Viacheslav Merkin

Dr. Viacheslav Merkin is an expert in computational space plasma physics, numerical simulations of heliospheric environments, and space weather. He has contributed to many areas of geospace, inner heliosphere, and planetary magnetospheres research, including the physics of the storm-time geospace, magnetosphere–ionosphere coupling, boundary instabilities, magnetotail transport, stability and reconnection, particle acceleration, and heliospheric magnetic structure. Dr. Merkin currently oversees the development of the Multiscale Atmosphere-Geospace Environment (MAGE) model, a leading modeling framework for exploration of geospace dynamics and prediction of space weather. His current scientific interests include understanding collective and emergent phenomena in geospace as a complex system, as well as their implications for space weather.

Dr. Merkin holds a Principal Professional Staff scientist position at APL and an affiliate scientist position at the National Center for Atmospheric Research/High Altitude Observatory. He has been the supervisor of and a founding member of the Space Plasma Modeling and Theory Section within APL’s Space Exploration Sector since 2015. Dr. Merkin is the principal investigator of the NASA Diversify, Realize, Integrate, Venture, Educate (DRIVE) Science Center for Geospace Storms (CGS) and the project scientist for NASA’s Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) mission. He served as a committee member on the National Academies Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics (Heliophysics) 2024–2033.