Fabiano Rodrigues

PhD - Electrical and Computer Engineering
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY - 2008

MS - Space Sciences
National Institute for Space Research - INPE, Brazil - 2003

BS - Electrical Engineering
Universidade Federal de Santa Maria - UFSM, Brazil - 2001

First Observations of Severe Scintillation Over Low‐to‐Mid Latitudes Driven by Quiet‐Time Extreme Equatorial Plasma Bubbles: Conjugate Measurements Enabled by Citizen Science Initiatives 2024 - Journal Article

Characterization of Scintillation Events With Basis on L1 Transmissions From Geostationary SBAS Satellites 2024 - Journal Article

On the estimation of scintillation severity using background F-region peak densities: description and example results using GOLD observations 2024 - Journal Article

Student-led design, development and tests of an autonomous, low-cost platform for distributed space weather observations 2023 - Journal Article

On new two-dimensional UHF radar observations of equatorial spread F at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory 2023 - Journal Article

Severe L-band scintillation over low-to-mid latitudes caused by an extreme equatorial plasma bubble: joint observations from ground-based monitors and GOLD 2023 - Journal Article

A height-dependent climatological model of the equatorial ionospheric zonal plasma drifts (EZDrifts): Description and application to an analysis of the longitudinal variations of the zonal drifts 2023 - Journal Article

On the Role of Mild Substorms and Enhanced Hall Conductivity in the Plasma Irregularities Onset and Zonal Drift Reversals: Experimental Evidence at Distinct Longitudes Over South America 2023 - Journal Article

CAREER - NSF [2016]

Young Investigator Program - AFOSR [2013]

Associate Professor
The University of Texas at Dallas [2018–Present]

Assistant Professor
The University of Texas at Dallas [2012–2018]

Research Engineer
ASTRA, LLC [2008–2012]

Graduate Res. Asst.
Cornell University [2003–2008]

Research Associate
The University of Nottingham, UK [2003–2003]

Graduate Res. Asst.
National Institute for Space Research - INPE, Brazil [2001–2003]

Scientist To Lead Expansion of Observatory with World’s Largest Radar

Dr. Fabiano Rodrigues, associate professor of physics at The University of Texas at Dallas, has received a multimillion-dollar federal grant to expand the capabilities of an observatory in South America that serves experimental investigations of the upper atmosphere and of the space near Earth, or geospace.

The five-year, $2.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Programwill be used to develop and deploy two large radio receiving stations that will augment the observational capabilities of the Jicamarca Radio Observatory, located near Lima, Peru. The instrumentation will allow researchers to gather more detailed information about the Earth’s atmosphere and ionosphere, a region where Earth’s upper atmosphere meets outer space.

The Jicamarca Radio Observatory, equipped with the world’s largest radar, is a facility of the Geophysical Institute of Peru that is funded through a cooperative agreement between the NSF and Cornell University. Rodrigues earned his PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Cornell using the observations of the ionosphere made by the Jicamarca radar system and has been an active scientific user of the facility since then. The grant will allow the largest expansion of the observatory since its foundation in the early 1960s.

“This expansion is a result of an international, multi-institutional collaboration with the goal of augmenting the current observational capabilities of the observatory,” said Rodrigues, who is also a Fellow, Eugene McDermott Professor. “The collaborators will not only contribute with scientific and technical expertise but also with local infrastructure and services that are essential for this type of effort.”

New Prof's Research Looks Skyward for Insights on Ionosphere

Dr. Fabiano Rodrigues joined the UT Dallas faculty this year as an assistant professor in theDepartment of Physics and in the William B. Hanson Center for Space Sciences, a research center in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. One of the factors that attracted him to the University was the institution’s long history of research and expertise in atmospheric and space studies. Rodrigues’s areas of expertise include remote sensing of the upper atmosphere using ground-based radars and GPS signals. Rodrigues has conducted research at some of the largest and most sensitive radio observatories in the world, including theArecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the Jicamarca Radio Observatory in Peru. He said he plans to engage students in on-site training and learning how experiments are done at these facilities. Rodrigues is currently working on a project that involves deploying special GPS receivers around campus and the surrounding area to investigate the upper atmosphere and its effects on communications and navigation systems. A native of Brazil, Rodrigues earned his PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Cornell University. His research has been funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.