Mary K. Hudson

Mary K. Hudson is the Eleanor and Kelvin Smith Distinguished Professor of Physics at Dartmouth College and a Senior Research Associate at NCAR's High Altitude Observatory (HAO) since 2017. She chaired Dartmouth's Physics and Astronomy Department for eight years and remains active on research faculty, focusing on space weather phenomena and Earth's radiation belt dynamics through NASA and Air Force-funded projects.

Education:

• B.S. in Physics, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
• M.S. in Physics, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
• Ph.D. in Physics, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Hudson's research investigates solar eruption impacts on Earth's space environment, including radiation belt evolution, solar wind-magnetosphere interactions, and solar cosmic ray effects on polar communications. She combines satellite data (e.g., Van Allen Probes), balloon campaigns (BARREL), and computational modeling to trace energy transfer from the Sun to the ionosphere, with emphasis on relativistic electron dynamics during geomagnetic storms.

Her recent publications reveal consistent focus on radiation belt electron behavior during CIR-driven storms and ULF wave modulation, leveraging multi-instrument analysis to advance space weather prediction models. Key themes include particle precipitation mechanisms, storage ring formation, and atmospheric access of solar energetic particles.

Scientific Awards:

• American Geophysical Union Macelwane Medal (1984)
• American Geophysical Union Fleming Medal (2017)

Hudson serves as Co-Principal Investigator for NASA's Van Allen Probes and BARREL missions, with current funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research for solar particle-atmosphere interaction studies. She has mentored numerous graduate students and postdocs while contributing to NSF/NASA advisory committees and the AGU Advances editorial board.

As part of NCAR's HAO team, she collaborates with NOAA and Air Force Research Laboratory scientists on magnetospheric modeling, utilizing HAO's computational resources and global observational networks to study space weather impacts on technological systems.