Biography

J. R. Johnson received his PhD degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992. Since then he has held research positions at University of Alaska, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory where he served as Principal Research Physicist, Head of Space Physics from 2005-2016, and co-director of the Princeton Center for Heliophysics. He moved to Andrews University in 2016 and currently serves as a Professor of Engineering and Physics. Dr. Johnson's area of expertise is in theoretical plasma physics with emphasis on applications to space plasmas, and he has published more than 100 papers. He has led numerous research projects in solar, magnetospheric, ionospheric, planetary, and stellar physics involving many undergraduate students at Andrews, and this work is currently supported by nine NASA grants and one NSF grant. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, gardening, woodworking, kayaking, boiling maple syrup, and spending time with his family.

Current Research or Professional Activities

Primary Awards

• Jay R. Johnson and Simon Wing. Magnetosphere-Ionosphere coupling of small scale structures. NASA: Heliophysics Guest Investigator Open. 2022 - 2025.
• Jay R. Johnson and Yu Lin (Auburn University). Collaborative Research: GEM: Investigation of Radiation Belt Losses Using Combined Global Hybrid and Test Particle Simulations. AGS-Magnetospheric Physics. National Science Foundation. 2021 - 2025.

Subawards

• Jay R. Johnson (PI: Peter Damiano, University of Alaska). Investigating magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling associated with flow induced Alfven wave energy in the magnetotail. NASA: Heliophysics Supporting Research. 2021 - 2024.
• Jay R. Johnson (PI: Katariina Nykyri, Embry Riddle Univesity). On the origin and transport of energetic particles at the high-latitude magnetosphere. NASA: Heliophysics Supporting Research. 2021 - 2024.
• Jay R. Johnson (PI: Simon Wing, Johns Hopkins University). Cyclical conversions between toroidal and poloidal fields at the Sun: An information theoretic approach. NASA: Heliophysics Supporting Research. 2021-2024.
• Jay R. Johnson (PI: Toshi Nishimura, Boston University). Identifying driving mechanisms of GPS scintillation in the high latitude ionosphere. NASA: Living with a Star Science. 2021-2025.