Kosta Horaites

I'm a Research Scientist specializing in solar wind physics at CIRES, CU-Boulder. I work in the magnetometer group, which is responsible for magnetic field measurements of several satellites. These operational measurements are used to forecast "space weather": eruptions from the Sun that can reach Earth and have several negative impacts on our electrical technology---for example satellites, power grids, and the radio signals used in GPS and telecommunications.

I worked for 3+ years at the University of Helsinki, as a postdoc in the Vlasiator team (PI Prof. Minna Palmroth). I used computer simulations to assess the space weather impact of a large solar storm.

I did my first postdoc at LASP in Boulder, CO, USA as a member of Laila Andersson's group. There I studied the kinetic physics of electrons in Mars's magnetosheath.

I received my PhD in Physics (2019) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I wrote my thesis, "Theory and Observations of Runaway Electrons in the Solar Wind", under the advisement of Prof. Stanislav Boldyrev.

I got my start at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Lab, where I studied the solar wind as part of Prof. Stuart Bale's group.