Florida Tech Professor Receives $1/4 Million Space Weather Contract

– Dr. Ramon Lopez, Florida Tech professor of physics and space sciences, has received a subcontract of $254,548 from Boston University to support a
National Science Foundation science and technology organization.

The organization, the Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling (CISM), is working on producing a set of coupled simulations that model the sun-earth
system from the surface of the sun to the upper atmosphere of earth. Lopez participates in CISM education programs and simulation results validation.

Space weather modeling is valuable as a scientific tool to increase understanding of the complex space environment. It is also a forecast tool for
predicting space weather and an educational tool for teaching about the space environment.

The CISM was founded in 2002 to further understanding of the changing sun and its effects on the solar system, life and society. The center’s goal is to
create a physics-based numerical simulation model that describes the space environment from the sun to the earth.

Florida Tech offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in physics and space sciences. The university also offers a bachelor’s degree in
astronomy/astrophysics.