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Recent calls for improvement in undergraduate education within STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines are hampered by the methods used to evaluate teaching effectiveness. Faculty members at research universities are commonly assessed and promoted mainly on the basis of research success. To improve the quality of undergraduate teaching across all disciplines, not only STEM fields, requires creating an environment wherein continuous improvement of teaching is valued, assessed, and rewarded at various stages of a faculty member's career. This requires consistent application of policies that reflect well-established best practices for evaluating teaching at the department, college, and university levels. Evidence shows most teaching evaluation practices do not reflect stated policies, even when the policies specifically espouse teaching as a value. Thus, alignment of practice to policy is a major barrier to establishing a culture in which teaching is valued. Situated in the context of current national efforts to improve undergraduate STEM education, including the Association of American Universities Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative, this essay discusses four guiding principles for aligning practice with stated priorities in formal policies: 1) enhancing the role of deans and chairs; 2) effectively using the hiring process; 3) improving communication; and 4) improving the understanding of teaching as a scholarly activity. In addition, three specific examples of efforts to improve the practice of evaluating teaching are presented as examples: 1) Three Bucket Model of merit review at the University of California, Irvine; (2) Evaluation of Teaching Rubric, University of Kansas; and (3) Teaching Quality Framework, University of Colorado, Boulder. These examples provide flexible criteria to holistically evaluate and improve the quality of teaching across the diverse institutions comprising modern higher education.

The occurrence of small‐scale and intense ionospheric currents that can contribute to geomagnetically induced currents have recently been discovered. A difficulty in their characterization is that their signatures are often only observed at single widely spaced (typically 200–400 km) ground geomagnetic stations. These small‐scale structures motivate the examination of the maximum station separation required to fully characterize these small‐scale signatures. We analyze distributions of correlation coefficients between closely spaced mid‐latitude and auroral zone ground magnetometer stations spanning day to month long intervals to assess the separation distance at which geomagnetic signatures appear in only one station. Distributions were analyzed using periods that included low and high geomagnetic activity. We used data from pairs of magnetometer stations across North America within 200 km of each other, all of which were separated primarily latitudinally. Results show that while measurements remain largely similar up to separations of 200 km, large and frequent differences appear starting at around 130 km separation. Larger differences and lower correlations are observed during high geomagnetic activity, while low geomagnetic activity leads to frequent high correlation even past 200 km separation. Small but identifiable differences can appear in magnetometer data from stations as close as 35 km during high geomagnetic activity. We recommend future magnetometer array deployment in the auroral and sub‐auroral zone to have separations of 100–150 km. This enables the monitoring of large scale effects of geomagnetic storms, better temporal and spatial resolution of substorms, and observations of small‐scale current signatures. Plain Language Summary: Magnetic field data, gathered by magnetometer stations, are used to observe currents in the ionosphere and throughout the magnetosphere. Magnetometer stations are generally separated by 200–400 km. High‐frequency (1 s) data have become the norm in recent years. These data have uncovered that this spacing is too large to fully observe small currents in the ionosphere, which can damage technology on the ground if undetected. We looked at correlations between magnetometer stations separated by < ${< } $200 km across northern North America to analyze how observations change over various distances. We found that at high latitudes (>63° ${ >} 63{}^{\circ}$ magnetic latitude) and during high geomagnetic activity, substantial differences can appear over intervals < ${< } $150 km. Because of these findings, we suggest that future magnetometer stations placed at high latitudes should be separated by < ${< } $150 km. Key Points: The conventional wisdom for ground magnetometer station separation is based on outdated assumptionsCurrent magnetometer arrays do not sufficiently measure small‐scale geomagnetic disturbancesRecommendation for spacing of future ground magnetometers in the auroral zone is 100–150 km [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many large-lecture introductory science courses for nonscience majors do not have a lab component and hence do not provide much opportunity for students to engage in the practice of science. I have developed a new instructional activity called Dorm Room Labs that enables students to conduct hands-on activities as homework (or dorm room work) to explore more deeply concepts covered in 100-level science courses. The labs focus on concepts relevant to many physical science courses and consist of no-cost or low-cost lab equipment or their smartphones, enabling their use in large-enrollment courses. Using qualitative research methods, I have found that these dorm room experiments have meaningful impact on the development of students' conceptual understanding of several important physics and space science topics. For example giving the students a magnet and compass (or using the student's own smartphone magnetometer) fosters the understanding of the structure of dipole magnetic fields. Dorm Room Labs help engage and motivate students to learn about the process and culture of science by having them "do" science.

Magnetometers are essential instruments in space physics, but their measurements are often contaminated by various external interference sources. In this work, we present a comprehensive review of existing magnetometer interference removal methods and introduce MAGPRIME (MAGnetic signal PRocessing, Interference Mitigation, and Enhancement), an open‐source Python library featuring a collection of state‐of‐the‐art interference removal algorithms. MAGPRIME streamlines the process of interference removal in magnetic field data by providing researchers with an integrated, easy‐to‐use platform. We detail the design, structure, and functionality of the library, as well as its potential to facilitate future research by enabling rapid testing and customization of interference removal methods. Using the MAGPRIME Library, we present two Monte Carlo benchmark results to compare the efficacy of interference removal algorithms in different magnetometer configurations. In Benchmark A, the Underdetermined Blind Source Separation (UBSS) and traditional gradiometry algorithms surpass the uncleaned boom‐mounted magnetometers, achieving improved correlation and reducing median error in each simulation. Benchmark B tests the efficacy of the suite of MAGPRIME algorithms in a boomless magnetometer configuration. In this configuration, the UBSS algorithm proves to significantly reduce median error, along with improvements in median correlation and signal to noise ratio. This study highlights MAGPRIME's potential in enhancing magnetic field measurement accuracy in various spacecraft designs, from traditional gradiometry setups to compact, cost‐effective alternatives like bus‐mounted CubeSat magnetometers, thus establishing it as a valuable tool for researchers and engineers in space exploration and magnetism studies. Plain Language Summary: Magnetometers, tools used to measure magnetic fields, are crucial for space exploration but often face interference from a spacecraft's own systems. This can distort measurements, making it hard to get accurate data. In order to address this, we introduce MAGPRIME, an open‐source software that helps clean up these magnetic field measurements. It is user‐friendly and integrates various techniques to reduce interference in the data. We tested MAGPRIME in two scenarios: one with magnetometers on a long mechanical arm or boom, and another without the boom. The results from these cases show that the use of MAGPRIME can make it easier and cheaper to get reliable magnetic field data, especially for smaller satellites like CubeSats. Key Points: MAGPRIME is an open‐source Python library with advanced interference removal algorithms for magnetic field measurements in space missionsThe MAGPRIME library is designed to be a community‐driven platform for magnetometer signal processing algorithmsMonte Carlo simulation results show UBSS achieves significant interference reduction in both boom and bus‐mounted magnetometer setups [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dipolarizing flux bundles (DFBs) have been suggested to transport energy and momentum from regions of reconnection in the magnetotail to the high latitude ionosphere, where they can generate localized ionospheric currents that can produce large nighttime geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs). In this study we identified DFBs observed in the midnight sector from ~7 to ~10 RE by THEMIS A, D, and E during days in 2015-2017 whose northern hemisphere magnetic footpoints mapped to regions near Hudson Bay, Canada, and have compared them to isolated GMDs observed by ground magnetometers. We found 6 days during which one or more of these DFBs coincided to within ±3 min with ≥6 nT/s GMDs observed by latitudinally closely spaced ground-based magnetometers located near those footpoints. Spherical elementary current systems (SECS) maps and all-sky imager data provided further characterization of two events, showing short-lived localized intense upward currents, auroral intensifications and/or streamers, and vortical perturbations of a westward electrojet. On all but one of these days the coincident DFB--GMD pairs occurred during intervals of high-speed solar wind streams but low values of SYM/H. The observations reported here indicate that isolated DFBs generated under these conditions influence only limited spatial regions nearer Earth. In some events, in which the DFBs were observed closer to Earth and with lower Earthward velocities, the GMDs occurred slightly earlier than the DFBs, suggesting that braking had begun before the time of the DFB observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme (>20 nT/s) geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs, also denoted as MPEs—magnetic perturbation events)—impulsive nighttime disturbances with time scale ∼5–10 min, have sufficient amplitude to cause bursts of geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) that can damage technical infrastructure. In this study, we present occurrence statistics for extreme GMD events from five stations in the MACCS and AUTUMNX magnetometer arrays in Arctic Canada at magnetic latitudes ranging from 65° to 75°. We report all large (≥6 nT/s) and extreme GMDs from these stations from 2011 through 2022 to analyze variations of GMD activity over a full solar cycle and compare them to those found in three earlier studies. GMD activity between 2011 and 2022 did not closely follow the sunspot cycle, but instead was lowest during its rising phase and maximum (2011–2014) and highest during the early declining phase (2015–2017). Most of these GMDs, especially the most extreme, were associated with high‐speed solar wind streams (Vsw >600 km/s) and steady solar wind pressure. All extreme GMDs occurred within 80 min after substorm onsets, but few within 5 min. Multistation data often revealed a poleward progression of GMDs, consistent with a tailward retreat of the magnetotail reconnection region. These observations indicate that extreme GIC hazard conditions can occur for a variety of solar wind drivers and geomagnetic conditions, not only for fast‐coronal mass ejection driven storms. Plain Language Summary: Geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) can give rise to the most extreme space weather impact of disrupting electric power distribution. GICs can be driven by extreme geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) that are observed as large amplitude (several hundred nT amplitude) and rapid (5–10 min period) changes in the geomagnetic field. We found that extreme high‐latitude GMDs occur throughout the solar cycle, but are preferentially observed during the declining phase of the solar cycle (the several year interval just past solar maximum) and in conjunction with high‐speed solar wind streams. They also all occur within 80 min of a geomagnetic substorm, but are not directly related to its explosive onset. These GMDs are most often observed to propagate poleward consistent with tailward retreat of magnetotail reconnection regions. These results show that extreme GMDs and hence large GICs can be driven by a variety of solar wind conditions and not just fast coronal mass ejections. Key Points: Most large (6 nT/s) and extreme (>20 nT/s) high latitude geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) occurred during the declining phase of the sunspot cycleMost extreme GMDs occurred during high‐speed solar wind streams and often within 25 min after a substorm onset, but seldom within 5 minMany extreme GMDs showed a poleward progression, consistent with the tailward retreat of the magnetotail reconnection region [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design, characteristics, and performance of a CubeSat magnetometer board (Quad-Mag) equipped with four PNI RM3100 magnetometers is presented. The low size, weight, power, and cost of the RM3100 enables the inclusion of four sensors on a single board, allowing a potential factor of two reduction in the noise floor established for an individual sensor via oversampling with multiple sensors. The instrument experimentally achieved a noise floor of 5.345 nT (individual axis), averaging across each axis of the four magnetometers, at a 65 Hz sampling rate. This approaches the previously theoretically established limit for the system of 4.37 nT at 40 Hz. A single on-board, Texas Instrument MSP430 microcontroller handles synchronization of the magnetometers and facilitates data collection through a simple UART-based command interface to host system. The Quad-Mag system has a mass of 59.05 g and total power consumption of 23 mW while sampling and mW while idle. The Quad-Mag enables 1 nT magnetic field measurements at 1 Hz using commercial-off-the-shelf sensors for space applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]