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Caelus Rocketry
Caelus Rocketry (formerly known as Project Caelus) is an aerospace nonprofit consisting entirely of high school students. Their goal is to design, build, test, and launch the first high schooler-built bipropellant liquid-fueled rocket to the edge of space while creating opportunities that introduce the community to the ever-growing aerospace industry and the importance of STEM education in an increasingly technological world. Through this project, they hope to show young people that it’s possible to do something that has never been done before and that there is no age threshold to exploring science and pushing technological boundaries.
![Caelus Rocketry](/sites/default/files/styles/mobile_square/public/2023-10/Screenshot%202023-10-14%20at%209.53.14%20PM.png?h=e10b0176&itok=S0AGztwZ)
Shobita SatyapalProfessor, Physics and Astronomy
Shobita Satyapal recently received NASA funding to aid supermassive black hole observations, This project is the first large-scale systematic survey of a comprehensive set of 20 optical coronal lines in a large sample of Type 1 AGNs for which virial black hole masses have been compiled. By targeting a large sample with unequivocal evidence for an AGN and constraints on the black hole mass that span six orders of magnitude, Satyapal and her collaborators will be able to fully explore for the first time how the coronal line spectrum depends on fundamental black hole and accretion activities.
![Shobita Satyapal](/sites/default/files/styles/mobile_square/public/2019-07/Shobita%20Satyapal%20photo%200719.jpg?h=caef960d&itok=NchfUIIc)
Erdal YiğitAssociate Professor, Physics and Astronomy
Erdal Yiğit received his PhD from the University College London, UK, in 2009 in physics. In March 2009, he moved to the USA to work at the University of Michigan's Atmospheric Oceanic and Space Sciences Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Researcher. In 2012, he moved to California for a Postdoctoral position at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory, where he has later been promoted to an Assistant Research Physicist position that he kept till August 2013. In September 2013, he joined George Mason University's Physics and Astronomy Department as a tenure-track faculty member. He was granted tenure in 2018. His research interests cover topics from atmospheric, space and planetary sciences, in particular, global modeling of and internal wave effects in planetary atmospheres, such as, Earth and Mars. He is the developer of the first whole atmosphere gravity wave parameterization suitable for general circulation models of planetary atmospheres. He is the recipient of the 2016 Zeldovich Medal jointly presented by COSPAR and the Russian Academy of Sciences for his significant contributions to the study of coupling between the lower and upper atmospheres on Earth and Mars by gravity waves. He is the sole author of the Springer's two-volume monograph series on "Atmospheric and Space Sciences" one on Neutral atmospheres and the second on Ionospheres and Plasma Environments. He lives in Fairfax, Virginia (VA), USA.
![Erdal Yigit](/sites/default/files/styles/mobile_square/public/2023-09/Screenshot%202023-09-12%20at%205.34.21%20PM.png?h=dbdb32e7&itok=-GIp7YYi)
Jie ZhangProfessor, Physics and Astronomy
Zie Zhang works on solar physics, heliospheric physics and space weather. He studies the physical mechanism that generates solar storms, i.e., flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). He also studies the magnetic evolution of solar active regions and how the evolution leads to energy buildup, instability, and eruption. His research also addresses propagation and evolution of CMEs in the interplanetary space. He also puts effort into transforming these research activities into tools for predicting solar flares and Earth-impact of CMEs. His work serves the practical purpose of making advanced space weather prediction that can mitigate adverse space weather effects on human space exploration, satellites, communication, and navigation.