Research Interests

Geospace environment; space plasma physics, modeling, simulation; magnetohydrodynamics; electromagnetic fields and waves

Education

• BS, Engineering Physics, University of Kansas 1973
• MS, Physics, University of Missouri 1976
• PhD, Physics, University of California, Los Angeles 1981

Awards

• Fellow, American Geophysical Union

Professional Activities

• Affiliate Scientist, High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research (current)
• Dartmouth Society of Fellows (current)
• International Space Science Institute, Bern, Team Investigation of Global Conductance Pattern and its Influence on the Dynamics of Geospace (current)
• Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics (2005-11)
• Chair, Senior Review of the NASA Mission Operations and Data Analysis Program for the Heliophysics Extended Missions (2013)
• Research Area Coordinator and Focus Group Co-Chair, NSF Geospace Environment Modeling Program (current)
• Panelist, National Research Council, Decadal Strategy for Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society (2010-11)
• Project Team Leader, NASA Living With a Star Targeted Research & Technology Program (2007-11)
• Co-Investigator, Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling (2002-13)
• New Hampshire Space Grant Consortium (current)
• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• American Geophysical Union (AGU)
• American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)

Selected Publications

• Ionospheric control of magnetotail reconnection (2014), W. Lotko, R.H. Smith, B. Zhang, J.E. Ouellette, O.J. Brambles, J.G. Lyon, Science, 345(6193), 184-187, doi:10.1126/science.1252907.
• Properties of outflow-driven sawtooth substorms (2013), J.E. Ouellette, O.J. Brambles, J.G. Lyon, W. Lotko, B.N. Rogers, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics 118, 3223–3232, doi:10.1002/jgra.50309.
• Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society (2013), W. Lotko (contributing author, Panel on Atmosphere-Ionosphere-Magnetosphere Interactions), National Academy Press, ISBN: 978-0-309-16428-3.
• Enhancement of thermospheric mass density by soft electron precipitation (2012), B. Zhang, W. Lotko, O. Brambles, M. Wiltberger, W. Wang, P. Schmitt, J. Lyon, Geophys. Res. Lett. 39, L20102, doi:10.1029/2012GL053519.
• Magnetosphere sawtooth oscillations induced by ionospheric outflow (2011), O.J. Brambles, W. Lotko, B. Zhang, M. Wiltberger, J. Lyon, R.J. Strangeway, Science 332, 1183, doi:10.1126/science.1202869.
• The magnetosphere-ionosphere system from the perspective of plasma circulation: A tutorial (2007), W. Lotko, J. Atmos. Solar-Terr. Phys. 69(3), 191-211, doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2006.08.011.
• Inductive magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling (2004), W. Lotko, J. Atmos. Solar-Terr. Phys., 66(15-16), 1443-1456, doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2004.03.027.
• Auroral Plasma Physics (2003), W. Lotko (contributing author) edited by G. Paschmann, S. Haaland and R. Treumann. International Space Science Institute, vol. 15, Springer, ISBN: 978-1402009631.

Videos

News

Generating Sawtooth Oscillations
Sep 25, 2014

Seven Faculty Members Named as Society of Fellows Mentors
Sep 24, 2014

Dartmouth's Engineering School Completes Largest-Ever Fundraising Campaign
Mar 07, 2011

In the News