Title: A Career in Thin Air
Abstract: Professor Nagy will discuss his 60 year career in space science. He started around the beginning of the space science era, when most measurements provided new, exciting and often unexpected results. The related model developments to explain these results were also at their infancy.
Bio: Prof. Andrew F. Nagy is aProfessor Emeritus of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the College of Engineering.
Professor Nagy received his B.E. degree from the University of New South Wales in 1957, his M.Sc. degree from the University of Nebraska in 1959, and his M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan in 1960 and 1963, respectively. He joined the University of Michigan as an assistant research engineer in 1959 and was appointed Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering in 1963. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1967 and Professor in 1971, and was appointed Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science in 1973.
A pioneer in atmospheric and planetary science, Professor Nagy researched the electronics of early "dumbbell" and Langmuir probes and mass spectrometers. He was a co-investigator and interdisciplinary scientist on NASA's 1978 Pioneer Mission to Venus, was an interdisciplinary scientist on NASA's 1981 Dynamics Explorer mission, and has been co-investigator of numerous plasma and neutral gas experiments on NASA and international missions. In addition, he participated in the POLAR spacecraft orbiting Earth, the Nazomi mission to Mars and the operational Cassini mission to Saturn.
Professor Nagy served as associate Vice President for Research from 1987-1990, and was interim Director of the Space Physics Research Laboratory from 1989-1991. He has served on or chaired 50 scientific committees, convened 10 scientific symposiums, and was President of the Space Physics and Aeronomy Section of the American Geophysical Union. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the International Academy of Astronautics, among other organizations, and is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union. At University of Michigan, he received the Stephen S. Attwood Excellence in Engineering Award (1998) and the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award (2003).