
- Working group leader, International Space Science Institute (ISSI) workshop on Co-rotating Interaction Regions (1998)[19]
- Interviewed by CNN about solar storms (1997)[20]
- Chair, AGU Awards Committee for Solar-Planetary Relations Section (1988-1990)[21]
Awards and Honors
- The Eugene Parker Lecture is presented two out of every three years to a space scientist who has made significant contributions to the fields of solar and heliospheric science by the American Geophysical Union[14]. Crooker received this honor in 2013[14].
- President of the AGU Space Physics & Aeronomy Section (2004 to 2006) [11]
- Member of the Solar Heliospheric and Interplanetary Environment (SHINE) Steering Committee (1995-2002)[22]
- Solar Heliospheric Secretary for Space Physics & Aeronomy Section of AGU (2000-2002)
- Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2000) [23][12]
- Member of the NASA Magnetospheric Management Operations Working Group (1995-6)[24]
- Editor's Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for the Journal of Geophysical Research (1993)[25] and Geophysical Research Letters (1996) [26]
References
- "Nancy Crooker | Astronomy". www.bu.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- "Nancy Crooker CV" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- Crooker, Nancy. "THE LOW-LATITUDE ASYMMETRIC DISTURBANCE IN THE GEOMAGNETIC FIELD". ucsc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- "N. U. Crooker's research works | Boston University, MA (BU) and other places". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- Feynman, J.; Crooker, N. U. (1978-10-01). "The solar wind at the turn of the century". Nature. 275 (5681): 626–627. Bibcode:1978Natur.275..626F. doi:10.1038/275626a0. ISSN 1476-4687.
- Crooker, N. U.; Feynman, J.; Gosling, J. T. (1977-05-01). "On the high correlation between long-term averages of solar wind speed and geomagnetic activity". Journal of Geophysical Research. 82 (13): 1933–1937. Bibcode:1977JGR....82.1933C. doi:10.1029/JA082i013p01933.
- Crooker, N. U. (1979). "Dayside merging and cusp geometry". Journal of Geophysical Research. 84 (A3): 951–959. Bibcode:1979JGR....84..951C. doi:10.1029/JA084iA03p00951. ISSN 2156-2202.
- Coronal mass ejections. Crooker, Nancy, 1944-, Joselyn, J. A., Feynman, Joan. Washington, D.C.: American Geophysical Union. 1997. ISBN 087590081X. OCLC 37260958.CS1 maint: others (link)
- Crooker, N. U.; Gosling, J. T.; Kahler, S. W. (2002). "Reducing heliospheric magnetic flux from coronal mass ejections without disconnection". Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. 107 (A2): SSH 3–1–SSH 3-5. Bibcode:2002JGRA..107.1028C. doi:10.1029/2001JA000236. ISSN 2156-2202.
- Anonymous (2003-09-30). "Candidates for office 2004–2006". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 84 (39): 399–403. Bibcode:2003EOSTr..84..399.. doi:10.1029/2003EO390011. ISSN 2324-9250.
- "AGU Space Physics & Aeronomy Section Memo: Subject: Action Needed - Future of Science at NASA". www.spaceref.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- "Crooker". Honors Program. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- "Union Fellows | AGU". www.agu.org. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- "Eugene Parker Lecture | AGU". www.agu.org. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- Williams, Billy (2015-03-03). "eos.org". 96. doi:10.1029/2015EO025545. Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - "Task Force Recommends Ways to Improve AGU Fellows Program". Eos. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- "Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union Volume 91, Number 39, 28 September 2010". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 91 (39): n/a. 2010-09-28. doi:10.1029/eost2010EO39. ISSN 2324-9250.
- "NASA - Ulysses Media Telecon". www.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- Balogh, A.; Gosling, J. T.; Jokipii, J. R.; Kallenbach, R.; Kunow, H., eds. (1999). Corotating Interaction Regions. Space Sciences Series of ISSI. 7. doi:10.1007/978-94-017-1179-1. ISBN 978-90-481-5367-1. ISSN 1385-7525.
- "CNN - Satellite sheds light on solar storms - December 9, 1997". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- Tsurutani, Bruce T. (1990-08-14). "SPR Awards Committee". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 71 (33): 1028. Bibcode:1990EOSTr..71.1028T. doi:10.1029/90EO00269. ISSN 2324-9250.
- "People of SHINE". www.shinecon.org. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- "Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union Volume 90, Number 51, 22 December 2009". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 90 (51): n/a. 2009-12-22. doi:10.1029/eost2009EO51. ISSN 2324-9250.
- "Issue 85, October 25, 1995 - Space Physics and Aeronomy". webcache.googleusercontent.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- Anonymous (1993-06-15). "1992 Editors' Citations: Excellence in refereeing". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 74 (24): 269. Bibcode:1993EOSTr..74..269.. doi:10.1029/93EO00433. ISSN 2324-9250.
- Anonymous (1997-08-19). "1996 Editors' citations: Excellence in reviewing". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 78 (33): 350–351. Bibcode:1997EOSTr..78..350.. doi:10.1029/97EO00227. ISSN 2324-9250.