Meet Tamitha Skov

Hi, I’m Tamitha Mulligan Skov and I stare at the Sun a lot. I am a credentialed space weather forecaster and I have been helping the public understand the effects of Space Weather on our daily lives since 2013.  I work primarily in the fields of solar and space physics research and in the testing of spacecraft materials in realistic space radiation environments. But my forecasting work as the “Space Weather Woman” is widely known on social media and you may have caught me on several television shows for The Weather Channel, The History Channel and ARTE TV. I have also been featured on CBS News, and in Popular Science Magazine and MIT Technology Review, Popular Mechanics, Scientific American, and Space.com among many other print and online periodicals.

Thanks to social media like Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, TWiT TV, Instagram and Periscope, I have helped nurture a vibrant Space Weather community of 140,000+ people, and growing. These people range from astronauts and satellite operators, to civil and military auxiliary radio operators, GPS specialists, scientists, and of course, aurora photographers. All of these people are affected by space weather on a daily basis, but they are not the only ones. The need to know how we all are being impacted is becoming urgent.  As this community has grown, the people in it have become my extended family. I strive to keep everyone informed and connected to each other and to the spectacular events the Sun sends our way.  In turn, they then spread the word about how Space Weather affects their lives.  I’d be delighted if you would join us.

Sun holder

Some of my most rewarding experiences come when I an able to talk with you directly. Most often this occurs when I give invited lectures or sit on panels at Space Science Conferences, Amateur Radio Conventions, Universities, and Planetariums. This is when I am able to have in-depth interactions, connecting with kindred spirits, who share the same passion for human and robotic exploration of near-Earth space.  Of course, I also serve in an official capacity on proposal review and outreach panels for civil and government agencies, including NASA, The American Meteorological Society (AMS), The National Science Foundation (NSF), and more.

I even earned a Davey Award in 2019 along with my good friend and colleague, Mark Hailey, Art Director for NASA TV, for the educational video we made on the 2017 Solar Eclipse!

Davey Award for work with NASA TV

Learn more about how I got started as The Space Weather Woman in these interviews below:

The Space Weather Woman Forecasts for a Modern World

Just like terrestrial weather on Earth, Space Weather can be as mild as a rainstorm or as wild as a hurricane. Let The Space Weather Woman and a vibrant community of field reporters show you in non-science jargon how this new kind of weather impacts your daily life. You will never look at the Sun or the Earth in the same way again. After all, Space Weather is just like the weather in your own backyard, it’s just a little further up.

Professional Experience

My current position is as a research scientist at The Aerospace Corporation in Southern California. My work is primarily in the fields of solar and space physics, but I also evaluate materials for use in space radiation environments. I am an instructor at the Aerospace Institute and have served as an audio forensics analyst and instructor for the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC), hosted at Aerospace and funded by the Department of Justice. For those wanting more technical detail, I have included my formal education credentials, along with my Curriculum Vitae and publication list (yes, it needs to be updated since 2017) in the links below.

EDUCATION

Doctor of Philosophy, Geophysics and Space Plasma Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, 2002
Master of Science, Geophysics and Space Plasma Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, 2000

Bachelor of Science, Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, 1996 (with honors)
Bachelor of Science, Physical Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 1996

Public Notice: The views and opinions expressed on this website and by Dr. Skov in her videos do not represent official views or opinions of her employer.