A short retrospective on the impact of dr Robert Barker on plasma science the magic users group and plasma simulation

From 1988 through 2010, Dr. Barker, at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) sponsored a series of research programs. Dr. Barker encouraged the development of a three-way partnership between government, academia and industry. This program provided a number of universities that would have been otherwise unable to afford commercial software with advanced computational physics modeling tools to further their research programs in the areas of plasma science and electro-energetic physics. Mission Research Corporation/ATK was the industry partner in this program, providing the MAGIC software, organizing the user group, customizing MAGIC to better address academic research, and training and supporting fundamental electro-energetic physics research.