Dr. Cynthia López-Portela

About

Research
Dr. Cynthia López-Portela is an Astrophysicist with extensive expertise in reducing and analyzing scientific space-based data taken by remote-sensing and in-situ instruments aboard numerous NASA spacecraft. Dr. López-Portela has performed research in the field of Space Sciences and developed algorithms in IDL and Solar Software during her M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees. Dr. López-Portela’s algorithms performed qualitative and quantitative analysis with the use of multi-scale and multi-view point data for 3D analysis techniques to analyze patterns of behavior of visible-light and in-situ data. Her research is based on statistical and imaging analyses of the plasma properties in the solar atmospheres and solar wind, and the assessment of the geomagnetic impact of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in Earth’s magnetosphere. Her major research interests include coronal heating and solar wind acceleration throughout the characterization of solar wind speed, temperature, and chemical composition data. In September 2019, Dr. López-Portela, became a research associate as an active member of the plasma physics collaborative research group at the Institute of Geophysics (IGEF, UNAM). In April 2024, she was incorporated into the Solar Physics Laboratory at NASA-GSFC as a Post Doctoral Research Associate through the University of Maryland and Baltimore County (UMBC).

Other Professional Activities
During 2013 and 2014, Dr. López-Portela made use of her computing technique skills as a freelancer for a professional computing network (IAP- Industrial Analysis Pipelines, computing consultancy). In this activity, Dr. López-Portela was responsible for the coordination and supervision of different projects focusing on the development of customer’s needs.

Educational and Mentorship
From 2015 to 2023, Dr. López Portela has performed educational activities as a faculty member of the Lancaster School (an international school in Mexico City), as a lecturer and Physics Department Head. This has been one of the most exciting and fulfilling activities of Dr. López-Portela, which include the application of new technologies in education and their implementation in four different programs: SEP (middle years of the Mexican program), IMYC (International middle years), IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education), CCH (high school years of the Mexican program), and IB (International Baccalaureate in high school years).