Team
The group is co-led by Dr. Victor A. Pinto and Prof. Marina Stepanova, Department of Physics, Universidad de Santiago de Chile.
Assistant Professor
Department of Physics, USACH · Associate Chair for Teaching
Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (Space Physics), UCLA 2019 (co-advisors: L. Lyons, J. Bortnik). Postdoctoral research at UNH (2020-2022). Researcher in radiation belts, ULF waves, solar wind—magnetosphere coupling, machine learning for space weather, and geomagnetically induced currents (GIC). Associate Editor of Space Weather (AGU/Wiley).
Professor
Department of Physics, USACH
Ph.D. in Astrophysics, Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University. At USACH since 1995. Researcher in space plasmas, Earth's magnetospheric dynamics, turbulence in space plasmas, geomagnetic storms and substorms, plasma configuration stability, and complex systems. Active collaborations with research groups in the US and Russia. Has supervised 8+ graduate students.
Postdoctoral researcher (FONDECYT Postdoctoral grant), USACH
Space plasma physics: waves, instabilities, and relativistic electron losses
Postdoctoral researcher (DICYT Postdoctoral grant), USACH
Expansion, instabilities, and thermodynamics of the young solar wind
Astrophysics Engineering, USACH
ML model for plasmapause location (Van Allen Probes)
Physics Engineering, USACH
Deep Learning prediction of relativistic electron flux
M.Sc. in Physics, Universidad de Chile (co-advised)
Geomagnetic storms and their relation with solar cycle phases
University of New Hampshire, USA
Ground magnetic perturbations and machine learning for space weather
INPE, Brazil
GICs, particle precipitation, CNPq Conhecimento Brasil
Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Moscow State University, Russia
Auroral phenomena, outer radiation belt dynamics
Universidad de Chile
Expanding plasma systems, solar and stellar winds
IPGP, France
Ultrarelativistic remnant belts, hiss scattering
Master of Science in Physics, USACH · 2025
Radial evolution of ultrarelativistic electrons during enhancement events
M.Sc. in Physics, USACH (co-advised) · 2025
Total Electron Content characterization at high latitudes
M.Sc. in Physics, Universidad de Chile (co-advised) · 2024
Relationship between ULF Wave Power and changes in relativistic electron fluxes
Physics Engineering, USACH · 2024
Deep Learning models for auroral index prediction
Physics Engineering, USACH · 2025
Characterization of the PNI RM3100 magnetic field sensor response to temperature changes
Physics Engineering, USACH (co-advised) · 2024
Criticality assessment of spent nuclear fuel containers
USACH
Outer radiation belt dynamics and auroral phenomena
