Solar and Space Physics for the Nation: An Overview of the 2024–2033 Decadal Survey (2025)
Chapter: Strengthening the Solar and Space Physics Workforce
Strengthening the Solar and Space Physics Workforce
The science and space weather goals presented by the decadal survey cannot be accomplished without a vibrant and engaged solar and space physics workforce. Supporting and strengthening this workforce for the future requires recruiting and retaining the best talent. To keep track of the evolving workforce, demographic data need to be regularly gathered across the whole field. It is also critical to expand education, grow the solar and space physics faculty, increase opportunities for student research, and expand public outreach and participation.
A Common Identity
“Solar and space physics” serves as an umbrella term that encompasses various subfields, including solar, heliospheric, magnetospheric, ionospheric, thermospheric, mesospheric, and space weather sciences. It is used here, as in the decadal survey, in the absence of a broadly accepted alternative. The 2013 decadal survey report noted the lack of a common identity for the field, and this challenge persists, limiting the community’s ability to clearly communicate its scientific scope and societal relevance,
and to evaluate the state of the profession. Establishing a shared and widely recognized name and identity for the field would enhance efforts in workforce recruitment, data collection, education, and public outreach.
Solar and Space Physics Education
Solar and space physics has not been fully incorporated into U.S. educational curricula, which limits recruitment into the field. To raise public awareness and expand career pathways, the decadal survey suggests the subject be introduced at the K–12 level and more fully incorporated into undergraduate and graduate curricula.
Funding agencies can help broaden the reach of space science by increasing support for educational and professional development programs, including summer schools, workshops, and other skill-building initiatives for undergraduate and graduate students.
Expanding Public Outreach and Participation
Public outreach is a strategic tool for improving education, public policy, and national awareness. Effective outreach can take many forms—citizen science initiatives, science communication efforts, partnerships with the arts, and the use of popular culture and social media. To maximize the impact of solar and space physics research, the decadal survey recommends the following:
- Enhancing public communication and development of materials;
- Funding agencies should increase the volume and dissemination of materials that communicate solar and space physics research results and their societal impacts to the public; and
- NSF and NASA should increase outreach programs related to active missions, ground-based facilities, and research, and expand support of citizen science and participatory science.
