Dr. William Dean Pesnell

 

Research area experience: Solar radiation and photo-ionization, 1992-2005; Solutions of stiff differential equations. 1980-2005; Stellar evolution and pulsations, 1980-2005; Equation of state for ionizing material, 1980-1990; Charge-exchange cross sections, 1992-1997, Data analysis software and display, 1980-2005.

 

Education: Ph. D. in Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 1983; B. S. in Physics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 1978

 

Present Position: Astrophysicist, NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, February 2005-present

–        Project Scientist for the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

–        Managed budgets, billing, payroll and books for research company.

–        Developed data reduction techniques for noisy data.

–        Developed numerical techniques to solve highly nonlinear systems.

 

Preceding Positions: President, Nomad Research, Inc., Bowie, MD, December 1995-January 2005; Project Manager and Associate Scientist: Applied Research Corporation, Landover, MD, January 1990-November 1995; Consultant: Group T-6, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, September 1983-August 1997; Lecturer: Department of Astrophysical, Planetary, and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, August 1989-December 1989; Visiting Assistant Professor: Department of Astronomy, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, August 1987-May 1989; Post-Doctoral Research Associate: Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, University of Colorado, and National Bureau of Standards, Boulder, CO, 1983-1987; Graduate Research Assistant: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, Summers of 1980, 1981, and 1982

 

Publications: (selected from 60 refereed articles)

 

  1. ``Watching meteors at Triton," Icarus, 169, 482-491, 2004, W. D. Pesnell, J. M. Grebowsky, and A. L. Weisman.

2. ``SABER observations of mesospheric temperatures and comparisons with falling sphere measurements taken during the 2002 summer MaCWAVE campaign," J. Geophys. Res., 31, doi: 10.1029/2003GL018605  C. J. Mertens, F. J. Schmidlin, R. A. Goldberg, E. E. Remsberg, W. D. Pesnell, J. M. Russell, M. G. Mlynczak, M. Lopez-Puertas, P. P. Wintersteiner, R. H. Picard, J. R. Winick, and L. L. Gordley.

  1. “Evolution of relativistic electrons during a magnetic storm as seen in low-Earth orbit,”Adv. Space Res., 31, 1059-1062, 2001, W. D. Pesnell, R. A. Goldberg, D. L. Chenette, E. E. Gaines, and M. Schulz.
  2. ``Meteoric ions in the atmosphere of Jupiter,” Y. H. Kim, W. D. Pesnell, J. M. Grebowsky, and J. L. Fox, Icarus, 150, 261-278, 2001.
  3. “Growth and decay of relativistic electrons during a magnetic storm,” J. Geophys. Res., in press, 2001, W. D. Pesnell, R. A. Goldberg, D. L. Chenette, E. E. Gaines, and M. Schulz.
  4. “Theoretical stellar evolution,” in Allen’s Astrophysical Quantities, 4th ed., ed. A. N. Cox (New York: Springer-Verlag), pp. 499–522, 2000, A.~N. Cox, S. A. Becker, and W. D. Pesnell.
  5. “Barium, CH, and subgiant CH stars,” in Allen’s Astrophysical Quantities, 4th ed., ed. A. N. Cox (New York: Springer-Verlag), pp. 416–417, 2000.
  6. “Energetic electrons and their effects on stratospheric and mesospheric ozone in May 1992,” in Science Across the Stratopause, Geophysical Monograph, 123, (Washington, DC: AGU), ed. D. E. Siskind, S. D. Eckermann, and M. E. Summers, pp. 137–142, 2000, W. D. Pesnell, R. A. Goldberg, D. L. Chenette, E. E. Gaines, and C. H. Jackman.
  7. “Dimensiones del asteroide (105) Artemis derivado de ocultaciones de estrellas,” Ciencia UANL, 3, 191–195, 2000, P. V. Sada and W. D. Pesnell (in Spanish).
  8. “The evolutionary and pulsational characteristics of Alpha Virginis including turbulent diffusive mixing,” in A Half Century of Stellar Pulsation Interpretations: A Tribute to Arthur N. Cox, ed. P. A. Bradley and J. A. Guzik, ASP Conference Series, 135, 22–23, 1998, W. D. Pesnell and A. P. Odell.
  9. “Pioneer Venus Orbiter measurements of solar EUV flux during solar cycles 21 and 22,” Solar Physics, 177, 203–216, 1998, K. K. Mahajan, H. O. Upadhyay, N. K. Sethi, W. R. Hoegy, W. D. Pesnell, and L. H. Brace.
  10. “The prodigal Sun,” Mercury, 27, 32–34, 1998.
  11. “A comparison of solar EUV flux from Langmuir probe photoelectron measurements on the Pioneer Venus Orbiter with other solar activity indicators,” Adv. Space Res., 20, 187–190, 1997, K. K. Mahajan, W. R. Hoegy, W. D. Pesnell, L. H. Brace, and N. K. Sethi.
  12. “Alpha Virginis: A test of upper main sequence structure and evolution,” in 32nd Liege International Astrophysical Colloquium: Stellar evolution – what should be done?, eds. A. Noels, D. Fraipont-Caro, M. Gabriel, N. Grevesse, and P. Demarque, 417–422, 1995, A. P. Odell and W. D. Pesnell.
  13. “Pioneer Venus Ipe solar EUV flux index 1979–1992,” Solar-Geophysical Data, Comprehensive Reports, 615, Part~II, 39–55, 1995, W. R. Hoegy and W. D. Pesnell.