Adrian L. Melott, Professor

4075 Malott Hall
TEL: (785) 864-3037
FAX: (785) 864-5262
Email: melott@ku.edu
Home Page: http://kusmos.phsx.ku.edu/~melott/Melott.html

Professional Background:

1994-Present: Professor, Physics & Astronomy, University of Kansas
1990-1994: Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy, University of Kansas
1986-1990: Assistant Professor, Physics & Astronomy, University of Kansas
1983-1986: Enrico Fermi Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Chicago
1984: Visiting Researcher, Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara
1983: IAU Visiting Astronomer, Oxford University
1983: IREX Fellow, Moscow State University
1982: Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Pittsburgh

Education:

1981: Ph.D., Physics, University of Texas

Honors Awards:

2007 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
2003: Outstanding Educator Award, Pi Delta Kappa Education Fraternity
2002: Distinguished Alumni Achievment Award, Bethany College
2002: Joseph A.Burton Forum Award, American Physical Society
2001: Steeples Award for Service to the Citizens of Kansas, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
1996:Fellow of the American Physical Society
1987: Dudley Award, Dudley Observatory
Member: American Physical Society, American Astronomical Society, Royal Astronomical Society (U.K.) and The Paleontological Society.

Research Interests:

Astrobiophysics; Computational Physical Cosmology  

Selected Publications:

1. Atmospheric Consequences of Cosmic Ray Variability in the Extragalactic Shock Model: II Revised ionization levels and their consequences (A.L. Melott, D. Atri, B. C. Thomas (KU PhD 2005), M. V. Medvedev, G. W. Wilson, M. J. Murray) Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets , 115, E08002 (2010).

2. Nemesis Reconsidered (A.L. Melott, R. K. Bambach) Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters , 407, L99-L102 (2010)

3. Lookup tables to compute high energy cosmic ray induced atmospheric ionization and changes in atmospheric chemistry. (Dimitra Atri, Adrian L.Melott, and Brian C. Thomas), Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics , JCAP05 (2010) 008, doi: 10.1088/ 1475-7516/2010/05/008 (2010).

4. Cometary airbursts and atmospheric chemistry: Tunguska and a candidate Younger Dryas event. (A.L. Melott, B.C. Thomas, G.A. Dreschhoff, and C.K. Johnson) Geology, 38, 355-358 (2010) doi: 10.1130/G30508.1

5. Testing the link between terrestrial climate change and Galactic spiral arm transit (A.C. Overholt, A.L. Melott, and M.K. Pohl), Astrophysical Journal Letters 705, L101-L103 (2009).

6. Late Ordovician geographic patterns of extinction compared with simulations of astrophysical ionizing radiation damage (A.L. Melott, and B.C. Thomas ), Paleobiology, 35, 311-320 (2009).

7. Long-term cycles in the history of life: Periodic biodiversity in the Paleobiology Database (A.L. Melott ), PLoS ONE, 3 (12):e4044.doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004044 (2008).

8. Superluminous supernovae: No threat from n Carinae (B. C. Thomas, A.L. Melott, B. D. Fields, and B. J. Anthony-Twarog ), Astrobiology, 8, (1), 9016 (2008) doi: 10.1089/ast.2007.0181.

9. Do Extragalactic Cosmic Rays Induce Cycles in Fossil Diversity? (M.V. Medvedev and A.L. Melott), Astrophysical Journal, 664, 879 (2007).

10. Modeling atmospheric effects of the September 1859 Solar Flare (B.C. Thomas, C.H. Jackman, and A.L. Melott) Geophysical Research Letters 34, L06810, doi: 10.1029/2006GL029174, (2007)

11. The Topology of Large Scale Structure in the Universe (A.L. Melott) Physics Reports 193, 1 (1990)

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