I have been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH) since 2022, and the department's Associate Chair for Teaching since August 2025. I co-lead the Heliophysics and Space Weather research group (HelioUSACH) with Prof. Marina Stepanova; the group is affiliated with CIRAS.
I received my Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from UCLA (2019), advised by Larry Lyons and Jacob Bortnik, working on how the solar wind drives relativistic electrons in the radiation belts. I was then a postdoctoral researcher at the Space Science Center of the University of New Hampshire (2020–2022), where I worked on forecasting ground magnetic perturbations with deep learning. Before that I studied physics at Universidad de Chile.
I am an Associate Editor of Space Weather (AGU/Wiley), have served on NASA review panels, and often talk to the press about space weather, auroras and space exploration.
Short bio (for press)
Third person; free to copy as is.
Victor Pinto is a space physicist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), where he is Associate Chair for Teaching and co-leads the HelioUSACH research group. He holds a Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from UCLA (2019) and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of New Hampshire. His research covers Earth's radiation belts, geomagnetic storms and machine learning for space weather prediction. He is an Associate Editor of the journal Space Weather (AGU).
Positions
- 2022–
Assistant Professor
Department of Physics, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH)
Associate Chair for Teaching since August 2025
- 2020–2022
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire
- 2015–2019
Teaching Assistant, Associate and Fellow; Graduate Student Researcher (2017–2019)
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, UCLA
- 2014, 2016
Visiting researcher
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
- 2011
Chilean Antarctic Scientific Expedition 47
INACH
Replaced and calibrated magnetometers at Escudero and O'Higgins bases
- 2010–2011
Instructor
Universidad Católica del Maule; Universidad de Valparaíso
Education
- 2019
Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (space physics)
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Co-advisors: Larry Lyons and Jacob Bortnik
- 2014
M.S. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
UCLA
- 2011
M.Sc. in Physics (highest distinction)
Universidad de Chile
Advisors: Alejandro Valdivia and Marina Stepanova
- 2006
B.Sc. in Physics
Universidad de Chile
Awards and honors
- 2023
Most read paper of 2021, Space Weather
“Geomagnetic storm occurrence and their relation with solar cycle phases”
- 2018
AGU Outstanding Student Paper Award (AGU Fall Meeting 2017)
“Spatial characterization of relativistic electron events in the Earth's outer radiation belt”
- 2018
Top 100 Physics Papers 2017, Scientific Reports
“What is the temperature of a moving body?”
- 2011
Becas Chile doctoral fellowship (CONICYT)
- 2009
Thesis support in Antarctic topics (INACH)