Xiaocan Li, a graduate student in the Dept. of Physics and the Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR) at UAH, has been awarded a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) for the 2013-14 academic year. His proposal was one of six awarded from a total of 37 heliophysics research applications NASA received. He recently concluded work as a summer intern at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Xiaocan Li works with his advisor, assistant professor of physics Dr. Gang Li, on particle acceleration mechanisms at solar flares. Solar flares are the most powerful radiation source in our solar system and understanding particle acceleration at solar flares has been a central topic of space plasma physics. Li is focusing on a chaotic magnetic field model and a 3-D magnetic reconnection model.