Catalyst 2020-2021 | UTSA
Dr. Sarah K. Vines and Dr. Robert C. Allen are proud alumni.
Awesome Alum: Dr. Sarah K. Vines and Dr. Robert C. Allen By Amber Powell After initially meeting through a friend at an
science grant proposal I ever wrote, as well
some of the most exciting missions of our
academic conference in Colorado, Dr. Sarah K.
as graduate with six first-authored publica-
time,” he said. “We’re going to be able to
Vines and Dr. Robert C. Allen returned to their
tions and several co-authorships to allow
transform our understanding of how the solar
respective graduate programs but stayed in
my name to be known to the community.
wind is generated and how ions in the solar
touch. Vines had just finished her first year in
It allowed for a much less stressful interview
wind reach really high energies in a region of
UTSA’s physics Ph.D. program, and Allen had
process, as those who were interviewing
space that we only now have the technology to really explore.”
recently wrapped up his second year of the
me and considering my application for a
physics graduate program at the University
postdoctoral fellowship were already aware
of New Hampshire.
of my work.”
Vines is currently the deputy principal investi-
After Allen moved to San Antonio several
Allen is now the instrument scientist of the
etary Electrodynamics Response Experiment
months later to start the same program, life
Suprathermal Ion Spectrograph on the Euro-
(AMPERE) where she studies Birkeland cur-
gator of the Active Magnetosphere and Plan-
was never the same.
pean Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter mission
rents. Birkeland currents are a vital part of the
and is a member of the NASA Parker Solar
solar wind-magnetosphere interaction that
“It was pretty quick that we realized we would
Probe project science team. He is responsible
drive energy into the ionosphere and neutral
always be more than just colleagues,” Vines
for advancing scientific understanding of the
upper atmosphere.
said. “We had fallen in love before Robert
solar wind and how charged particles are
even made it down that fall, and ended up
energized in interplanetary space through
getting married three years later, right before
peer-reviewed scientific publications.
my dissertation defense in the fall of 2016. What a crazy year!”
“AMPERE is a pretty awesome project in that it uses commercial magnetometers carried by each one of the Iridium Communication Net-
He also prepares the instrument data for dis-
work satellites to back out signatures of large
bursement to the broader scientific communi-
electric currents in the near-Earth space en-
Vines earned her Ph.D. in 2016, and Allen
ty. Additionally, Allen organizes opportunities
vironment that close through the ionosphere,
completed his in 2017.
for joint instrument and multi-mission obser-
the ionized portion of the Earth’s upper at-
vations of interesting solar wind events.
mosphere,” she said. “Basically, we’re using
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to
science that is only enabled by such a large
skills such as proposal and paper writing,
take advantage of these really amazing
fleet of spacecraft that make up the Iridium
Allen said. “This enabled me to win the first
opportunities to be on the ground floor of
constellation.”
“The UTSA/SwRI Ph.D. program set me up because it focused on real-world applicable
non-science tools to do some really great
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