Jan Deca graduated his PhD studies at KU Leuven’s Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics in October 2014 and accepted a postdoctoral position at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder shortly after. He is currently a senior research scientist and a lecturer at CU Boulder’s Physics Department and Graduate School. Jan also holds a visiting scientist position at the Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS) in Guyancourt, France. His research focuses on the fully kinetic modeling of the fine-scale ion and electron dynamics that unfolds when a body is immersed in plasma. Since 2012 he has contributed more than 50 works, including several high-impact publications in Physical Review Letters and Nature. Dr. Deca currently leads three NASA research projects and mentors graduate and undergraduate students. He is also a co-investigator for the Comet Interceptor and BepiColombo missions.