Mehdi Benna
Senior Research Scientist · Non-Tenure Track
About
Dr. Benna received his degree in Electrical Engineering from the Engineering School of Tunis (ENIT) in 1999. After obtaining a M.Sc. in Radio-wave Telecommunication from the University of Tunis in 2000, he received in 2002 a Ph.D. in Space Science from the University of Toulouse in France. From 2002 to 2003, Dr. Benna was an associate scientist at the Planetary and Terrestrial Geophysics Laboratory (CNRS) in France, and from 2003 to 2006, he was an NRC postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.Research interests
Dr. Benna is a planetary scientist with a research emphasis in plasma physics and planetary magnetospheres dynamics.Dr. Benna’s main research interest is the numerical modeling of planetary magnetospheres and exospheres. Besides his scientific work, he uses his engineering experience to lead and support the development of several space-borne instruments (ROSETTA-CONSERT, CONTOUR-NGIMS, MSL-SAM, LADEE-NMS, MAVEN-NGIMS, CLPS-SEAL, GDC-MoSAIC, and Artemis III/LEMS). Dr. Benna has authored or coauthored more than 100 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, and more than 200 communications or invited presentations in international conferences related to the field of planetary science. His publications include articles on MHD modeling of planetary magnetospheres, comets and icy moons of the solar system, radiotomography techniques, and ill-posed inverse problems.
Education
- Postdoc, Planetary Science — National Research Council (2006)
- Ph D, Planetary Science — University of Toulouse (2002)
- MS, Radio-wave telecommunications — University of Tunis (2000)
- BS, Electrical Engineering — University of Tunis (1999)