New stars were shining during the 19th year of the NASA Heliophysics Summer School held in Boulder, Colorado from August 12 - 20, 2025. Since 2007 this summer school was created to generate research scientists in the cross-disciplinary field of heliophysics. Designed for advanced graduate students, first- or second-year postdoctoral fellows, or early career researchers within two years of obtaining their PhD. The NASA Heliophysics Summer School is an interdisciplinary exploration of the physical processes connecting the Sun, solar system planets and interplanetary space. Over eight days, students examine topics ranging from the solar dynamo to the heliosphere's interaction with the interstellar medium, to space weather impacts and observational technologies.
2025 Heliophysics Summer School students with deans, guest speakers, and CPAESS Staff.
This year's theme was "Data-Driven Heliophysics Exploration and Discovery." In attendance were 28 students, drawn from a highly competitive ~20% acceptance rate of applicants. Of the 28 students in attendance, 20 were domestic and eight international. To date, this program has educated 613 students and created some incredible resources, including textbooks, that are available to all.
At the helm of this annual endeavor was NASA Senior Advisor and heliophysicist, Madhulika (Lika) Guhathakurta. With an encore appearance were our two deans Dr. Marco Velli from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and Dr. Farzad Kamalabadi from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Heliophysics Summer School's well-loved instructor, Dr. Nicholas Gross of Boston University rounded out the team along with SPS | CPAESS Deputy Director Cindy Bruyère. Together, they created an agenda of action-packed lesson plans, labs, and more for students. Over the nine days, students learned a variety of subject matter from 18 lectures, discussions with questions and answers, four laboratory experiments utilizing real NASA data, a tour of NCAR's High Altitude Observatory, and capstone group projects.
Read more about the 2025 NASA Heliophysics Summer School
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Alex Meyer
Graphic Artist II, CPAESS
UCAR, UCP and NSF NCAR
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