Nancy Crooker

Crooker was born in Chicago in 1944.  Her father, Michael Uss, a Lithuanian who emigrated to America as a child, was a foreman at the freight yards of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, and her mother, Helen Narovec, was a housewife.  

Crooker holds a BA in physics from Knox College, Illinois, and an MSc in Meteorology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).{{Cite web|url=https://www.bu.edu/cism/Participants/bios/crooker_cv.pdf|title=Nancy Crooker CV|access-date=2019-10-08}} In 1972 Crooker was awarded her PhD in Atmospheric Sciences, also from UCLA, with her doctoral dissertation entitled, "The Low-Latitude Asymmetric Disturbance in the Geomagnetic Field".{{Cite web|url=https://ucsc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=proquest302642184&context=PC&vid=01CDL_SCR_INST:USCS&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&lang=en|title=THE LOW-LATITUDE ASYMMETRIC DISTURBANCE IN THE GEOMAGNETIC FIELD|last=Crooker|first=Nancy|website=ucsc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com|access-date=2019-10-08}}

Crooker has published 207 peer-reviewed articles (as of 8 October 2019){{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/3801909_N_U_Crooker|title=N. U. Crooker's research works {{!}} Boston University, MA (BU) and other places|website=ResearchGate|language=en|access-date=2019-10-08}} across a range of topics within space physics. Her early career was as a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University and then the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1970s. There, together with Joan Feynman in their seminal Nature paper,{{Cite journal|last1=Feynman|first1=J.|last2=Crooker|first2=N. U.|date=1978-10-01|title=The solar wind at the turn of the century|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=275|issue=5681|pages=626–627|doi=10.1038/275626a0|issn=1476-4687|bibcode=1978Natur.275..626F|s2cid=4194618}} she was one of the first physicists to use geomagnetic data as a way to reconstruct solar activity prior to the space age.{{Cite journal|last1=Crooker|first1=N. U.|last2=Feynman|first2=J.|last3=Gosling|first3=J. T.|date=1977-05-01|title=On the high correlation between long-term averages of solar wind speed and geomagnetic activity|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research|language=en|volume=82|issue=13|pages=1933–1937|doi=10.1029/JA082i013p01933|bibcode=1977JGR....82.1933C}} Crooker then developed the concept of anti-parallel merging of magnetic field lines in Earth's magnetosphere published in Journal of Geophysical Research in 1979.{{Cite journal|last=Crooker|first=N. U.|date=1979|title=Dayside merging and cusp geometry|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research|language=en|volume=84|issue=A3|pages=951–959|doi=10.1029/JA084iA03p00951|issn=2156-2202|bibcode=1979JGR....84..951C}}

In 1990, she returned to UCLA as an adjunct professor before making her final move to Boston University as a research professor in 1994. Around this time, Crooker switched focus from the magnetosphere to the heliosphere, in particular the interplanetary manifestations of coronal mass ejections. In 1997, she co-edited a monograph on coronal mass ejections.{{Cite book|title=Coronal mass ejections|date=1997|publisher=American Geophysical Union|others=Crooker, Nancy, 1944-, Joselyn, J. A., Feynman, Joan.|isbn=087590081X|location=Washington, D.C.|oclc=37260958}} In 2002, she coined the term "interchange reconnection" for describing the dynamic process by which heliospheric magnetic flux introduced by coronal mass ejections is subsequently removed,{{Cite journal|last1=Crooker|first1=N. U.|last2=Gosling|first2=J. T.|last3=Kahler|first3=S. W.|date=2002|title=Reducing heliospheric magnetic flux from coronal mass ejections without disconnection|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics|language=en|volume=107|issue=A2|pages=SSH 3–1–SSH 3–5|doi=10.1029/2001JA000236|issn=2156-2202|bibcode=2002JGRA..107.1028C|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal |last1=Owens |first1=M. J. |last2=Crooker |first2=N. U. |date=2006-10-11 |title=Coronal mass ejections and magnetic flux buildup in the heliosphere |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research |volume=111 |issue=A10 |doi=10.1029/2006ja011641 |bibcode=2006JGRA..11110104O |s2cid=32440026 |issn=0148-0227|doi-access=free }} a term which has been comprehensively adopted in the field.

Crooker was president of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Space Physics & Aeronomy Section from 2004 to 2006.{{Cite journal|last=Anonymous|date=2003-09-30|title=Candidates for office 2004–2006|journal=Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union|language=en|volume=84|issue=39|pages=399–403|doi=10.1029/2003EO390011|issn=2324-9250|bibcode=2003EOSTr..84..399.|doi-access=free}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=15993|title=AGU Space Physics & Aeronomy Section Memo: Subject: Action Needed - Future of Science at NASA|website=www.spaceref.com|date=31 March 2005 |access-date=2019-10-08}} She is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union,{{Cite web|url=https://honors.agu.org/honorsfellow/1561-crooker/|title=Crooker|website=Honors Program|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-08}} where the fellowship program recognizes AGU members who have made exceptional contributions to Earth and space science through a breakthrough, discovery, or innovation in their field.{{Cite web|url=https://www.agu.org/Honor-and-Recognize/Honors/Union-Fellows|title=Union Fellows {{!}} AGU|website=www.agu.org|access-date=2019-10-08}} She also received the prestigious Eugene Parker Lecture award from the AGU in 2013, only the third woman to do so.{{Cite web|url=https://www.agu.org/Honor-and-Recognize/Honors/Section-Awards/Parker-Lecture|title=Eugene Parker Lecture {{!}} AGU|website=www.agu.org|access-date=2019-10-08}}

She has worked closely over decades with several other prominent space physicists, including John T. Gosling, Marcia Neugebauer, Mike Lockwood, Chris Russell and Thomas Zurbuchen.

Crooker has served on numerous committees, panels and taskforces throughout her career, including:

• AGU Fellows Program Review Task Force (2015){{cite journal

| last = Williams | first = Billy M.

| date = March 2015

| doi = 10.1029/2015eo025545

| journal = Eos

| publisher = American Geophysical Union (AGU)

| title = Task Force Recommends Ways to Improve AGU Fellows Program

| volume = 96| doi-access = free

}}{{Cite web|url=https://eos.org/agu-news/task-force-recommends-ways-to-improve-agu-fellows-program-2|title=Task Force Recommends Ways to Improve AGU Fellows Program|website=Eos|date=3 March 2015 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-08}}

• Founding member of the new executive board for the American Geophysical Union (2010){{Cite journal|date=2010-09-28|title=Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union Volume 91, Number 39, 28 September 2010|journal=Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union|language=en|volume=91|issue=39|pages=n/a|doi=10.1029/eost2010EO39|issn=2324-9250|doi-access=free}}
• Media panel member for the NASA Ulysses spacecraft media telecon (2008){{Cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/ulysses-20080923.html|title=NASA - Ulysses Media Telecon|website=www.nasa.gov|language=en|access-date=2019-10-08}}
• Working group leader, International Space Science Institute (ISSI) workshop on Co-rotating Interaction Regions (1998){{Cite book|date=1999|editor-last=Balogh|editor-first=A.|editor2-last=Gosling|editor2-first=J. T.|editor3-last=Jokipii|editor3-first=J. R.|editor4-last=Kallenbach|editor4-first=R.|editor5-last=Kunow|editor5-first=H.|title=Corotating Interaction Regions|volume=7|language=en-gb|doi=10.1007/978-94-017-1179-1|issn=1385-7525|series=Space Sciences Series of ISSI|bibcode=1999cir..book.....B |isbn=978-90-481-5367-1}}
• Interviewed by CNN about solar storms (1997){{Cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/9712/09/solar.flares/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021115165929/http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/9712/09/solar.flares/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 15, 2002|title=CNN - Satellite sheds light on solar storms - December 9, 1997|website=CNN|access-date=2019-10-08}}
• Chair, AGU Awards Committee for Solar-Planetary Relations Section (1988-1990){{Cite journal|last=Tsurutani|first=Bruce T.|date=1990-08-14|title=SPR Awards Committee|journal=Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union|language=en|volume=71|issue=33|pages=1028|doi=10.1029/90EO00269|issn=2324-9250|bibcode=1990EOSTr..71.1028T}}

• The Eugene Parker Lecture is presented two out of every three years to a space scientist who has made significant contributions to the fields of solar and heliospheric science by the American Geophysical Union. Crooker received this honor in 2013.
• President of the AGU Space Physics & Aeronomy Section (2004 to 2006)
• Member of the Solar Heliospheric and Interplanetary Environment (SHINE) Steering Committee (1995-2002){{Cite web|url=https://www.shinecon.org/Contacts/People.html|title=People of SHINE|website=www.shinecon.org|access-date=2019-10-08}}
• Solar Heliospheric Secretary for Space Physics & Aeronomy Section of AGU (2000-2002)
• Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2000) {{Cite journal|date=2009-12-22|title=Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union Volume 90, Number 51, 22 December 2009|journal=Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union|language=en|volume=90|issue=51|pages=n/a|doi=10.1029/eost2009EO51|issn=2324-9250}}
• Member of the NASA Magnetospheric Management Operations Working Group (1995-6){{Cite web|url=https://spa.agu.org/issue-85-october-25-1995/|title=Issue 85, October 25, 1995 - Space Physics and Aeronomy|website=spa.agu.org|access-date=2019-10-08}}
• Editor's Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for the Journal of Geophysical Research (1993){{Cite journal|last=Anonymous|date=1993-06-15|title=1992 Editors' Citations: Excellence in refereeing|journal=Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union|language=en|volume=74|issue=24|pages=269|doi=10.1029/93EO00433|issn=2324-9250|bibcode=1993EOSTr..74..269.}} and Geophysical Research Letters (1996) {{Cite journal|last=Anonymous|date=1997-08-19|title=1996 Editors' citations: Excellence in reviewing|journal=Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union|language=en|volume=78|issue=33|pages=350–351|doi=10.1029/97EO00227|issn=2324-9250|bibcode=1997EOSTr..78..350.|doi-access=free}}

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Category:1944 births

Category:Living people

Category:American women physicists

Category:Scientists from Chicago

Category:20th-century American physicists

Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni

Category:American people of Lithuanian descent

Category:Knox College (Illinois) alumni

Category:Fellows of the American Geophysical Union

Category:21st-century American women

Category:20th-century American women scientists