 Mark
J Engebretson
Professor
engebret@augsburg.edu
Since coming to Augsburg in 1976, Mark’s research grants from
NASA and NSF (the National Science Foundation) have supported more
than 50 undergraduate research students during summers and part time
during the academic year. Many of his research students have presented
the results of their research at national scientific meetings, and
several have been authors or co-authors of papers in major scientific
journals.
“Augsburg provides an unusually strong undergraduate program
in physics. Our department’s strengths throughout the years
have come from: attention to fundamentals of physics education; outstanding
opportunities for undergraduate research in space physics and biophysics;
and the personal atmosphere of a smaller department.”
Mark is active in several national and international projects in space
research, and spends most of his summers and part time each academic
year working with Augsburg students and others to study Earth’s
space environment. Currently he is principal investigator for three
arrays of ground observatories in the Antarctic and Arctic regions,
and a co-investigator on two other projects.
“Our students and I are currently comparing data from research
satellites launched by NASA and its European and Japanese counterparts
to data from our ground observatories. We regularly present our research
findings at national and even international scientific meetings.
Our
research collaborators include Boston University,The University of
New Hampshire,
Stanford University, the University of California-Berkeley, Princeton
University, the University
of Minnesota, The British Antarctic Survey, The University of Oslo
(Norway), The Institute of the Physics
of the Earth and the Space Research Institute (Russia), and the
Technical University of Braunschweig
(Germany).
When he’s not “doing physics,” Mark follows his
interest in music by singing in the Senior Choir at Bethlehem Lutheran
Church in Minneapolis. He also teaches in Augsburg’s Honors
Program.
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Education
B.A. Luther College
M.Div. Luther Theological Seminary
M.S. University of Minnesota
Ph.D. University of Minnesota
Current research interests
Space Physics
Computers and Electronics
Science and Religion
Science and Society
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