Thursday, January 20, 2022

Professor Craig Kletzing is one of three distinguished University of Iowa faculty members who will give presentations at the 39th Presidential Lecture on Feb. 27.

In conjunction with the University of Iowa’s 175th anniversary, the Presidential Lecture Series will feature presentations from  Kletzing, Christopher Merrill, and Patricia Winokur. The trio will deliver presentations on Iowa’s most notable areas, their achievements, and their vision for the future.

The lecture event, titled “The University of Iowa at 175: Proud Legacy, Promising Future,” will take place at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27, at Hancher Auditorium and will draw to a close a multi-day anniversary celebration. For a complete list of 175th anniversary events, visit 175.uiowa.edu.

“Craig Kletzing, Christopher Merrill,  and Patricia Winokur embody the excellence that the University of Iowa has become recognized for, nationally and internationally, over its 175-year existence,” says UI President Barbara Wilson. “These three distinguished faculty members showcase the breadth of knowledge that Iowa has to offer, and they reinforce our university’s relentless pursuit of research and discovery and its commitment to educating Iowa students.”

Kletzing holds the Donald A. and Marie B. Gurnett Chair in physics and astronomy. He joined the UI faculty in 1996 and his research interests lie in experimental space plasma physics, particularly measuring of electric and magnetic wave fields in Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts. He is the principal investigator for the Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) and a $115 million contract award from NASA, announced in June 2019, that is the largest single award in UI history.

He has been principal and co-investigator on several sounding rockets and is also the principal investigator of a laboratory plasma experiment collaboration with the University of California, Los Angeles, to uncover more about how the auroras transfer energy. Kletzing has served on the National Research Council’s Committee on Space and Solar Physics; NASA’s Sounding Rocket Working Group; the Geospace Electrodynamic Connections Science and Technology Definition Team; and NASA’s 2005 Sun-Solar System Connection Roadmap Committee. He has authored or co-authored more than 290 peer-reviewed publications.