Project Title: Collaborative Research: DASI Track 2: Deployment and Operations of the HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station Network

Source of Support: NSF 

Duration of Award: 01/2025 - 12/2028

Total Award Amount: $390,948 (NJIT), $1,995,684 (Total)

Investigators: Nathaniel Frissell (Lead PI, Univ Scranton), Travis Atkison (Co-PI, Univ Alabama), Hyomin Kim (Co-PI), Gareth Perry (Co-PI, NJIT), Christian Zorman (Co-PI, Case Western Reserve Univ), Kristina Collins (Co-PI, Case Western Reserve Univ)

Project Summary: This project will establish the only wide-spread, coordinated HF, VLF, and ground magnetometer measurements distributed primarily across the midlatitude region. Once deployed, this enhanced PSWS network will enable researchers to investigate both local and continental space weather effects, including those caused by traveling ionospheric disturbances, solar flares, and geomagnetic storms.

Project Title: Collaborative Research: DASI Track 1: AUtonomous Remote geospace Observation and Research Array (AURORA)

Source of Support: NSF 

Duration of Award: 09/2024 - 08/2028

Total Award Amount: $334,290 (NJIT), $2,324,980 (Total)

Investigators: Zhonghua Xu (Lead PI, Virginia Tech), Shane Coyle (Co-PI, Virginia Tech), Michelle Salzano (Co-PI, Space Science Institute), Hyomin Kim (Senior Personnel)

Project Summary: The goal is to develop the next generation of small, low-power, autonomous, multi-instrument adaptive, ground-based geospace observation arrays, named AUtonomous Remote Geospace Observation and Research Array (AURORA) to measure ionospheric and geomagnetic variability in high-latitude and polar regions, where ground-based observation gaps currently exist due to remote and extreme nature conditions.

Project Title: Collaborative Research: The Next Generation of U.S. Geospace Research Facilities at South Pole, McMurdo, and Palmer Stations in Antarctica

Source of Support: NSF Office of Polar Programs - Antarctic Sciences

Duration of Award: 09/01/2024 - 08/31/2029

Total Award Amount: $2,731,177 (NJIT), $4,420,044 (Total)

Investigators: Hyomin Kim (Lead PI), Andy Gerrard (Co-PI, NJIT), Marc Lessard (Co-PI, Univ New Hampshire), Al Weatherwax (Co-PI, MIT Haystack), Phil Erickson (Co-PI, MIT Haystack), Anthea Coster (Co-PI, MIT Haystack), Robert Moore (Co-PI, University of Florida)

Project Summary: This project aims for the modernization of the geospace science instruments at the three manned U.S. stations in the Antarctic, specifically at South Pole Station (SPA), McMurdo Station (MCM), and Palmer Station (PAL). These unique high-latitude observations from the southern hemisphere are fundamental measurements needed to understand all aspects of the coupling between the solar wind and Earth’s upper atmosphere and magnetosphere (geospace), and are of high importance to the U.S. and space weather communities.

Project Title: The source of warm plasma cloak due to ion heating by EMIC waves

Source of Support: NASA-LWS: Living With a Star Science

Duration of Award: 06/2022 - 05/2026

Total Award Amount: $164,620 (NJIT), $1,043,143 (Total)

Investigators: Konstantin Gamayunov (PI, Florida Institute of Technology), Hyomin Kim (Co-I)

Project Summary: The overarching goal is to systematically investigate the source of warm plasma cloak due to heating of low energy ions by electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves using data from the Van Allen Probes spacecraft. 

Project Title: Collaborative Research: GEM: Propagation and Dissipation of Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves in the Magnetosphere and Ionosphere

Source of Support: NSF Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) Program

Duration of Award: 04/2024 - 03/2028

Total Award Amount: $135,941 (NJIT), $691,192 (Total)

Investigator: Eun-Hwa Kim (Lead PI, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory), Hyomin Kim (Co-PI), Jay Johnson (Co-PI, Andrews Univ), Mark Engebretson (Co-PI, Augsburg Univ)

Project Summary: This project aims to investigate the propagation and dissipation of EMIC waves in the magnetosphere and ionosphere using a full-wave simulation code and spacecraft/ground instruments. In particular, we will examine wave properties (such as wave normal angle and polarization) in detail and compare them with theoretical and numerical models of wave generation and propagation.

Project Title: Collaborative Research: Investigation of Deep Polar Cap Dynamics Using an Autonomous Instrument Network

Source of Support: NSF Office of Polar Programs - Antarctic Sciences

Duration of Award: 09/2021 - 08/2026

Total Award Amount: $1,215,078 (NJIT), $1,389,836 (Total)

Investigators: Hyomin Kim (Lead PI), Gareth Perry (Co-PI, NJIT), Alex Chartier (Co-PI, Johns Hopkins Univ)

Project Summary: We propose to investigate M-I coupling processes, ionospheric irregularities inside the polar cap and their space weather impacts by establishing a new ground-based network that will be deployed in the Antarctic polar cap region. The goal of this investigation is to establish a spatially extensive ground-based observational record of coupled Magnetosphere-Ionosphere (M-I) dynamics in the deep polar cap.

Project Title: Collaborative Proposal: Studies of ULF Waves and Support for the Magnetic Induction Coil Array (MICA)

Source of Support: NSF Magnetospheric Physics

Duration of Award: 09/2021 - 08/2026

Total Award Amount: $848,662 (NJIT), $2,468,843 (Total)

Investigators:  Marc Lessard (Lead PI, Univ New Hampshire), Hyomin Kim (Co-PI)

Project Summary: This proposal requests support for the "Magnetic Induction Coil Array (MICA)", which includes measurements of ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves using induction coil magnetometers. The MICA systems are specifically optimized to measure magnetic perturbations at frequencies that include electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves, Pi1B waves and other perturbations in the upper ULF frequency band (e.g., Pc1-Pc3).

Project Title: REU Site: Solar, Terrestrial, and Space Weather Sciences at New Jersey Institute of Technology

Source of Support: NSF REU Program

Duration of Award: 03/2021 - 02/2024 (NCE: 02/2025)

Total Award Amount: $422,639.00 (Total)

Investigators: Hyomin Kim (PI), Bin Chen (Co-I, NJIT)

Project Summary: This project aims to establish a new REU site at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) based upon the newly formed Institute for Space Weather Sciences (ISWS), an interdisciplinary and interdepartmental research institute that integrates the strength of three major NJIT research centers: (i) Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research, (ii) Center for Computational Heliophysics, and (iii) Center for Big Data.

Project Title: Investigation of Interhemispheric Asymmetries in High-Latitude Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling Processes

Source of Support: NASA-LWS: Living With a Star Science

Duration of Award: 11/2020 - 10/2024 (NCE: 10/2025)

Total Award Amount: $692,394 (Total)

Investigators: Hyomin Kim (PI), Ilya Kuzichev (Co-I, NJIT), Zhonghua Xu (Co-I, Virginia Tech), Dogacan Ozturk (Co-I, University of Alaska)

Project Summary: The main goal is to understand the causes and effects of asymmetries in the Magnetosphere - Ionosphere coupling (MIC) processes. The project will test the hypotheses that the interhemispheric differences in temporal response, spatial extent and intensity of magnetic field variations, current systems, and convection patterns may occur due to external drivers and their complex interactions with each other.

Project Title: Collaborative Research: DASI Track 1 – Personal Space Weather Station

Source of Support: NSF Distributed Array of Small Instruments (DASI) Program

Duration of Award: 01/2020 - 12/2022 (12/2024, NCE)

Total Award Amount: $102,777 (NJIT), $1,275,557 (Total)

Investigators: Nathaniel Frissell (Lead PI, Univ. Scranton), Soumyajit Mandal (Co-PI, Case Western Univ), Travis Atkinson (Co-PI, Univ. Alabama), Laura Myers (Co-PI, Univ. Alabama), Hyomin Kim (Institutional PI)

Project Summary: We propose the development of a network of Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS) which consists of a radio receiver, a ground magnetometer and a central computer. The primary scientific objective of the PSWS is to measure and characterize ionospheric and geomagnetic short-term, small-scale variability on a large geographic scale in order to understand the response of the ionosphere to sources.

Project Title: ISSI Team: Understanding Interhemispheric Asymmetry in MIT Coupling

Source of Support: International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, Switzerland

Duration of Activity: 2021-2024

Team Members: Hyomin Kim (Lead), Ingrid Cnossen (British Antarctic Survey, UK), Matthias. Foerster (GFZ Potsdam, Germany), Hyuck-Jin Kwon (Korea Polar Research Institute, Korea), Karl Laundal (University of Bergen, Norway), Marc Lessard (University of New Hampshire, USA), Tomoko Matsuo (University of Colorado, Boulder, USA), Yoshizumi Miyoshi (Nagoya University, Japan), Dogacan Ozturk (University of Alaska, USA), Viacheslav Pilipenko (Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia), Daniel Welling (University of Michigan, USA)

Project Title: Collaborative Research: High-Latitude Conjugate Area Array Experiment to Investigate Solar Wind - Magnetosphere - Ionsphere Coupling

Source of Support: NSF Office of Polar Programs - Antarctic Sciences

Duration of Award: 08/2018 - 07/2022 (NCE 07/2024)

Total Award Amount: $262,299 (NJIT), $2,023,075 (Total)

Investigators: Michael Hartinger (Lead PI, Space Science Institute), C. Robert Clauer (Co-PI, Virginia Tech), Zhonghua Xu (Co-PI, Virginia Tech), Marc Lessard (Co-PI, Univ. New Hampshire), Hyomin Kim (Co-PI)

Project Summary: We propose to investigate the coupling phenomena between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere and ionosphere, particularly on the day side of the Earth and observed simultaneously at high latitudes in both northern and southern hemispheres. Through past NSF support, several magnetometers have been deployed in Antarctica, Greenland, and Svalbard, while new collaborations have been developed with the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC) to further increase coverage through data sharing.

Project Title: Understanding Storm-Time EMIC Wave Occurrences and Their Relationship to Ground Signatures

Source of Support: NSF AGS Magnetospheric Physics

Total Award Amount: $252,667 (Total)

Total Award Period Covered: 08/15/14-07/31/17 (NCE: 07/31/19)

Investigators: Hyomin Kim (PI)

Project Summary: The major goals of this project are to examine the relationship between electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) wave occurrence in space and their ground signatures, and to understand EMIC wave propagation characteristics in relation to geomagnetic storm activity and radiation belt dynamics.

Project Title: GEM Collaborative Research: Global Propagation Characteristics of Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves

Source of Support: NSF Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) Program

Total Award Amount: $66,431 (NJIT)

Total Award Period Covered: 07/01/2017-06/30/2020

Investigators: Eun-Hwa Kim (Lead PI, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory), Jay Johnson (Co-PI, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory), Hyomin Kim (Co-PI)

Project Summary: The goal of this proposal is to investigate the global structure of EMIC wave propagation under typical plasma conditions. Although it has been a matter of contention how these waves could be generated in the equatorial magnetosphere and be observed on the ground so reliably, most numerical studies focus on generation of EMIC waves.

Project Title: AR-Vis: Augmented Reality Interactive Visualization Environment for Exploring Dynamic Scientific Data

Source of Support: New Jersey Institute of Technology Seed Grant

Total Award Amount: $10,000

Total Award Period Covered:  01/2019-12/2019

Investigators: Hannah Kum-Biocca, Hyomin Kim

Project Summary: The AR Vis project seeks to develop a general-purpose interactive data visualization platform for collaborative interaction with scientific data. The platform will be designed for augmented reality displays of data supporting multi-user interaction and simulations. Methods and a development pipeline for data culling, modeling, visualization, and porting to multiuser augmented reality are to be developed.