My research focuses on the application of kinetic plasma physics theory to numerical simulations and in situ observations of the solar wind, especially concerning the damping of turbulence and the associated irreversible heating. The goal of my work is to better characterize the evolution of the Sun’s extended atmosphere as it is accelerated from the solar surface and expands through the heliosphere. Such work takes advantage of national high performance computing resources and state of the art measurements from current and upcoming NASA spacecraft, and will potentially lead to an improved understanding of the behavior of heliospheric phenomena as well as contribute to better characterizations of fundamental physics processes occurring in systems ranging from laboratory and fusion plasmas to black hole accretion disks and the quiescent interstellar medium. I am currently preparing theoretical predictions, in collaboration with Prof. Justin Kasper and the SWEAP science team, for the upcoming Solar Probe Plus mission, which when launched in 2018 will provide observations of novel regions of the near-Sun environment.