I am currently an associate research physicist at the Space Sciences Laboratory at UC Berkeley.  My research focuses on the interactions of atmospheres/ionospheres of non-magnetized or weakly magnetized solar system bodies with their surrounding plasma environments.  The planets Mars and Venus along with Saturn’s moon Titan have been my primary subjects though I also have experience with comets.  I specialize in applying large scale kinetic simulations of these interactions to unanswered questions suggested by data. Addressing these questions requires the inclusion of key physical ionospheric and atmospheric processes often not included in other simulations.  The tricky part is determining the best way to include these processes in the simulations and to verifying and validating that they are correct.  Some of my other interests include different types of plasma simulations and numerical techniques.