Clarkson University Professor of Mechanical & Aeronautical Engineering Chunlei Liang has been awarded a three-year Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) grant of $240,000.
The funding will be used along with Liang’s NSF CAREER award to support the development of an open-source code, CHORUS-MHD, for simulating the interior magnetohydrodynamics of the sun.
“Software such as this can help to better prepare computational infrastructure for forecasting space weather,” says Liang.
The goal of his project to develop a computational software that is faster and more accurate than existing codes for predicting convective flows and magnetohydrodynamics inside the top one-third radius of the sun.
“Predicting space weather is important because radiation from solar flares can adversely impact satellites, electric grids, astronauts, and aircraft crew and passengers,” says Liang.
For example, with faster, more accurate forecasts, astronauts would be able to better plan to move to heavily shielded parts of their craft; or aircraft could divert from their routes to avoid disruptions in their communications due to solar radiation.
Liang has received more than $1.5 million in other research funding from the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and other organizations.
In 2019, Liang was named a recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. He is also a recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award and a U.S. Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program award, among others.
Liang received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of London and his bachelor of science degree in thermal power engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University.
