Dr. Jianqi Qin, postdoctoral fellow in electrical engineering, has been awarded 2014 Scarf Award of American Geophysical Union (AGU). Established in 1989 by Space Physics and Aeronomy section of AGU, the F.L. Scarf Award is given annually to one honoree in recognition of an outstanding dissertation that contributes directly to solar-planetary science. Qin received his PhD degree from Penn State's electrical engineering department in May of 2013 under supervision of Drs. Victor Pasko and Sebastien Celestin (now Assistant Professor at University of Orleans, France).

Qin’s dissertation, titled “Numerical modeling of the inception, morphology and radio signals of sprites produced by lightning discharges with positive and negative polarity” presents modeling results in comparison with observations providing fundamental understanding on the initiation mechanism of sprite streamers, origins of the complexity of sprite morphology, and the characteristics of the radio signals of sprites. Sprites are spectacular optical emissions occurring in the Earth’s lower ionosphere in the altitude range of 40 to 90 km, which are induced by lightning electric fields above active thunderstorms. Predicted in 1925 and first documented in 1989, sprite discharges have been an active research area in the past two decades, primarily due to their potential as natural resources for the study of streamer physics, their potential impact on the chemistry in the upper atmosphere, and their ability to perturb the sub-ionospheric radio signals. The quantitative understanding of the initiation, morphology and radio signals of sprites achieved in Qin’s dissertation would likely motivate further modeling and observations to study the environment and conditions in the Earth’s lower ionosphere above active thunderstorms.