Robert Weigel

Dr. Robert Weigel is a Professor in the Physics & Astronomy Department at George Mason University's College of Science. His research focuses on magnetospheric physics, geomagnetism, and space weather, with significant contributions to modeling solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere interactions. He actively develops open science infrastructure like the Heliophysics Application Programmer's Interface (HAPI) for interoperable data access.

Education: PhD in Physics (University of Texas at Austin, 2000), MS in Physics (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997), BS in Mechanical Engineering (University of Wisconsin-Platteville, 1995).

Research interests emphasize geoelectric field prediction, geomagnetically induced currents (GICs), and the socio-economic impacts of space weather events. Recent work includes machine learning approaches for historical space weather reconstruction and physics-informed neural networks for plasma modeling.

His publications highlight advancements in HAPI standard adoption, data mining techniques for magnetotail reconnection analysis, and interdisciplinary frameworks linking physics, engineering, and economics to assess space weather risks.

Dr. Weigel has been a key contributor to open-source software ecosystems in heliophysics, including the Virtual Radiation Belt Observatory (VRBO) and Autoplot visualization tools. He advocates for equitable recognition of research software engineers in scientific contributions.