“Never accept success as a substitute for rigor.”
Education
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
BS, Physics and MS+PhD, Space Physics
Technical Skills
project management, technical/engineering management, process implementation, systems architecture & engineering, spacecraft assembly, integration & testing, embedded systems + bench testing, flight controller/spaceflight operations
Awards
NASA Techleap 2024 Prize (2024-2025)
NASA FINESST Scholar (2020-2023)
NASA Space Grant Scholarship (2015-2017)
Hello and welcome to my website! Let me tell you a bit about myself.
I am the project manager of the ELFIN Cubesat mission at UCLA. These two satellites were launched aboard the final Delta II rocket on September 15th, 2018. In its 4 years on orbit, ELFIN accomplished all primary and secondary science objectives and even accomplished several ambitious stretch goals! I am super proud of this project since it is UCLA’s first end-to-end space mission (designed/built/operated in-house) and is one of the highest science/dollar missions in NASA entire Heliophysics portfolio. I also got to build my career out of it, as I learned technical skills in almost every engineering discipline while also doing some cool space science too!
With over 50 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals, ELFIN science is still going strong even though the satellites deorbited in Sept 2022. I currently work on cutting-edge space physics instrumentation + new space missions and I am passionate about working with students.
You may find my CV here (last updated: March 2024; warning pdf download!). This is my Google scholar link (h-index: 15).
Please also take a look at some of my favorite published work below!
My thesis
Tsai, E., Energetic Electron Losses Driven by Whistler-Mode Waves in the Inner Magnetosphere: ELFIN Observations and Theoretical Models, University of California, Los Angeles, 2024. isbn: 9798381448702
Selected Published Work
Tsai, E., et al., Remote Sensing of Electron Precipitation Mechanisms Enabled by ELFIN Mission Operations and ADCS Design, Advances in Space Research: Science and Applied Research with Small Satellites (2024), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2024.07.008
Tsai, E., et al., Key factors determining nightside energetic electron losses driven by whistler-mode waves, Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 129 (2024), doi: 10.1029/2023JA032351
Tsai, E., et al., Investigating whistler-mode wave intensity along field lines using electron precipitation measurements, Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics, 128 (2023), doi: 10.1029/2023JA031578
Tsai, E., et al., Relativistic electron precipitation driven by non-linear resonance with whistler-mode waves. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 127 (2022), doi: 10.1029/2022JA030338
Zhang, X.-J., Artemyev, A. V., Angelopoulos, V., Tsai, E., et al., Superfast Precipitation of Energetic Electrons in Earth’s Radiation Belts. Nature Communications 13, 1611 (2022), doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29291-8
Angelopoulos, V., Zhang, XJ., Artemyev, A.V., Mourenas, D., Tsai, E., et al. Energetic Electron Precipitation Driven by Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves from ELFIN’s Low Altitude Perspective. Space Sci Rev 219, 37 (2023). doi: 10.1007/s11214-023-00984-w
Zhang, X.-J., Angelopoulos, V., Artemyev, A., Mourenas, D., Agapitov, O., Tsai, E., et al., Temporal scales of electron precipitation driven by whistler-mode waves. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 128 (2023), doi: 10.1029/2022JA031087
Wilkins, C., Angelopoulos, V., Runov, A., Artemyev, A., Zhang, X.-J., Liu, J., & Tsai, E., Statistical Characteristics of the Electron Isotropy Boundary. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 128 (2023), doi: 10.1029/2023JA031774
Shen, Y., Artemyev, A. V., Ma, Q., Zhang, X.-J., Mourenas, D., Tsai, E., et al., Inner belt wisp precipitation measured by ELFIN: Regimes of energetic electron scattering by VLF transmitter waves. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 127 (2022), doi: 10.1029/2022JA030968
Zhang, X.-J., Angelopoulos, V., Mourenas, D., Artemyev, A., Tsai, E., et al., Characteristics of electron microburst precipitation based on high-resolution ELFIN measurements. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 127 (2022), doi: 10.1029/2022JA030509
Chen. L., Zhang, X.-J., Artemyev, A. V., Angelopoulos, V., Tsai, E. et al., Ducted Chorus waves Cause Sub-Relativistic and Relativistic Electron Microbursts. Geophys. Res. Lett., 49 (2022), doi: 10.1029/2021GL097559
Angelopoulos, V., Tsai, E. et al., The ELFIN Mission. Space Sci Rev 216, 103 (2020), doi: 10.1007/s11214-020-00721-7
Tsai, E. et al., Ion Motion in a Polarized Current Sheet. American Institute of Physics, Physics of Plasmas 24, 012908 (2017), doi: 10.1063/1.4975017
Read ELFIN’s feature on NASA.gov and at newsroom.UCLA.edu!
For digital photography, I shoot on Fujifilm X mount camera systems.
For film, I shoot with the Nikon FE2.
You can see some of my photos in tidbits!
