“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 manage the Experimental Space Physics Lab at UCLA and was the project manager of ELFIN. 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 mission 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 70 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals, ELFIN science is still going strong even though the satellites deorbited in Sept 2022. I currently work on making space physics instrumentation smaller and more accessible, 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: 16).
Please also take a look at some of my 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
Wilkins, C., Angelopoulos, V., Artemyev, A., Runov, A., Zhang, X.-J., Liu, J., & Tsai, E. Statistical characteristics of the proton isotropy boundary. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 130 (2025). doi: 10.1029/2024JA033412
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 a Nikon FE2.
I post some of my favorite photos in tidbits! (usually with ~1 year delay >_<)
