Is There an Appropriate Balance Between the Number of Solar and Space Physics PhDs and the Jobs Available?

Moldwin, M. B.; Torrence, John; Moldwin, L. A.; Morrow, C. A.

doi:10.1002/swe.20075

Cited by 5 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…There was a step function increase in the number of S&SP PhD awarded in 2007 [ Moldwin et al ., ], but little statistically significant change in the research persistence in terms of percentages over the decade. There are significant year‐to‐year differences in the three main categories of persistence (immediately out of research, stop publishing within three years of the PhD, and publishing four or more years after your PhD) across the decade, but no discernable trends with time.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moldwin et al . [] found that solar and space physics PhDs were granted from over 60 institutions in North America, but the 16 largest programs graduated over half of the PhDs. We examined if these large programs (that graduated at least one PhD per year on average from 2001 to 2010) had different persistence rates than the cohort of universities that graduated less than one S&SP PhD per year.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A database of Solar and Space Physics PhD dissertations were compiled by using the University of Michigan Proquest Dissertation Database. Because the field of Solar and Space Physics is so broad and housed in a variety of academic departments and colleges, searching dissertations for keywords and topics enabled the identification of most solar and space physics‐related PhDs regardless of discipline [ Moldwin et al ., ]. Though it is recognized that the Proquest database is not necessarily complete, it has been used extensively to identify trends in the size of research fields [e.g., Andersen and Hammarfelt , ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A recent study looked at the production of S&SP PhD and the number of job opportunities within the field [ Moldwin et al ., ] as part of the NRC's S&SP Decadal Survey [ National Research Council , ]. Most PhD students in Solar and Space Physics are supported by federal research grants or graduate fellowships—primarily through NASA and NSF—and hence, it is hypothesized that S&SP PhD production should be closely tied to Heliophysics (NASA) or Geospace Science (NSF) research funding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moldwin et al . [] found that the production of PhDs had a step function increase in the latter half of the decade that was not correlated with increased funding, while there was a steady decline of job opportunities that reflected the recession of 2008 more broadly.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Research Career Persistence for Solar and Space Physics PhD

Moldwin¹,

Morrow²

2016

Space Weather

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Results from a recent graduate student survey found unsurprisingly that Solar and Space Physics (S&SP) PhD graduate students almost all aspire to have research careers in Solar and Space Physics. This study reports on the research career persistence over the first decade of the new millennium for S&SP PhDs. We used publication of science citation indexed articles as the indicator for persistence in a research career. We found that nearly two thirds (64%) of PhDs who graduated between 2001 and 2009 published refereed papers in 2012 or 2013, while 17% of PhDs never published another paper beyond the year they received their PhD. The remaining 19% of PhDs stopped publishing within three years of receiving their PhD. We found no gender difference between research persistence. We also found that though there is statistically no difference on persistence of publishing research between graduates of the largest programs compared to all other programs, there are significant differences between individual programs. This study indicates that a majority of S&SP PhDs find research careers but that a significant fraction pursue careers where publishing in science citation indexed journals is not required. Graduate programs, advisors, and potential graduate students can use these data for career planning and developing mentoring programs that meet the career outcomes of all of their graduates.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Research Career Persistence for Solar and Space Physics PhD

Moldwin¹,

Morrow²

2016

Space Weather

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Space Weather Quarterly Volume 13, Issue 3, 2016

2016

Space Weather

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Space weather disrupts nocturnal bird migration

Gulson-Castillo,

Van Doren,

Bui

et al. 2023

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Space weather, including solar storms, can impact Earth by disturbing the geomagnetic field. Despite the known dependence of birds and other animals on geomagnetic cues for successful seasonal migrations, the potential effects of space weather on organisms that use Earth’s magnetic field for navigation have received little study. We tested whether space weather geomagnetic disturbances are associated with disruptions to bird migration at a macroecological scale. We leveraged long-term radar data to characterize the nightly migration dynamics of the nocturnally migrating North American avifauna over 22 y. We then used concurrent magnetometer data to develop a local magnetic disturbance index associated with each radar station (ΔBmax), facilitating spatiotemporally explicit analyses of the relationship between migration and geomagnetic disturbance. After controlling for effects of atmospheric weather and spatiotemporal patterns, we found a 9 to 17% decrease in migration intensity in both spring and fall during severe space weather events. During fall migration, we also found evidence for decreases in effort flying against the wind, which may represent a depression of active navigation such that birds drift more with the wind during geomagnetic disturbances. Effort flying against the wind in the fall was most reduced under both overcast conditions and high geomagnetic disturbance, suggesting that a combination of obscured celestial cues and magnetic disturbance may disrupt navigation. Collectively, our results provide evidence for community-wide avifaunal responses to geomagnetic disturbances driven by space weather during nocturnal migration.

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Is There an Appropriate Balance Between the Number of Solar and Space Physics PhDs and the Jobs Available?

Abstract: Key Points The first demographic survey of Solar and Space Physics (S&SP) was conducted Annual number of PhD awarded in S&SP has doubled over the last decade Annual number of jobs advertised in S&SP have decreased in recent years

Cited by 5 publications

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Research Career Persistence for Solar and Space Physics PhD

Research Career Persistence for Solar and Space Physics PhD

Space Weather Quarterly Volume 13, Issue 3, 2016

Space weather disrupts nocturnal bird migration

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