JR Dennison

College of Science

Physics

After arriving at USU in 1988, JR Dennison merged the traditional strengths of USU in space research with his interests in disordered materials and electron scattering to establish the Materials Physics Group (MPG) through collaborations with more than 25 graduate and 80 undergraduate student researchers. The MPG Space Environment Effects Materials test facility is a leading research center studying space environment effects on aerospace materials. They perform state-of-the-art ground-based testing of electrical charging, discharge and electron transport properties of both conducting and insulating materials; they have also tested materials flown on satellites, the NASA Long Duration Exposure Facility, and the International Space Station.

Their efforts in cooperation with NASA, the Air Force, and numerous aerospace companies have been primarily motivated by the space community’s concern for charging of crafts caused by extreme plasma environments and for radiation modification and damage of materials. Recently, their research has expanded to include applications for high-voltage direct-current power and transmission lines, plasma-deposition systems, semiconductor/metal-oxide interfaces, and nanodielectrics. Over the last two decades the MPG has collaborated on more than 110 scientific publications, 10 major reports and databases, and 340 presentations. Dennison received physics degrees from Appalachian State University (BS) and Virginia Tech (MS, PhD).