UCLA Space Physics & AI Lab
People behind the questions.
A collaborative community of researchers and students working across space physics, applied space weather, and machine intelligence for science.
Principal investigator
Professor Jacob Bortnik
Professor Bortnik is a faculty member and the current chair of UCLA’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. He is the founding faculty director of the UCLA SPACE Institute. His research connects plasma theory, spacecraft observations, modeling, and machine learning for physical science. He received the American Geophysical Union’s 2021 Joanne Simpson Medal for Mid-Career Scientists and is an AGU Fellow.
Researchers
Deep expertise across the program.
Qianli Ma
Associate Researcher
Radiation belts · Wave-particle interactions · Earth and Jupiter
Homayon Aryan
Assistant Researcher
Plasma waves · Inner magnetosphere · Applied space weather
Ning Kang
Postdoctoral Scholar · Group alumnus
Wave-particle interactions · Chorus waves · Electron precipitation
Sheng Tian
Postdoctoral Scholar · Jointly mentored
Magnetosphere–ionosphere coupling processes · Jointly mentored with Professor Larry Lyons
Graduate students
The next generation of discovery.
Senior student spotlight
Dominique “Nique” Stumbaugh
Nique is completing her UCLA PhD after a distinguished record in electron-precipitation research, teaching, service, and leadership. Her honors include NASA FINESST, the AOS Bosart and Neiburger Awards, an AGU Outstanding Student Presentation Award, and UCLA’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Teaching Assistants.
Ryoma Matsuura
PhD student · Entering fourth year
Cold-ion dynamics.
Jose Espinoza
PhD student · Entering third year
Plasma-sheet characteristics using GEOTAIL and THEMIS observations combined with machine learning.
Qiushuo Wang
PhD student · Entering third year
Chorus source-region characteristics and AI-assisted discovery of partial differential equations.
Reiniery Villalta
Incoming PhD student · First year
Research interests and profile forthcoming.
Undergraduate & pre-college researchers
A place to begin doing science.
Jiahong Chen · undergraduate researcher working with Ning Kang
Kanyen Chan · undergraduate researcher working with Donglai Ma
Alexander Perez
High school researcher · Summer 2026
Alexander tested AI as a personalized tutor by using ChatGPT to independently study college-level organic chemistry, finding that it offers flexible, patient support but works best alongside human teaching.
Former group members
Part of the lab’s story.
Xiangning Chu · former postdoctoral researcher; now a researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)
Frances Staples · Alexander Lozinski · Jinxing Li · Donglai Ma · Xin An · Man Hua · Victor Pinto
Could your next question begin here?
Learn about opportunities for graduate research, undergraduate projects, and scientific collaboration.