Dr. Craven has been recognized as emeritus professor of physics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks since 2009.
FAIRBANKS, AK, May 22, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- John Craven, Ph.D., has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
With more than 50 years of professional experience, Dr. Craven has been recognized as emeritus professor of physics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks since 2009. Prior to his retirement, he served as a professor of physics from 1991 to 2009, department chair from 2003 to 2009, Faculty Senate president in 1997-1998, and participated in numerous university governance and NASA research committees. Upon retirement, Dr. Craven acted as associate dean of the College of Natural Sciences at UAF for three years and continues a program of research. Earlier in his career, he worked at the University of Iowa, holding the positions of assistant research scientist from 1969 to 1975, associate research scientist from 1975 to 1982, and full research scientist from 1982 to 1991.
Dr. Craven began his career as a student at the University of Iowa in 1959, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree (physics and mathematics) in 1963 and a Master of Science degree (physics) in 1964, both under the tutelage of his mentor, Professor James Van Allen. Dr. Craven began working in Van Allen's research labs in 1960, under the supervision of Dr. Van Allen's then student, Louis Frank. This was during what Dr. Craven refers to as the "barnstorming days of space physics," with the physics department designing and constructing numerous early satellites for the U.S. at a rapid pace to study the newly discovered geomagnetically trapped radiation (Van Allen radiation) about Earth and nearby. Noteworthy in this laboratory was the close collaboration of undergraduate and graduate students and faculty members in this pioneering research. It was as an undergraduate that Dr. Craven first worked with personnel at the Goddard Space Flight Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the U.S. launch complex in Florida. Dr. Craven earned his Ph.D degree in 1969, under the mentorship of Professor Louis Frank.
The "barnstorming" seemingly never ended, as (Professor Frank's) research group developed low-energy plasma instruments to more fully define Earth's magnetosphere and then made the leap to auroral imaging from high altitudes (up to 23,200 km) to obtain the first time-lapsed images of the aurora borealis and aurora australis at visible and ultraviolet wavelengths. Throughout his career, Dr. Craven has enjoyed numerous highlights and achievement, including having been able to play a leading role in development of the three auroral imagers for the Dynamics Explorer mission and the subsequent analysis of data. In addition he helped design, build, and/or calibrate instruments for numerous spacecraft within and after his undergraduate and graduate days, continuing his work after joining the faculty in Alaska, where he added a sounding rocket instrument and participated in two multi-rocket missions to study the Earth's thermospheric winds, at UAF's own rocket range. Overall, Dr. Craven participated in some way to more than 20 satellite and sounding rocket missions and has participated in more than 350 published works and collaborations at scientific conferences.
In retirement, the preparation of lectures has been replaced by research in family genealogy and reading U.S. presidential biographies, but research continues daily at UAF's Geophysical Institute.
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