Charles Swenson

Charles Swenson is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Utah State University where he teaches graduate courses in space engineering and space science and undergraduate courses in analog circuits. His research activities are divided between space science, instrumentation for measuring the space environment, space systems engineering and small satellites. He has been a co-investigator and lead scientist for instrumentation on 7 different NASA sounding rocket missions and is the principal instrument scientist for the Floating Potential Measurement Unit for the International Space Station.

Dr. Swenson is the principal investigator and academic adviser for the Utah State University Student Small Satellite Program. He is a member of the organizing committee for the USU Small Satellite Conference. His active research programs include data analysis of NASA TIMED Spacecraft,
a sounding rocket mission to understand the connection between storms in the ionosphere and large terrestrial storm systems, the USUSat program and the development of new instrumentation for understanding space weather.

Dr. Swenson's research activities are often in association with Utah
State University's Space Dynamics Lab. He attended Utah State University where he graduated with a double major in Electrical Engineering and Physics and earned a Masters of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. He completed his Ph.D. at Cornell University in Electrical Engineering in 1991 and joined the faculty at Utah State University that same year. He is currently the Director of the Space Instrumentation Laboratory and the Center for Space Engineering at Utah State University. He has received awards for teaching and research excellence, consults for NASA where he most recently served as a program Discipline scientist for the Science Mission Directorates Heliophysics Division. He has over 50 scientific publications and reports.