Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award
Andrew F. Nagy

Prof. Andrew F. Nagy’s experimental and theoretical scientific contributions span the solar system. He has enhanced our understanding of the terrestrial plasma environment, as well as those of Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Among his most significant contributions to space physics was his close involvement with NASA’s Pioneer Venus and Dynamics Explorer Program from its inception in the early 1970s to its completion in the 1990s.

A member of the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences and the Department of Electrical Engineering faculty since 1963, Nagy is an engaging scholar who believes that observations and theory must be closely aligned to achieve understanding. He developed new experimental methods and theoretical models to study the upper atmospheres and ionospheres of the Earth and planets. He was principal and co-investigator of numerous satellite and sounding rocket experiments.

Co-author of a well-known graduate textbook, “Ionospheres” (Cambridge University Press 2000), Nagy has launched many successful careers by mentoring graduate students and young colleagues. He also has made significant contributions to the scientific community, including serving as editor of the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) Geophysical Research Letters and Reviews of Geophysics and as president of the AGU’s Space Physics and Aeronomy Section. At Michigan, Nagy has served as associate vice president for research, as interim director of the Space Physics Research Laboratory, and on more than 18 University committees, including the Henry Russel Award Committee, Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, and Wallenberg Medal and Lecture Committee.

He has chaired and was a member of dozens of key committees for NASA, the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Science, and currently is a member of the academy’s panel on the Decadal Study for System Exploration, which will guide the direction of solar system exploration over the next decade. Nagy’s accolades include membership in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the International Academy of Astronautics, as well as the NASA Public Service Award and the College of Engineering’s Research Excellence and Stephen Attwood awards.