We are excited to announce the inaugural Black In Astro Speaker Series with Dr. India Jackson. The inaugural professional development speaker series features Black scientists, engineers and educators in the space-sciences. This first series will feature a talk and Q&A with Dr. India Jackson on September 26 2024 at 1:00pm EDT. This free event will take place via Zoom here - please make sure to register for the talk at this Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NCMKTHfZTsyo-G8IG3sHsg
Information about talk and speaker is below:
Title: Geo-CLoak: Operational Machine Learning Tool for Global Geomagnetic Field Perturbation Forecasting
Abstract:
With increasing reliance on modern infrastructure, forecasting space weather has become critical to societal resilience. For these forecasts to be actionable to end-users, they need near real-time inference, provide localised context, allow enough lead time for mitigation strategies to be implemented, and finally include an associated estimate of prediction uncertainty. Within the modern paradigm of data driven models and ML/AI approaches, there is the ability to deliver on these forecasting needs and complement existing physics based simulations. Building on previous work [Upendran et al. 2020, FDL-X 2023], we present a generalised pipeline for ground geomagnetic field perturbation forecasts globally. Two separate regimes are included, the first using high fidelity real-time in-situ solar wind measurements for modelling, and the second using a coupled low fidelity ambient solar wind model that provides increased lead time. Further additions include uncertainty estimation within both regimes and the enhancement of the individual models. The pipeline presented makes use of continual learning and online inference, providing a roadmap for other ML/AI to transition to operations and remain relevant with future data streams and new events.
This work is the research product of FDL-X Heliolab, a public/private partnership between NASA, Trillium Technologies Inc and commercial AI partners Google Cloud, NVIDIA and Pasteur Labs & ISI, developing open science for all Humankind.
Dr. India Jackson Bio:
India R. Jackson is a trailblazing computational astrophysicist and space weather scientist, notable for being the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in Physics from Georgia State University. Her expertise encompasses heliophysics, machine learning, and cloud computing, with a focus on automating image segmentation and object detection for analyzing solar events. India has made significant contributions to NASA through internships at Johnson, Goddard, and Jet Propulsion Labs. Currently, she is a Summer Postdoctoral Fellow at the Frontier Development Lab, where she collaborates with leading AI partners to advance predictive models for space weather. Her work has been showcased at prestigious seminars, including the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and she has been honored as a member of Georgia State University’s 40 under 40 Class of 2024.
Black in Astro is a grassroots organization and community that was founded by, and for, Black space professionals and students. Black InAstro is dedicated to supporting, nurturing, and creating new scholarship opportunities for people of the African diaspora globally. Black in Astro aims to inspire, develop, and enrich Black space professionals and students across all disciplines of the space sector. Black in Astro is committed to fostering joy and authenticity for all Black folks interested in pursuing a career in space.
