Dr. Chuck Higgins grew up in Huntsville, Alabama, and the space program and rumblings of the Apollo engine test firings at the nearby NASA Marshall Space Flight Center captured his interest in astronomy and space. He completed a B.S. degree in physics from the U. of Alabama-Huntsville and received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the U. of Florida where he studied the radio emissions from the planet Jupiter.

He was a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and is now a professor of physics and astronomy at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the advisor of MTSU’s Astronomy Club and he mentors undergraduate students with their research projects.

Dr. Higgins is a founding member of a NASA-sponsored education project called Radio JOVE with the goal to use radio astronomy to help students, teachers, and the public get involved in science. As part of the NASA Space Science Education Consortium (NSSEC), Radio JOVE partners with other education groups and citizen scientists to promote science education. His research is the study of the magnetospheres of Jupiter and the Sun using low frequency radio telescopes, including the Long Wavelength Array (LWA) in Socorro, New Mexico.

He is a frequent hiker in many of the great state parks in Tennessee.

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Recent Professional Publications  

Fung, S., Typinski, D., Flagg, R., Ashcraft, T., Greenman, W., Higgins, C., Brown, J., Dodd, L., Reyes, F., Sky, J., Thieman, J., and Garcia, L., Propagation Teepee: A Possible High-Frequency (15-30 MHz) Remote Lightning Signature Identified by Citizen Scientists. Geophysical Research Letters, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087307.

Higgins, C., Lights Out: Nashville’s Total Solar Eclipse 2017, 372WN Magazine, Next Chapter Publishing, 2017. [non-refereed]  

Higgins, C., The Radio Jove Project and the 2017 Solar Eclipse, ©2017 HamSCI.org, 2017. [non-refereed]  

Higgins, C., T.E. Clarke, K. Imai, M. Imai, F. Reyes, and J. Thieman, Morphology of the Jupiter Io-D decametric radio source, in Planetary Radio Emissions VIII, edited by G. Fischer, G. Mann, M. Panchenko, and P. Zarka, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna, 77–88, 2017.  

Clarke, T.E., C. A. Higgins, M. Imai, and K. Imai, Jovian decametric emission with the Long Wavelength Array station 1 (LWA1), in Planetary Radio Emissions VIII, edited by G. Fischer, G. Mann, M. Panchenko, and P. Zarka, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna, 31–44, 2017.  

Imai, K., C. A. Higgins, M. Imai, and T.E. Clarke, Jupiter’s Io-C and Io-B decametric emission source morphology from LWA1 data analysis, in Planetary Radio Emissions VIII, edited by G. Fischer, G. Mann, M. Panchenko, and P. Zarka, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna, 89–101, 2017.  

Higgins, C., and S. Fung, Radio Jove Citizen Science for the 2017 Solar Eclipse, Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers 2017 Annual Conference Proceedings, 2017.  

Imai, M. A. Lecacheux, T. Clarke, F. C. Higgins, et al., The Beaming Structures of Jupiter’s Decametric Common S-bursts Observed from the LWA1, NDA, and URAN2 Radio Telescopes, The Astrophysical Journal, 826:176, doi:10.3847/0004-637X/826/2/176, 2016.  

Imai, M., A. Lecacheux, M. Moncuquet, F. Bagenal, C. A. Higgins, K. Imai, and J. R. Thieman, Modeling Jovian hectometric attenuation lanes during the Cassini flyby of Jupiter, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 120, 1888–1907, doi:10.1002/2014JA020815, 2015.  

Shipman, J. T., J. D. Wilson, C. A. Higgins, and O. Torres, An Introduction to Physical Science, 14th Ed., Cengage Publishing, Boston, MA, ISBN-13: 978-1-305-07913-7, 2015.  

Clarke, T. E., C. A. Higgins, J. Skarda, K. Imai, M. Imai, F. Reyes, J. Thieman, et al., Probing Jovian decametric emission with the long wavelength array station 1, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 119, doi:10.1002/2014JA020289, 2014.  

Shipman, J. T., J. D. Wilson, and C. A. Higgins, An Introduction to Physical Science, 13th Ed., Cengage Publishing, Boston, MA, 2012.  

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Higgins, C., S. Fung, J. Thieman, and L. Garcia, Radio JOVE Citizen Science Radio Astronomy, CitSciCon, https://scistarter.org/nasa, May 21-22, 2021.  

Higgins, C., The Radio JOVE Project and NASA Citizen Science, Joint Virtual Meeting of the NCS AAPT and TAAPT, Murfreesboro, TN, April 10, 2021.  

Higgins, C., The Radio JOVE Project, University of Tennessee Astronomy Club Virtual presentation, Murfreesboro, TN, March 12, 2021.  

Typinski, D., C. Higgins, R. Flagg, W. Greenman, J. Sky, R. Giuntini, F. Reyes, S. Fung, J. Brown, T. Ashcraft, L. Dodd, J. Thieman, and L. Garcia, A Fresh Look at Jovian Decametric Radio Emission Occurrence Probabilities in the CML-Io Phase Plane, Presentation at the Fall 2020 AGU Meeting, Dec 17, 2020.  

Higgins, C., The Radio JOVE Project and NASA Citizen Science, Remote Physics Colloquium, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, October 8, 2020.  

Higgins, C., The Radio JOVE Project and NASA Citizen Science Barnard-Seyfert Astronomical Society of Chattanooga Monthly meeting Virtual on Zoom, Murfreesboro, TN, September 10, 2020  

Higgins, C., The Radio JOVE Project and NASA Citizen Science, Remote presentation to the Orion Astronomy Club, Knoxville, TN, June 17, 2020. YouTube post: https://youtu.be/s6eWAxJywp8  

Fung, S. F., Typinski, D., Flagg, R. F., Ashcraft, T., Greenman, W., Higgins, C., Brown, J., Dodd, L., Mount, A.S., Reyes, F.J., Sky, J., Thieman, J., Garcia, L.N. (2020), Propagation Teepee: A High Frequency (HF) Radio Spectral Feature Identified by Citizen Scientists, presented at the HamSCI 2020 Workshop, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA, March 20-21, 2020.  

Higgins, C., The Radio Universe and The Radio JOVE Project, Physics Colloquium, Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, TN, February 14, 2020.  

Fung, S. F., Typinski, D., Flagg, R. F., Ashcraft, T., Greenman, W., Higgins, C., Brown, J., Dodd, L., Mount, A.S., Reyes, F.J., Sky, J., Thieman, J., Garcia, L.N. (2019), Propagation Teepee: A High Frequency (HF) Radio Spectral Feature Identified by Citizen Scientists, presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, SA51C-3173, San Francisco, CA, Dec 9-13, 2019.  

Higgins, C., The Radio Universe, Presentation at StarFest 2019, Bays Mountain Planetarium, Kingsport, TN, October 17, 2019.  

Higgins, C., The Radio JOVE Project Southeast Regional Space Grant Consortium Meeting Homewood Suites Hotel, Nashville, TN, September 26, 2019  

Higgins, C., The Radio JOVE Project Colloquium UT Knoxville Kao Engineering Building, Knoxville, TN, September 11, 2019  

Higgins, C., Radio JOVE Citizen Science, Presentation at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, HAARP Ionosphere Research Facility, August 7, 2019.  

Higgins, C., Radio Jove and Citizen Science LWA Users Meeting 2019 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, August 1, 2019.  

Higgins, C., S. Fung, J. Thieman, and L. Garcia, Radio JOVE Citizen Science, Presentation at Building the NASA Citizen Science Community, Tucson, AZ, June 21, 2019.

Higgins, C., T. E. Clarke, K. Imai, M. Imai, F. Reyes, J. Thieman, LWA1 Observations of Jupiter’s Left-Hand Polarized Decametric Emission, Magnetospheres of the Outer Planets, Colorado, 2018.  

Higgins, C., S. Fung, J. Thieman, and L. Garcia, Radio Jove Citizen Science Partnerships, Magnetospheres of the Outer Planets Conference, Boulder, CO, 2018.

Higgins, C., T. E. Clarke, K. Imai, M. Imai, F. Reyes, J. Thieman Jupiter’s Io-D Decametric Source Morphology Using the Long Wavelength Array Station 1, American Geophysical Union Fall 2016, San Francisco, CA, December 10, 2016.  

Higgins, C., J. Thieman, F. Reyes, D. Typinski, et al., ­Radio Jove: Citizen Science for Jupiter Radio Astronomy, American Geophysical Union Fall 2016, San Francisco, CA, December 10, 2016.         

Higgins, C., T. Clarke, K. Imai, et al., Spectral Characteristics of Jupiter’s Io-D Decametric Radio Source from the LWA1, Planetary Radio Emissions 8, Graz, Austria, 2016.  

Higgins, C., J. Thieman, F. Reyes, D. Typinski, et al., The Radio Jove Project: Citizen Science Radio Astronomy [poster], Planetary Radio Emissions 8 Conference, Graz, Austria, October 21, 2016.  

Higgins, C., T. Clarke, F. Reyes, J. Thieman, M. Imai, and K. Imai, Characteristics of the Jupiter Decameter Io-D Source, Magnetospheres of the Outer Planets, Georgia Tech University, June 1-5, 2015.  

Higgins, C., Studies of Jupiter’s Radio Emission with the Long Wavelength Array, NASA-Goddard Future Exploration Science Working Group, NASA-GSFC, October 23, 2014  

Higgins, C. A., T. Clarke, J. Skarda, et al., Fine Structure in Jovian Decametric Emission using the LWA1, American Astronomical Society Meeting, Washington, DC, 2014.  

Higgins, C. A., et al., Jovian decametric emission observations: New data from the LWA1 and 50 years of older data from the UFRO, Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences (SGEPSS), Kochi, Japan, 2013.  

Higgins, C. A., T. Clarke, and J. Skarda, Fine Structure in Jovian Decametric Emission using the LWA1, LWA User’s meeting, Washington, DC, 2013.

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