Michael R Combi

Education:

Ph.D., Physics, University of Toledo

M.S., Physics and Astronomy, University of Toledo

B.S., Physics, Manhattan College

Research:

Planetary Science and Cometary Physics

Doctoral Students:

Arnaud Valeille
Gregory Bee
Yuni Lee

Specializations and Research Interests

• Observation and modeling of the spatial and velocity distribution of neutral and ionized cometary gases and dust
• Development of time-dependent multidimensional multispecies fully kinetic models for cometary and planetary satellite atmospheres using Direct Simulation Monte Carlo methods
• Planetary satellite atmospheric structure, escape and interaction with planetary magnetospheres
• Cometary X-ray observations and study of the excitation mechanism

Honors, Awards and Accomplishments

• Member, College of Engineering Research Strategy Committee
• Distinguished Research Scientist Award, U-M, 2003
• Outstanding Research Scientist Award, U-M, College of Engineering, 1996-1997
• Editor's Letter of Commendation, planetary science journal Icarus, 1991 and 1992
• Co-Investigator, Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) team, European Space Agency's Rosetta mission to comet P/Wirtanen
• Team Member, Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer instrument, NASA's Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby Mission
• Guest Observer, International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite
• Guest Observer, Hubble Space Telescope (HST) involving ultraviolet spectroscopy and imaging of the 1996 bright comet Hyakutake
• Guest Investigator, observing campaign of the Solar Wind Anisotropies (SWAN) instrument, Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite (SWAN pictures)
• First applied Monte Carlo models to study the complicated geometries of free-flow region of cometary atmospheres
• Provided one of the early sets of cometary radical scale lengths for use in determining gas species production rates in comets
• First quantitative observations and analysis of the spatial distribution of water and carbon monoxide ions in the heads and inner tails of comets
• With a colleague, provided the complete self-consistent description tying together the underlying physics of the dynamics of the inner cometary coma outflow, dominated by water photochemistry, with the appearance and velocity distribution of the hydrogen coma of comets, and how these change with the size of the comet and its distance from the sun
• Part of the group that was the first to simulate cometary X-ray production by charge exchange excitation
• With colleagues, demonstrated conclusive evidence from ground-based images of comet Hyakutake that fragments of the nucleus traveling down the tail were providing an extended source of gases which collided with the main coma outflow

Professional Service

• Sigma Xi
• Director, Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), funded by NSF, and providing real-world university research experience for undergraduate majors in mathematics, the physical sciences and engineering
• Editor, Icarus, official journal, Division for Planetary Sciences, AAS
• American Astronomical Society (Division for Planetary Sciences)
• American Geophysical Society
• International Astronomical Union
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• European Geophysical Society
• Member, numerous NASA panels including Planetary Systems Science Management Operations Working Group, CRAF Peer Review Panel, International Halley Watch/PDS Peer Review Panel, NASA Planetary Astronomy Peer Review Panel, Hubble Space Telescope Planetary Science Review Panel