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Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla

(RESEARCH AST, FIELDS AND PARTICLES)

Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla's Contact Card & Information.
Email: teresa.nieves@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.286.8681
Org Code: 670
Address:
NASA/GSFC
 Mail Code 670
 Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer:
NASA

Brief Bio

Dr. Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla is a research astrophysics in the Heliophysics Science Division of the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). She has over 20 years of professional experience in the study electromagnetic fields, space plasmas and energetic particles as they relate to the understanding of the properties of large scale structures of the solar wind. 

She is the Moon to Mars Space Weather Analysis (M2M SWAO) Director and NASA Project Scientist for the Solar Orbiter Collaboration (ESA/NASA) mission. The M2M SWAO office carries out human-in-the-loop real-time analysis to assess the space weather conditions to support NASA missions and conducts activities to support research to operation to research (R2O2R) to enhance space weather knowledge and predictive capabilities in support of the agency and the benefit of the nation. The Solar Orbiter Collaboration (ESA/NASA) mission is a Solar-Heliospheric mission, led by the European Space Agency, with four US contributions in scientific experiments. This mission provides a comprehensive set of observations of the Sun and Heliosphere, while it is serving a unique Space Weather capability to monitor the impact of the Sun variability across the Solar System and evaluate gaps for future space exploration.

In both project, Teresa oversights all elements of the project implementation and serve as scientific spokesperson and advocate on behalf of the office and mission. She also maintains close professional contacts with the U.S. and international science community and work closely with other scientists and programmers in order to ensure the success of the projects.

In the scientific career, Dr. Nieves-Chinchilla has undertaken and contributed to high quality research related to CME structure, and evolution in the heliosphere to advance NASA strategic goals. She is the team leader of the Large-Scale Structures Originating from the Sun (LASSOS) at GSFC to promote and connect fundamental science in transition to space weather capabilities.

Dr. Nieves Chinchilla has authored and coauthored 100+ publications in peer-reviewed professional journals and she has served as referee and guest editor in such journals as well. She has 350+ contributions to conferences, workshops and meetings, and promote the scientific synergies by participating and session organizer or in the organizing committees.

She is also serving as mentor for postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students, enabling science and providing advice to early career scientists, promoting the diversity and the know-how transition to new generations.

She joined to the GSFC’s Heliophysics Science Division in 2006, through the NASA Post-doctoral Program (NPP). In 2009, she was Research Associated through The Catholic University of America (CUA). Dr. Nieves-Chinchilla earned her Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Alcala de Henares University in Madrid, Spain, in 2004.

Professional Service

  • She is a member of the Standing Review Board (SRB) member for the Single Design Review (SRD) of the Heliophysics Environment and Radiation Measurement Experiment (HERMES) onboard the Lunar Gateway.
  • She served as Coordinator and Steering committee member of the Solar Heliospheric and INternaplanetary Environment (SHINE) community and workshop (2018-2022).
  • She was a founder of the Españoles Científicos en USA (ECUSA), served as vice-president and president (2014-2016). ECUSA is a non-profit scientific organization that aims to educate, inspire and train new scientists generations and researchers and also create a network to promote their career opportunities.

Awards

2023 - NASA Group Achievement Award to Parker Solar Probe Team. For outstanding, proactive teamwork that dramatically increased the scope and volume of data returned by PSP and demonstrably increased its science return.

2023 - Honorary Member of ECUSA

2022 - Robert Goddard Award –Mentoring, NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center.

2014, 2017, 2022 - Peer award. In recognition and appreciation of superior performance of a special act, service, or achievement, NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center, Heliophysics Science Division.

2021 - Solar Physics Journal metrics released on 2020 highlighted that my paper ‘Understanding the Internal Magnetic Field Configurations of ICMEs Using More than 20 Years of Wind Observations’ by T. Nieves-Chinchilla, et al. was selected as one of the ‘influential’ articles in 2020.

2006 - Fellowship, NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) at GSFC NASA.

Publications

Refereed

2025. "Understanding the Complex Morphology of a Coronal Mass Ejection: Multiview Analysis and Numerical Modeling.", The Astrophysical Journal, 988 (2): 180 [10.3847/1538-4357/ade311] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Distorted Magnetic Flux Ropes within Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections.", The Astrophysical Journal, 975 (2): 169 [10.3847/1538-4357/ad7940] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Classifying Different Types of Solar-Wind Plasma with Uncertainty Estimations Using Machine Learning.", Solar Physics, 299 (9): 131 [10.1007/s11207-024-02379-8] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Automatic Detection of Large-scale Flux Ropes and Their Geoeffectiveness with a Machine-learning Approach.", The Astrophysical Journal, 972 (1): 94 [10.3847/1538-4357/ad54c3] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Unveiling the Interplanetary Solar Radio Bursts of the 2024 Mother’s Day Solar Storm.", The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 970 (1): L13 [10.3847/2041-8213/ad5da6] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Unveiling the journey of a highly inclined CME.", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 684 (A90): 17 [10.1051/0004-6361/202347083] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Multispacecraft Observations of a Widespread Solar Energetic Particle Event on 2022 February 15–16.", The Astrophysical Journal, 963 (2): 107 [10.3847/1538-4357/ad167f] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Global insight into a complex-structured heliosphere based on the local multi-point analysis.", Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, 10 [10.3389/fspas.2023.1195805] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Statistical Analysis of Interplanetary Shocks from Mercury to Jupiter.", Solar Physics, 298 [https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-023-02152-3] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "The Faraday Effect Tracker of Coronal and Heliospheric Structures (FETCH) instrument.", Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, 10 1064069 [10.3389/fspas.2023.1064069] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Redefining flux ropes in heliophysics.", Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, 10 [10.3389/fspas.2023.1114838] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Writhed Analytical Magnetic Flux Rope Model.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 127 (12): e2022JA030898 [10.1029/2022ja030898] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Direct First Parker Solar Probe Observation of the Interaction of Two Successive Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections in 2020 November.", The Astrophysical Journal, 930 (1): 88 [10.3847/1538-4357/ac590b] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Modern Faraday Rotation Studies to Probe the Solar Wind.", Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, 9 id 841866 [10.3389/fspas.2022.841866] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Identification of Flux Rope Orientation via Neural Networks.", Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, 9 [10.3389/fspas.2022.838442] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Comparative Analysis of the 2020 November 29 Solar Energetic Particle Event Observed by Parker Solar Probe.", The Astrophysical Journal, 920 (2): 123 [10.3847/1538-4357/ac157f] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Identifying Flux Rope Signatures Using a Deep Neural Network.", Solar Physics, 295 (10): 131 [10.1007/s11207-020-01697-x] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "The Solar Orbiter Science Activity Plan.", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 642 A3 [10.1051/0004-6361/202038445] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "A Quarter Century of Wind Spacecraft Discoveries.", Reviews of Geophysics, [Full Text] [10.1002/essoar.10504309.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "The Streamer Blowout Origin of a Flux Rope and Energetic Particle Event Observed by Parker Solar Probe at 0.5 au.", The Astrophysical Journal, 897 (2): 134 [10.3847/1538-4357/ab9942] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Analysis of the Internal Structure of the Streamer Blowout Observed by the Parker Solar Probe During the First Solar Encounter.", The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 246 (2): 63 [10.3847/1538-4365/ab61f5] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "FIDO‐SIT: The First Forward Model for the In Situ Magnetic Field of CME‐Driven Sheaths.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 125 (2): [10.1029/2019ja027423] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Unraveling the Internal Magnetic Field Structure of the Earth-directed Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections During 1995 – 2015.", Solar Physics, 294 (7): 89 [10.1007/s11207-019-1477-8] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Elliptic-cylindrical Analytical Flux Rope Model for Magnetic Clouds.", The Astrophysical Journal, 861 (2): 139 [10.3847/1538-4357/aac951] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Modeling Heliospheric Flux Ropes: A Comparative Study of Physical Quantities.", IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 46 (7): 2370-2377 [10.1109/tps.2018.2811400] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Fitting and Reconstruction of Thirteen Simple Coronal Mass Ejections.", Solar Physics, 293 (5): 73 [10.1007/s11207-018-1288-3] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Understanding the Internal Magnetic Field Configurations of ICMEs Using More than 20 Years of Wind Observations.", Solar Physics, 293 (2): 25 [10.1007/s11207-018-1247-z] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Modeling observations of solar coronal mass ejections with heliospheric imagers verified with the Heliophysics System Observatory.", Space Weather, 15 (7): 955-970 [10.1002/2017sw001614] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Predicting the magnetic vectors within coronal mass ejections arriving at Earth: 2. Geomagnetic response.", Space Weather, 15 (2): 441-461 [10.1002/2016sw001458] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "The Grad--Shafranov Reconstruction of Toroidal Magnetic Flux Ropes: First Applications.", Solar Physics, 292 (11): 171 [10.1007/s11207-017-1195-z] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "A STEREO Survey of Magnetic Cloud Coronal Mass Ejections Observed at Earth in 2008-2012.", The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 229 (2): 29 [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "Prediction of shock arrival times from CME and flare data.", Space Weather, 14 (8): 544–562 [10.1002/2016sw001361] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "A CIRCULAR-CYLINDRICAL FLUX-ROPE ANALYTICAL MODEL FOR MAGNETIC CLOUDS.", The Astrophysical Journal, 823 (1): 27 [10.3847/0004-637x/823/1/27] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "THE MAJOR GEOEFFECTIVE SOLAR ERUPTIONS OF 2012 MARCH 7: COMPREHENSIVE SUN-TO-EARTH ANALYSIS.", The Astrophysical Journal, 817 (1): 14 [10.3847/0004-637x/817/1/14] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "Predicting the magnetic vectors within coronal mass ejections arriving at Earth: 1. Initial architecture.", Space Weather, 13 374 [Full Text] [10.1002/2015SW001171] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Inner Heliospheric Evolution of a "Stealth" CME Derived from Multi-view Imaging and Multipoint in Situ observations. I. Propagation to 1 AU.", The Astrophysical Journal, 779 55 [Full Text] [10.1088/0004-637X/779/1/55] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Magnetic Field Configuration Models and Reconstruction Methods for Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections.", Solar Physics, 284 129 [Full Text] [10.1007/s11207-013-0244-5] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Tracking the momentum flux of a CME and quantifying its influence on geomagnetically induced currents at Earth.", Space Weather, 11 245-261 [10.1002/swe.20038] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Inner Heliospheric Evolution of a 'Stealth' CME Derived from Multi-view Imaging and Multipoint in Situ observations. I. Propagation to 1 AU.", The Astrophysical Journal, 779 [55-10.1088/0004-637X/779/1/55] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Preface.", Solar Physics, 284 (1): 1-4 [10.1007/s11207-013-0280-1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "MESSENGER observations of a flux-transfer-event shower at Mercury.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 117 (A12): [10.1029/2012ja017926] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "Remote and in situ observations of an unusual Earth-directed coronal mass ejection from multiple viewpoints.", Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics), 117 [6106-10.1029/2011JA017243] [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "The role of CMEs in the lateral spread of electron events in the inner heliosphere.", AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, 2001- [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Analysis and study of the in situ observation of the June 1st 2008 CME by STEREO.", Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 73 1348-1360 [10.1016/j.jastp.2010.09.026] [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Whistler Waves Driven by Anisotropic Strahl Velocity Distributions: Cluster Observations.", Twelfth International Solar Wind Conference, 1216 265-270 [10.1063/1.3395852] [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Solar Wind Halo Formation by the Scattering of the Strahl: Direct Cluster/PEACE Observations of the 3D Velocity Distribution Function.", AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, A3- [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Connecting CME expansion from Sun to 1 AU.", AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, 1841- [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "Strahl variations with the Solar Wind properties.", EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, 11 12601- [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Variations of Strahl Properties With Fast and Slow Solar Wind.", AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, A1578- [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Cluster/PEACE Electrons Velocity Distribution Function: Modeling the Strahl in the Solar Wind.", AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, A1579- [Journal Article/Letter]

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301-286-6066 ellie.jeffries@nasa.gov
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