In June, the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) awarded tenure to three Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) faculty members—Jordy Bouwman, Maria Kazachenko, and David Malaspina—for demonstrating exceptional dedication to advancing science, education, and expertise within their fields.
“LASP congratulates these outstanding researchers on this major career milestone,” said LASP Director Bethany Ehlmann. “Their tenure reflects exceptional achievement and strengthens LASP’s mission to advance both research and education as we train the next generation of space scientists. We are honored they have chosen CU and LASP to carry out their research and are proud to support their continued leadership in shaping the future of space science.”
Jordy Bouwman is an associate professor in the Chemistry Department and a planetary science researcher at LASP. Bouwman came to CU Boulder as a tenure track assistant professor in August 2022 after teaching for the university remotely from the Netherlands for a year due to pandemic travel restrictions. Bouwman, a cosmochemist and spectroscopist, currently works with the Institute for Modeling Plasma, Atmospheres, and Cosmic Dust Group. His research focuses on the chemical processes that determine the behavior of hydrocarbons and inorganic compounds in the interstellar medium. He received a master’s degree in laser sciences from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, before completing his doctoral research on the spectroscopy and chemistry of interstellar ice analogues at Leiden University. As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley), he studied the formation of hydrocarbons under conditions similar to the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.
Maria Kazachenko is an associate professor in the Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences (APS) Department and a research scientist at the National Solar Observatory and LASP, where she started as an assistant professor in August 2018. Kazachenko leads the Solar Magnetism Research Group that studies the storage and release of the sun’s magnetic energy, critical for developing our understanding of solar eruptions and space weather. Kazachenko is also involved with the development of the Critical Science Plan for the 4-meter Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the largest and most powerful solar telescope in the world. In 2010, Kazachenko earned her doctorate in physics at Montana State University, Bozeman. She then spent seven years with the Space Sciences Lab at UC Berkeley, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a research scientist. Throughout her career, she has earned several prestigious awards including the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program Award, NASA’s Heliophysics Early Career Investigator Award, and the Robert Bartnik Fellowship.
David Malaspina is an associate professor in the Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences (APS) Department at CU and a researcher in the Space Plasma Group at LASP. Malaspina joined APS as an assistant professor in January 2020 and has worked at LASP in various roles since 2007. Malaspina investigates heliophysics phenomena by studying plasma waves, cosmic dust, and spacecraft-plasma interactions in the solar wind, planetary magnetospheres, planetary ionospheres, and the lunar surface. He designs and builds spacecraft instruments that measure electromagnetic fields. He has worked on spacecraft hardware for several LASP missions including Van Allen Probes, MMS, Parker Solar Probe, LuSEE, CANVAS, COUSIN, DENTS, and DUSTER. He received his doctorate from the CU Boulder Physics department in 2010 after working as a LASP graduate student. Throughout his career, he has earned several awards including Engineering Team awards from NASA for the Van Allen Probes, MAVEN, MMS, and the Parker Solar Probe. He also earned the Robert J. Collier Trophy as part of the Parker Solar Probe Team and the IEEE Transactions in Plasma Science Best Paper Award.
At CU Boulder, a tenure advancement signals the conclusion of a rigorous, multi-year evaluation process for faculty. The appointment is based on the recommendation of the President and the Board of Regents and recognizes a faculty member for their outstanding academic, research, and service accomplishments. The tenure appointments will become effective on August 13.
By Hayley Leibold, LASP Communications Intern
Founded a decade before NASA, the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder (LASP) is revolutionizing human understanding of the cosmos. LASP is deeply committed to inspiring and educating the next generation of space explorers. From the first exploratory rocket measurements of Earth’s upper atmosphere to trailblazing observations of every planet in the solar system, LASP continues to build on its remarkable history with a nearly $1 billion portfolio of new research and engineering programs
