Andrews University receives second National Science Foundation grant of the year
This most recent grant for a project called “Effects of Ionospheric Density Irregularities on High-Frequency Radio Wave Propagation” by professors Eun-Hwa Kim and Jay Johnson, who were also behind the earlier NSF grant award.
Andrews University has earned two National Science Foundation grants in 2024, both of which were awarded to projects by professors Eun-Hwa Kim and Jay Johnson. The newer award, for their project called “Effects of Ionospheric Density Irregularities on High-Frequency Radio Wave Propagation,” was awarded via the NSF’s Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) program. The previous award, titled “Propagation and Dissipation of Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves in the Magnetosphere and Ionosphere,” was awarded via the NSF’s Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) project.
According to an article on Andrews University’s website, Kim, a research professor of physics, and Johnson, a professor of engineering, will be collaborating on the radio wave project with two other universities, which have each been awarded their own grants. Johns Hopkins University will contribute to the project by providing satellite data of the ionosphere, and the University of Scranton will work with volunteers to analyze high-frequency radio wave data to determine the frequency with which communications failed or were unreliable. The project as a whole will work toward a better understanding of high-frequency radio waves and how space weather phenomena like solar flares can interrupt the communications of aircraft communication, military operations, and international radio broadcasts, all of which rely on such high-frequency radio waves.
Kim and Johnson are hoping to add a student assistant to Andrews’ portion of the project, which is running from August 2024 to July 2027.
Similarly, the previous grant award, which gave Kim and Johnson $550,000 to study electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves, will be running until March 2028, and will require help from a student assistant.
In a previous Andrews University article, Kim was quoted as saying of the first grant project, “My observation team will research the frequency, polarization and where and when we detected these waves. The simulation team will launch the wave near the source where we believe [the waves may be] and then see how this wave propagates in different environments.”
For more information about Andrews University, visit the school’s website.