SpaceMan

Lee esta historia en español aquí When Rose Ferreira first saw an image of a field of galaxies and galaxy clusters from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in July, she “went into the restroom and broke down a little,” she said. This “Deep Field” image showed galaxies not only sharper, but deeper into the universe than a similar image she loved from the Hubble Space Telescope. “Being able to contribute in any way to the efforts of the team within NASA that released this new Deep Field just felt like such a profound thing for me,” said Ferreira, a student at Arizona State University who interned with NASA this summer. “I was just a little bit in shock for, like, a week.” Rose Ferreira estudia ciencias planetarias y astronomía en la Universidad Estatal de Arizona.Credits: James Mayer Webb, the largest space science telescope ever, which launched in December 2021, played a big role in Ferreira’s internship at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. She also supported a series of live news interviews for Webb’s first images and multimedia tasks for NASA’s Spanish-language communications program. Growing up in the Dominican Republic, Ferreira said she didn’t have access to science education. She was taught skills like cooking and cleaning; she didn’t know NASA existed at that time. But during the frequent blackouts in her village, when the Moon provided the only light, Rose Ferreira often wondered – what is the Moon all about? “The moonlight is a lot of what I used to see, and I was always so curious about that,” she said. “That obsession is what made me start asking questions.” When she came to New York, she was placed in an underserved high school that sent her back multiple grades because they weren’t satisfied with her English language skills. She left and earned a GED diploma instead, hoping to go to college faster. At age 18, Ferreira became homeless in New York and lived in train stations. By working as a home health aide, she was able to earn enough to rent an apartment in Queens and, eventually, get an associate degree. Life threw other major challenges at her, including getting hit by a car and a ******* diagnosis. Ferreira ultimately enrolled in a planetary science and astronomy degree program at Arizona State University. She received a “great birthday present” in the spring of 2022: her official acceptance to NASA’s internship program. Among the highlights of her NASA experience was recording a voice-over in Spanish for a This Week at NASA video. She also served as a panelist at an event for the ********* University Research and Education Project, organized by NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement. Ferreira dreams of becoming an astronaut and has a shorter-term goal of earning a doctorate. But the internship also fueled her passion for sharing space science with the public. Chatting with Goddard astrophysicist Dr. Michelle Thaller, host of the Webb broadcasts, was especially meaningful to her. Rose Ferreira, foreground, in the broadcast control room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in July 2022.Credits: NASA She has this advice for young people who are also interested in pursuing space science: “Coming from a person who had it a bit harder to get there, I think: first, figure out if it is really what you love. And if it is really what you love, then literally find a way to do it no matter who says what.” Besides Webb, Ferreira is excited about NASA’s Artemis program, which connects with her passion for the Moon. Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to establish a long-term presence on and around the Moon. She’s looking forward to what Artemis will uncover about the Moon’s geology and history while the agency uses the Moon to get ready for human exploration of Mars. “Even when I was living on the streets, the Moon used to be the thing I looked at to calm myself. It’s my sense of comfort, even today when I’m overwhelmed by things,” she said. “It’s like a driving force.” Written by Elizabeth Landau NASA Headquarters View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Melissa Gates is active in supporting other employees with disabilities at Goddard, as a member of the GSFC Equal Accessibility Employee Resource Group. “Goddard is very responsive to our accessibility needs.”Credits: Courtesy of Melissa Gates Name: Melissa Gates Title: Secretary III Organization: Mission Systems Engineering Branch, Engineering Technology Directorate (Code 599) What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? As a branch secretary, I support my branch office by ordering supplies, managing the meeting calendars, onboarding new employees and otherwise supporting the managers. I help keep the office running. How did you come to work at Goddard? In 2005, I got a bachelor’s degree in communications from Fairleigh Dickinson University. In 2012, I got a master’s degree in communications from Regis University. For over 20 years, I managed our family business in New Jersey involving competitive pool. I helped run the competitions and the daily activities, but I never played pool. In 2016, I moved to Maryland to work in customer service at MGM National Harbor. In 2019, I started at Goddard through Melwood, a non-profit organization that helps disabled people find employment. What are the most important skills for a good branch secretary? Listening. Being prompt. Being organized. Prioritizing tasks. Good people skills. I am a people person, and I can relate well to different personalities. I am very flexible. With teleworking, I am always available. Where do you see yourself in five years? I really want to work in communications, especially NASA TV, because I want to continue my first loves of writing and public relations. I enjoy working with the public and getting people’s stories out to others. I like learning about people and sharing what I have learned. How has having a disability impacted your job choices? I have had to make people comfortable with my disability. I use a cane and a scooter to get around. Melwood helped me find a job at Goddard, which fulfilled my 20-year dream. What are your goals as a member of the GSFC Equal Accessibility Employee Resource Group? As a member of the GSFC Equal Accessibility Employee Resource Group, my focus is to help promote the Ability One Program, a federal program that assists people with all levels of disability find federal jobs. I have my Melwood job through this program. I am very thankful to Melwood and Goddard for giving me a job that offers good benefits and security. I offer my life experience as a person with a disability now working at Goddard. I try to make management aware of accessibility needs such as bathrooms, removal of snow from sidewalks and parking lots, assistive technology for hearing and sight impaired people and other issues. Goddard is very responsive to our accessibility needs. What do you do for fun? I love to read, especially Terry McMillan’s rom-coms. I love bungee jumping, zip lining and roller coasters. I love adrenaline rushes and am a thrill seeker! I enjoy traveling and have been to Hawaii and Mexico. I would like to take the train across the country. That way I would not have to move around, the train would be moving and I could still see the country. I would enjoy talking to everyone on the train and have a good time. What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words. Caring. Outgoing. Loves people. Adventurous. Joyful. Grateful. By Elizabeth M. Jarrell NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

“People are excited and happy about working at Goddard,” said optics engineer Margaret Dominguez. “Most people are willing to put in the extra effort if needed. It makes work stimulating and exciting. Management really cares and the employees feel that too.”Credits: Courtesy of Margaret Dominguez Name: Margaret Dominguez Formal Job Classification: Optical engineer Organization: Code 551, Optics Branch, Instrument Systems and Technology Division, Engineering Directorate What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? I build space telescopes. I am currently working on building one of the components for the Wide Field Instrument for the Roman Space Telescope. The component is called “Grism.” A grism is a combination of a grating and a prism. What is unique about your childhood? I went to high school in Tecamachalco in Puebla, Mexico, which is inland and south of Mexico City. My father raised pigs, chickens, rabbits, and cows. I am the oldest of four girls and two still live on the farm. Why did you become a physicist? I was always curious and had a lot of questions and thought that physics helped me answer some of these questions. I was good at math and loved it. When I told my dad I wanted to study physics, he said that I would be able to answer any question in the universe. He thought it was very cool. What is your educational background? How an internship help you come to Goddard? I went to the Universidad de las Americas Puebla college in Puebla and got an undergraduate degree in physics. I was very active in extracurricular activities and helped organize a physics conference. We invited Dr. Johnathan Gardner, a Goddard astronomer, who came to speak at the conference. Afterwards I spoke with him and he asked me if I was interested in doing an internship at NASA. I said I had not considered it and would be interested in applying. I applied that same spring of 2008 and got a summer internship in the Optics Branch, where I am still working today. My branch head at Goddard was a University of Arizona alumnus. He suggested that I apply to the University of Arizona for their excellent optics program. I did, and the university gave me a full fellowship for a master’s and a Ph.D. in optical sciences. In 2014, I began working full time at Goddard while completing my Ph.D. I graduated in May 2019. What makes Goddard special? Goddard has a university campus feel. It’s a place where you can work and also just hang out and socialize. Goddard has many clubs, a gym, cafeterias, and a health clinic. People are really nice here. They are often excited and happy about working at Goddard. Most people are willing to put in the extra effort if needed. It makes work stimulating and exciting. Management really cares and the employees feel that too. What are some of the major projects you have worked on? Early on, I did a little bit of work on Hubble and later on, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Since 2014, I have exclusively been working on Roman. We are building the grism, a slitless spectrograph, which will measure galaxy redshifts to study dark energy. Presently we are building different grism prototypes. We work with outside vendors to build these prototypes. When we make a prototype, we test it for months. After, we use the results to build an improved prototype. We just finished making the third prototype. We are going to build a flight instrument of which the grism is a component. What is it like to work in the clean room? It’s exciting – it likely means I am working on flight hardware. However, because clean rooms must be kept at about 68 degrees Fahrenheit, it can feel chilly in there! Who are your mentors? What are the most important lessons they have taught you? Ray Ohl, the head of the Optics Branch, is a mentor to me. He is always encouraging me to get outside my comfort zone. He presents other opportunities to me so that I can grow and listens to my feedback. Cathy Marx, one of the Roman optical leads, is also a mentor to me. She created a support network for me and is a sounding board for troubleshooting any kind of work-related issues. What is your role a member of the Hispanic Advisory Committee (HACE)? I joined HACE in 2010 while I was an intern. It’s a great opportunity to network with other Hispanics and gives us a platform to celebrate specific events like Hispanic Heritage Month. I really enjoy participating in HACE’s events. What outreach do you do? Why is doing outreach so important to you? I do educational outreach to teach people about optics. I mainly collaborate with elementary and middle schools. I think we need more future engineers and scientists. I want to help recruit them. I specifically focus on recruiting minorities and Hispanics. I can make a special connection with women and Hispanics. Who is your science hero? It would probably be Marie Curie. She’s the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and she is the only woman to win two Nobel Prizes and she had to overcome a lot of challenges to achieve that. What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words. Disciplined. Organized. Diligent. Passionate. Curious. Family-oriented. Is there something surprising about your hobbies outside of work that people do not generally know? I am a certified Jazzercise instructor – I normally teach two to three times a week. I can even teach virtually if need be. It is an hour-long exercise class combining strength training and cardio through choreographed dancing. We also use weights and mats. I also enjoy going for walks with my husband, James Corsetti, who is also an engineer in the Optics Branch. By Elizabeth M. Jarrell NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Jesse Walsh helps to bring people together in his work with project formulation management. “I try to build trust between team members by understanding everyone’s incentives and making sure all team members understand the different incentives,” he said. “We may have different angles of approach, but we all have the same goal.”Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/William Hrybyk Name: Jesse Walsh Formal Job Classification: Project Formulation Manager Organization: Project Formulation and Development Office, Flight Projects Directorate (Code 401.0) What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? As a formulation manager, I am the project manager in the room as we are designing science space flight missions. We develop proposals to be competed on the agency level against other NASA centers, and outside institutions. I am also our office’s representative on the Earth science line of business. “I help everyone negotiate a balance that fits within the cost and schedule,” said Walsh. “The diversity between and among scientists, engineers, and financial experts is what creates NASA’s innovative solutions.”Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/William Hrybyk What is your background? In 2000, I graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a B.S. in mechanical engineering. In the Navy I went to flight school in Pensacola, Florida, and became a naval flight officer. I was the “Goose,” not “Maverick,” in the P-3 Orion, a four-engine prop plane that primarily hunts for submarines. I was then stationed in Hawaii as part of Patrol Squadron 9, that deployed to the Far East and Middle East. Next, I worked at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C., as a project officer for science experiments on P-3s from Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Patuxent River, Maryland. I developed migraines that disqualified me from flying. In 2007, I got a master’s in civil engineering project management from the University of Maryland. I then worked in Bethesda, Maryland, constructing buildings around the beltway, as a physics teacher at our local high school, and as a project manager of secure facilities with the Army Corps of Engineers. In 2016, I became the assistant branch head for facilities planning at Goddard. I later entered the Flight Projects Development Program, a two-year project manager training program, during which time I worked at the Flight Projects Development Office and as the payload manager for Space Infrastructure Dexterous Robot (SPIDER), a payload on OSAM-1. I had a proposal selected for a second step, and I came back to PFDO to work proposals. Why is this your dream job? We are on the cutting edge of what will fly. We are designing the missions and figuring out what the world of possible will be in space in five to seven years. Scientists come to the table with ideas and engineers make those ideas reality. I make sure the whole team is working together and that all these ideas and solutions fit within our budget and schedule. We make ideas realities. How do you translate between scientists and engineers? It is primarily about understanding incentives. Everyone is thinking differently with different solutions, but we have the same goal. Some scientists have had an idea for years, but the idea still has to be workable. If the resulting instrument or spacecraft fails, technical issues are often the first to be examined. I help the engineers push what they are comfortable making and help the scientists understand the limits of technology. Please talk about the competing pressures of your job. We are responsible for taxpayer’s money. If one thing goes wrong, even on a smaller mission, the monetary loss can run into many millions. The missions we build have cost limits. We fit cutting edge science into a cost-limited opportunity. NASA is extremely thorough. We safeguard taxpayer funds, but also push cutting-edge science. We are on a seesaw. The engineers are more focused on technical solutions while the scientists are more focused on scientific results. I help everyone negotiate a balance that fits within the cost and schedule. The diversity between and among scientists, engineers, and financial experts is what creates NASA’s innovative solutions. “We are on the cutting edge of what will fly,” said Jesse Walsh about his work as a project formulation manager. “We are designing the missions and figuring out what the world of possible will be in space in five to seven years.”Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/William Hrybyk What are some of your negotiating techniques? I try to build trust between team members by understanding everyone’s incentives and making sure all team members understand the different incentives. We may have different angles of approach, but we all have the same goal. People are more likely to compromise the means if they know we will end up at the same place. What is your proudest accomplishment? I am proudest of our Dorado proposal because it was cutting edge science. We were trying to discover where heavy metals like gold are created in the universe. We were trying to prove that we could do fundamental science on a very lean budget, $35 million. We did not win the final proposal, but I was extremely proud of our team, a very small, high-functioning team, that made us feel like we could discover the world. You recently transferred to support the Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) mission. What do you most enjoy about your new role? I am still learning what I don’t know about GDC. I am finding is fascinating to see how the plans that are made in early stages of formulation change and adapt as they run into unforeseen obstacles during implementation. I am really enjoying being part of a small, high performing team, that is mission focused. “We fit cutting-edge science into a cost-limited opportunity,” said Jesse Walsh of his work in project formulation management.”NASA is extremely thorough. We safeguard taxpayer funds, but also push cutting-edge science.”Credits: Courtesy of Jesse Walsh Who is your favorite author? I married a librarian, and books and stories are fundamental parts of our life. I love Hemingway because he portrays extremely complex, emotional scenarios in very simplistic terms. Who is your science hero? My high school physics teacher, Mr. Finkbeiner, who taught me that you understand science in your gut, not your head. Science is not memorizing equations; it is understanding how the world around you works. What are your hobbies? I love flyfishing on the Chesapeake’s tidal rivers and also on fresh water for trout. Flyfishing involves actively engaging with nature; reading the water and the tides, figuring out nature’s puzzle and trying to crack the code. What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words. I can’t wait for what’s next! By Elizabeth M. Jarrell NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

u0022Every project I have worked has been unique, whether it be a sounding rocket, scientific balloon, or aircraft mission,u0022 said Wallops Flight Facility News Chief Keith Koehler, looking back on his 41 years at NASA. u0022The projects are numerous and great people are involved.u0022NASA/Aubrey Gemignani Name: Keith Koehler Title: News Chief Formal Job Classification: Public Affairs Specialist Organization: Office of Communications, Wallops Flight Facility, Goddard Space Flight Center (Code 130.4) What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? As news chief, I manage media relations with local, regional, national, and international media. I also write news releases and web features, and I conduct interviews to bring the exciting activities at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore to the public. What is your educational background? I have a B.A. in journalism from Murray State University in Kentucky and an M.B.A. from Bellarmine University in Kentucky. How did you come to work for NASA? In 1978, while I was at Murray, I joined the NASA Langley Research Center’s Public Affairs Office (now the Office of Communications), in Virginia, as a cooperative education student, a type of internship. In 1984, I joined Wallops as the manager of the Visitor Center while I was working on my master’s. In 1987, I returned to Bellarmine full time to complete the last semester for my master’s. Later that year, after graduating, I returned to the Wallops Visitor Center. In 1990, I became the lead of the Wallops Public Affairs Office, where I have remained most of my career. Why did you spend almost your entire career at Wallops’ Office of Communications? When I first came to Wallops, I fell in love with the area. I grew up in the city and I love this rural area. I enjoy working with the people and the scientists from all over the world who come here to do research projects. Wallops projects usually run six months to about two years, so it’s very fast-paced with a lot of activity in many different areas. I also met my wife Lisa, a native of the area, while at Wallops. What are some of the most interesting projects you have worked on? Northrop Grumman’s Antares program, which launches from Wallops, is interesting because of the positive impact the launches have on the community and their importance in getting supplies to the International Space Station. Wallops began in 1945 as a launch facility. Since coming to Wallops in 1984, I have seen it become a world-class launch facility for much larger rockets. Every project I have worked has been unique, whether it be a sounding rocket, scientific balloon, or aircraft mission. The projects are numerous and great people are involved. What I have enjoyed most throughout my career is the people. Our people want to share what they are doing with the public. u0022What makes a good science communicator is the ability to listen,u0022 said Wallops news chief Keith Koehler. u0022You need to listen closely to what is being told to you from the mission support staff, such as a scientists, engineers, or technicians. Then you must be able to take that information and put it in a format that the public can understand.u0022Courtesy of Keith Koehler What do you want to be your legacy? I would like to be remembered as someone with integrity who was able to bring the message of what we do at Wallops to the public and as someone who supported our educational programs through the development and support of hands-on programs and support of internships. What advice would you give to someone starting out in science communications? You need to have a passion for learning and be curious. We pass on new findings to the public and everything is always changing. You must enjoy communicating with the scientists and engineers and passing on that information to the public in a way they can understand the technical complexities of the science and engineering. What makes a good science communicator? What makes a good science communicator is the ability to listen. You need to listen closely to what is being told to you from the mission support staff, such as a scientists, engineers, or technicians. Then you must be able to take that information and put it in a format that the public can understand. You also must be able to listen to the public and understand what they are asking and interested in hearing. What was your favorite campaign? That is hard to say. With more than 41 years supporting NASA, the missions and field campaigns have been numerous. Field campaigns took me to Alaska, New Mexico, California, Hawaii, in the air over the mid-Atlantic states, and Puerto Rico. How has Wallops changed over the years? In some ways, Wallops has stayed the same, but it also has changed. Wallops has always had a can-do attitude. Mission personnel know the project goals and work toward those goals. Historically, the work has focused on suborbital projects using sounding rockets, scientific balloons, and science aircraft. Recently, there has been an increase in working with small satellites – project management, development, testing and tracking. In addition, Wallops has greatly expanded its support of commercial launch activities. In 1995, Virginia located the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops, which has brought an increase in the launch of orbital rockets. I was part of the core group involved in the birth of the spaceport. What do you enjoy most about living near Wallops? The area is quiet, slower paced. The beaches are nice. We are close enough for a day trip to Washington, D.C., but we can live surrounded by nature. After you retire at the end of this year, what are your plans? I want to travel nationally and internationally with my wife Lisa. I love vegetable gardening. I also want to spend time with my grandchild. I may do some part-time teaching. I hope to do volunteer work, but have not yet decided exactly what or where. What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words. Integrity, faithful, patient, inquisitive, caring, trustworthy. By Elizabeth M. Jarrell NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of question and answer profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterPeople of GoddardWallops Flight Facility Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Electrical engineer Scott Hesh works on a sub-payload canister at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague, Virginia. The cannister will be part of a science experiment and a demonstration of his Swarm Communications technology.Credits: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility/Berit Bland Scott Hesh, an electrical engineer at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, was announced Nov. 2 as the FY22 IRAD Innovator of the Year, an award presented by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “An electrical engineer with an insatiable curiosity, Scott Hesh and his team have worked hand-in-glove with science investigators since 2017,” said Goddard Chief Technologist Peter Hughes. “He developed a technology to sample Earth’s upper atmosphere in multiple dimensions with more accurate time and location data than previously possible with a sounding rocket.” Related: NASA Sounding Rockets Launch Multiple Science Payloads Newly proven technology developed at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague, Virginia, turns a single sounding rocket into a hive deploying a swarm of up to 16 instruments. The technology offers unprecedented accuracy for monitoring Earth’s atmosphere and solar weather over a wide area. Engineers Josh Yacobucci (left) and Scott Hesh test fit a science sensor sub-payload into a ****** Brant sounding rocket at Wallops.Credits: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility/Berit Bland The Internal Research and Development (IRAD) Innovator of the Year award is presented by Goddard’s Office of the Chief Technologist to individuals who demonstrate the best in innovation. “Scott has this enthusiasm for what he does that I think is really contagious,” Sounding Rocket Program technologist Cathy Hesh said. “He’s an electrical engineer by education, but he has such a grasp on other disciplines as well, so he’s sort of like a systems engineer. If he wants to improve something, he just goes out and learns all sorts of things that would be beyond the scope of his discipline.” Mechanical engineer Josh Yacobucci has worked with Scott Hesh for more than 15 years, and said he always learns something when they collaborate. “Scott brings this great perspective,” Yacobucci said. “He could help winnow out things in my designs that I hadn’t thought of.” “For his interdisciplinary leadership resulting in game-changing improvements for atmospheric and solar science capabilities,” Hughes said, “Scott Hesh deserves Goddard’s Innovator of the Year Award.” By Karl B. Hille NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

“I’m hopeful anyone, regardless of their scientific background, could read a Hubble post and understand the gist of it and be interested in it,” said Elizabeth Tammi, social media lead for the Hubble Space Telescope. “I also read our stories with the eye of the potential audience member: What are they going to care about? What is going to bring them into this story? What is going to make them want to read more?”Credits: Courtesy of Elizabeth Tammi Name: Elizabeth Tammi Title: Hubble Space Telescope Social Media Lead Formal Job Classification: Communications Specialist Organization: Hubble Space Telescope Operations (Code 441) What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? I am the social media lead for the Hubble Space Telescope mission at Goddard. In short, Hubble is an orbiting observatory that’s been in low-Earth orbit for more than 30 years. It’s one of NASA’s flagship missions, probably one of its most iconic missions. Hubble has shaped our understanding of how we imagine the universe — visually how we think about it. I run Hubble’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr, along with various other multimedia and communications tasks. We’re a very close-knit team, so we collaborate a lot, both within our team, and with other missions across the agency as well. I’m primarily focused on social media and figuring out how are we going to share our news. On any given day, I might also be working on a script, editing news releases, or working with other accounts on social media campaigns. It’s different every day, which I really like. What is your educational background? I went to Mercer University, which is in Macon, Georgia. I graduated in 2020 with a degree in journalism and creative writing. There, they have a great program called the Center for Collaborative Journalism, which allowed us to work in newsrooms for academic credit. That was really useful, especially in this field, getting that hands-on experience and getting published from my freshman year on. I was eventually able to intern at Goddard the summer before my senior year. I really don’t think that would have been possible if I hadn’t had the audio production experience that Mercer allowed me to get, along with just all aspects of journalism, media, and communications. “Hubble is one of NASA’s flagship missions, probably one of its most iconic missions,” said Elizabeth Tammi, social media lead for the Hubble Space Telescope. “Hubble has shaped our understanding of how we imagine the universe — visually how we think about it.”Credits: Courtesy of Elizabeth Tammi How does your writing experience contribute to your role with Hubble? I know how to write accessibly and in a straightforward manner. I’m hopeful anyone, regardless of their scientific background, could read a post and understand the gist of it and be interested in it. That’s the goal. I try to come up with interesting turns of phrase when I can. I also read our stories with the eye of the potential audience member: What are they going to care about? What is going to bring them into this story? What is going to make them want to read more? Outside work, you’ve written and published books. What inspired you to decide to write? There’s not a day I can remember where I wasn’t absolutely infatuated with books. I think my parents read to me long before I could even understand them. It was just always such a huge part of my life — and I loved, loved, loved reading. When I realized that actual people wrote books, then I knew I wanted to write. To be clear, I didn’t take real steps toward that until I was about 15, 16-ish years old, because I guess in my mind, I still had this idea that authors were more than human. I’ve since had two novels published. Both are in the fantasy genre and earned complimentary reviews; my second novel even earned a Moonbeam Children’s Book Award. “I know it can be intimidating, to think about NASA as a place to intern,” said Hubble Space Telescope social media lead Elizabeth Tammi. “If you have any interest in space, I think that’s the most important part: People who are passionate and interested in our space program.”Credits: Courtesy of Elizabeth Tammi What do you most enjoy about sharing the Hubble story? I think my favorite part is reading the comments that we get from the public, just because everyone has been so supportive of the telescope. Social media can put on display the best and worst aspects of humanity. It’s very nice to see this supportive corner of the Internet. So far, what I’ve really enjoyed was our “Deep Field Week” social media campaign, which was around the 25th anniversary of the Hubble Deep Field image . To the unaided eye, this was a seemingly empty patch of sky. Hubble revealed it has countless galaxies. It was a really staggering finding and definitely was a huge cultural shift in how we think about our universe. Previously, you were a NASA intern from the Summer of 2019 to May 2020. How has that experience shaped your current role? It was absolutely vital. I don’t think I would be here in this position without that internship experience. It was the summer before my senior year of college. I got to go up to Goddard for summer 2019 and I was working primarily as an audio production intern, though the internship afforded me the opportunity to contribute to the newsroom’s work overall. I worked with Katie Atkinson, who I also went to college with, and we got to work on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. One of my primary tasks that summer was working on an oral history campaign tied to Apollo 11’s 50th anniversary . We encouraged people from all over to send in audio accounts of what they remember experiencing when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in 1969. Or, if they didn’t remember seeing it as it happened, how did the landing affect them and their view of the world, or their career aspirations, or if they have family stories tied to Apollo. If I could describe my NASA experience with a book title, it would be the term “Galaxy Brain.” It’s when you have a normal thought but then you think harder, and it gets *******. From the idea of constantly feeling mind-blown by the work that’s going on around me to being part of it makes me feel, “Oh my gosh!” This “Galaxy Brain” imagery symbolizes the enormous magnitude of everything that is interesting and mysterious. It’s just something that’s constantly engaging. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. By Elissa Fielding NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

An image of a coastal marshland combines aerial and satellite views in a technique similar to hyperspectral imaging. Combining data from multiple sources gives scientists information that can support environmental management.John Moisan When it comes to making real-time decisions about unfamiliar data – say, choosing a path to hike up a mountain you’ve never scaled before – existing artificial intelligence and machine learning tech doesn’t come close to measuring up to human skill. That’s why NASA scientist John Moisan is developing an AI “eye.” Oceanographer John MoisanNASA Moisan, an oceanographer at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague, Virginia, said AI will direct his A-Eye, a movable sensor. After analyzing images his AI would not just find known patterns in new data, but also steer the sensor to observe and discover new features or biological processes. “A truly intelligent machine needs to be able to recognize when it is faced with something truly new and worthy of further observation,” Moisan said. “Most AI applications are mapping applications trained with familiar data to recognize patterns in new data. How do you teach a machine to recognize something it doesn’t understand, stop and say ‘What was that? Let’s take a closer look.’ That’s discovery.” Finding and identifying new patterns in complex data is still the domain of human scientists, and how humans see plays a large part, said Goddard AI expert James MacKinnon. Scientists analyze large data sets by looking at visualizations that can help bring out relationships between different variables within the data. Infrared images like this one from a marsh area on the Maryland/Virginia Eastern Shore coastal barrier and back bay regions reveal clues to scientists about plant health, photosynthesis, and other conditions that affect vegetation and ecosystems.John Moisan It’s another story to train a computer to look at large data streams in real time to see those connections, MacKinnon said. Especially when looking for correlations and inter-relationships in the data that the computer hasn’t been trained to identify. Moisan intends first to set his A-Eye on interpreting images from Earth’s complex aquatic and coastal regions. He expects to reach that goal this year, training the AI using observations from prior flights over the Delmarva Peninsula. Follow-up funding would help him complete the optical pointing goal. “How do you pick out things that matter in a scan?” Moisan asked. “I want to be able to quickly point the A-Eye at something swept up in the scan, so that from a remote area we can get whatever we need to understand the environmental scene.” Moisan’s on-board AI would scan the collected data in real-time to search for significant features, then steer an optical sensor to collect more detailed data in infrared and other frequencies. Thinking machines may be set to play a larger role in future exploration of our universe. Sophisticated computers taught to recognize chemical signatures that could indicate life processes, or landscape features like lava flows or craters, might offer to increase the value of science data returned from lunar or deep-space exploration. Today’s state-of-the-art AI is not quite ready to make mission-critical decisions, MacKinnon said. “You need some way to take a perception of a scene and turn that into a decision and that’s really hard,” he said. “The scary thing, to a scientist, is to throw away data that could be valuable. An AI might prioritize what data to send first or have an algorithm that can call attention to anomalies, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be a scientist looking at that data that results in discoveries.” Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterArtificial Intelligence (AI)Goddard TechnologyPeople of GoddardTechnologyWallops Flight Facility Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

“Data visualization has recently exploded as a communication tool,” said Mark SubbaRao, information technology specialist and lead for NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio. “As data becomes ******* and more complex, visualization becomes an even more important tool for understanding that data.”Rachel Connolly / Courtesy of Mark SubbaRao Name: Mark SubbaRao Title: Lead, Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS) Formal Job Classification: Information Technology Specialist Organization: SVS, Science Mission Directorate (Code 606.4) What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? I have an amazing job. I get to work with all the most interesting NASA science and make it visual to help people can understand it. The Scientific Visualization Studio, the SVS, supports all of NASA and is located at Goddard. What is your educational background? I have B.S. in engineering physics, minor in astronomy, from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I have a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Johns Hopkins University. What is data visualization? How is it different from animation? Data visualization is the graphical representation of actual data (in our case usually scientific data). At its most basic it takes the forms of charts, graphs, and maps. In contrast, conceptual animation, such as the work of our colleagues in the CI Lab, is the graphical representation of ideas. Conceptual animation and data visualization are both needed to communicate the full scientific process. How did your work for the University of Chicago develop your interest in visualization? I worked on software for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a project to create the biggest 3D map of the universe. Our goal was to map 3D positions of a million galaxies, which we did. My role was to develop the software to determine the distance to galaxies. To see the result we needed a way to see how the galaxies were distributed in 3D, which led to my interest in visualization. Viewing this map, I felt like we had revealed a new world which no one had yet seen altogether. The desire to share that with the public led me a position at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. “Astrographics,” a video piece Mark SubbaRao produced for the Adler Planetarium, being projected on the Merchandise Mart on the Chicago riverfront.Michael SubbaRao / Courtesy of Mark SubbaRao How did planetariums evolve during your 18 years of working for the Adler Planetarium? I led their visualization efforts for their Space Visualization Laboratory, a laboratory that was on the museum floor and had multiple specialized displays. The local scientific community used our laboratory to present to the public including other scientists and students. I also produced planetarium shows and designed exhibits. My last project, “Astrographics” for Art on the Mart, was a 2.6-acre, outdoor projection onto a building near the Chicago River. We believe that this is the largest, permanent outdoor digital projection in the world. I began to see the power of the planetarium as a data visualization environment. Traditionally, a planetarium has been a place to project stars and tell stories about constellations. Planetariums have now evolved into a general-purpose visualization platform to communicate science. I got more involved with the planetarium community, which led to me becoming president of the International Planetarium Society. A major focus of my presidency was promoting planetariums in Africa. Why did you come to NASA’s SVS at Goddard? I came to Goddard in December 2020. I always admired NASA’s SVS and had used their products. I consider the SVS the preeminent group using scientific visualization for public communication. I wanted to work on visualizations for a broader variety of sciences, in particular, climate science. Our group created visualizations for the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, the fall of 2021. In March 2022, I created a visualization called Climate Spiral, which went viral. This visualization shows monthly global temperature anomalies (changes from an average) between the years 1880 and 2021. Whites and blues indicate cooler temperatures, while oranges and reds show warmer temperatures. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio Download high-resolution video and images from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio As the lead, how do you hope to inspire your group? Our group is very talented, experienced, and self-motivated. Data visualization has recently exploded as a communication tool. Our goal is to continue to stay on top of this rapidly evolving field. Coupled with this, there has been an explosion in scientific data from satellites and super computers. As data becomes ******* and more complex, visualization becomes an even more important tool for understanding that data. Karen St. Germain, NASA’s Director of Earth Science, presenting an SVS visualization of carbon dioxide to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Download high-resolution video and images from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio: [Hidden Content] Goddard Space Flight Center / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio Your work combines art and science. What are the benefits of combining art and science? One huge benefit is that you can reach people through an artistic visual presentation of science who may not be interested in simply reading an article. You can go beyond teaching people, you can move them emotionally through a good, artistic presentation. For example, in “Climate Spiral,” we did not want to just inform people that global average temperatures have increased, we wanted people to feel that the temperature has increased. Also, our universe is just beautiful. Why not let the beauty of the universe create something artistic for you? I sometimes feel like I cheat by letting the universe do my design for me. What do you do for fun? Since moving to Maryland, and living near the Chesapeake Bay, I have taken up stand up paddleboarding. I like to cook too. My father is Indian, so I cook a lot of Indian food. Who inspires you? Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction writer, also wrote a lot of popular science. He played a big part in my decision to become a scientist. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. By Elizabeth M. Jarrell NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Explore More 8 min read John Moisan Studies the Ocean Through the ‘Eyes’ of AI Article 9 mins ago 5 min read NASA Scientists & Historian Named AAAS 2022 Fellows Article 9 mins ago 6 min read Phathom Donald Brings Space Closer as a Hubble Mission Engineer Article 9 mins ago Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 EditorJessica EvansContactRob Garner*****@*****.tld Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterPeople of Goddard View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

“I do evolutionary programming,” said NASA Goddard oceanographer Dr. John Moisan. “I see a lot of possibility in using evolutionary programming to solve many large problems we are trying to solve. How did life start and evolve? Can these processes be used to evolve intelligence or sentience?”Courtesy of John Moisan Name: John Moisan Formal Job Classification: Research oceanographer Organization: Ocean Ecology Laboratory, Hydrosphere, Biosphere, Geophysics (HBG), Earth Science Directorate (Code 616) – duty station at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? I develop ecosystem models and satellite algorithms to understand how the ocean’s ecology works. My work has evolved over time from when I coded ocean ecosystem models to the present where I now use artificial intelligence to evolve the ocean ecosystem models. How did you become an oceanographer? As a child, I watched a TV series called “Sea Hunt,” which involved looking for treasure in the ocean. It inspired me to want to spend my life scuba diving. I got a Bachelor of Science in marine biology from the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine, and later got a Ph.D. from the Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Initially, I just wanted to do marine biology which to me meant doing lots of scuba diving, maybe living on a sailboat. Later, when I was starting my graduate schoolwork, I found a book about mathematical biology and a great professor who helped open my eyes to the world of numerical modeling. I found out that instead of scuba diving, I needed instead to spend my days behind a computer, learning how to craft ideas into equations and then code these into a computer to run simulations on ocean ecosystems. I put myself through my initial education. I went to school fulltime, but I lived at home and hitchhiked to college on a daily basis. When I started my graduate school, I worked to support myself. I was in school during the normal work week, but from Friday evening through Sunday night, I worked 40 hours at a medical center cleaning and sterilizing the operating room instrument carts. This was during the height of the AIDS epidemic. What was most exciting about your two field trips to the Antarctic? In 1987, I joined a six-week research expedition to an Antarctic research station to explore how the ozone hole was impacting phytoplankton. These are single-celled algae that are responsible for making half the oxygen we breathe. Traveling to Antarctica is like visiting another planet. There are more types of blue than I’ve ever seen. It is an amazingly beautiful place to visit, with wild landscapes, glaciers, mountains, sea ice, and a wide range of wildlife. After my first trip I returned home and went back in a few months later as a biologist on a joint Polish–U.S. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) expedition to carry out a biological survey and measure how much fast the phytoplankton was growing in different areas of the Southern Ocean. We used nets to measure the amounts of fish and shrimp and took water samples to measure salinity, the amount of algae and their growth rates. We ate well, for example the Polish cook made up a large batch of smoked ice fish. What other field work have you done? While a graduate student, I helped do some benthic work in the Gulf of Maine. This study was focused on understanding the rates of respiration in the muds on the bottom of the ocean and on understanding how much biomass was in the muds. The project lowered a benthic grab device to the bottom where it would push a box core device into the sediments to return it to the surface. This process is sort of like doing a biopsy of the ocean bottom. What is your goal as a research oceanographer at Goddard? Ocean scientists measure the amount and variability of chlorophyll a, a pigment in algae, in the ocean because it is an analogue to the amount of algae or phytoplankton in the ocean. Chlorophyll a is used to capture solar energy to make sugars, which the algae use for growth. Generally, areas of the ocean that have more chlorophyll are also areas where growth or primary production is higher. So, by estimating how much chlorophyll is in the ocean we can study how these processes are changing with an aim in understanding why. NASA uses the color of the ocean using satellites to estimate chlorophyll a because chlorophyll absorbs sunlight and changes the color of the ocean. Algae have other kinds of pigments, each of which absorbs light at different wavelengths. Because different groups of algae have different levels of pigments, they are like fingerprints that can reveal the type of algae in the water. Some of my research aims at trying to use artificial intelligence and mathematical techniques to create new ways to measure these pigments from space to understand how ocean ecosystems change. In 2024, NASA plans to launch the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite, which will measure the color of the ocean at many different wavelengths. The data from this satellite can be used with results from my work on genetic programs and inverse modeling to estimate concentrations of different pigments and possibly concentrations of different types of algae in the ocean. You have been at Goddard over 22 years. What is most memorable to you? I develop ecosystem models. But ecosystems do not have laws in the same way that physics has laws. Equations need to be created so that the ecosystem models represent what is observed in the real world. Satellites have been a great source for those observations, but without a lot of other types of observations that are collected in the field, the ocean, it is difficult to develop these equations. In my time at NASA, I have only been able to develop models because of the great but often tedious work that ocean scientists around the world have been doing when they go on ocean expeditions to measure various ocean features, be it simple temperature or the more complicated measurements of algal growth rates. My experience with their willingness to collaborate and share data is especially memorable. This experience is also what I enjoyed with numerous scientists at NASA who have always been willing to support new ideas and point me in the right direction. It has made working at NASA a phenomenal experience. Infrared images like this one from a marsh area on the Maryland/Virginia Eastern Shore coastal barrier and back bay regions reveal clues to scientists about plant health, photosynthesis, and other conditions that affect vegetation and ecosystems.John Moisan Related Article: NASA Researcher’s AI ‘Eye’ Could Help Robotic Data-Gathering What are the philosophical implications of your work? The human capacity to think rapidly, to test and change our opinions based on what we learn, is slow compared to that of a computer. Computers can help us adapt more quickly. I can put 1,000 students in a room developing ecosystem model models. But I know that this process of developing ecosystem models is slow when compared what a computer can do using an artificial intelligence approach called genetic programming, it is a much faster way to generate ecosystem model solutions. Philosophically, there is no real ecosystem model that is the best. Life and ecosystems on Earth change and adapt at rates too fast for any present-day model to resolve, especially considering climate change. The only real ecosystem model is the reality itself. No computer model can perfectly simulate ecosystems. By utilizing the fast adaptability that evolutionary computer modeling techniques provide, simulating and ultimately predicting ecosystems can be improved greatly. How does your work have implications for scientists in general? I do evolutionary programming. I see a lot of possibility in using evolutionary programming to solve many large problems we are trying to solve. How did life start and evolve? Can these processes be used to evolve intelligence or sentience? The artificial intelligence (AI) work answers questions, but you need to identify the questions. This is the greater problem when it comes to working with AI. You cannot answer the question of how to create a sentient life if you do not know how to define it. If I cannot measure life, how can I model it? I do not know how to write that equation. How does life evolve? How did the evolutionary process start? These are big questions I enjoy discussing with friends. It can be as frustrating as contemplating “nothing.” Who inspires you? Many of the scientists that I was fortunate to work with at various research institutes, such as Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. These are groups of scientists are open to always willing to share their ideas. These are individuals who enjoy doing science. I will always be indebted to them for their kindness in sharing of ideas and data. Do you still scuba dive? Yes, I wish I could dive daily, it is a very calming experience. I’m trying to get my kids to join me. What else do you do for fun? My wife and I bike and travel. Our next big bike trip will hopefully be to Shangri-La City in China. I also enjoy sailing and trying to grow tropical plants. But, most of all, I enjoy helping raise my children to be resilient, empathic, and intelligent beings. What are your words to live by? Life. So much to see. So little time. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of question and answer profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 EditorJessica EvansContactRob Garner*****@*****.tld Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterArtificial Intelligence (AI)People of GoddardWallops Flight Facility Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

“This event made me realize that NASA really is a family. Everyone works together for a positive outcome; a shared, common interest,” said Dr. Trena Ferrell, NASA’s Earth Science Division’s Education and Publish Outreach Lead. “World-class scientist and engineers willingly give their time to tell the world about their expertise. They are good with people of all ages and are always particularly kind with kids, our next generation of explorers.”NASA / Bill Ingalls Name: Trena Ferrell Title: Education and Public Outreach Lead for the Earth Science Division Formal Job Classification: Environmental Scientist Organization: Earth Science Division, Earth Science Directorate (Code 610) What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? I interface with the public and educational institutions to share all the great research that our scientists and engineers are doing at NASA. I also support large-scale public events around the country and interact with citizen scientists. I’ve always been passionate about science and education, so now I get to mesh my two passions together. What is your educational background? I have a Bachelor of Science in premedicine from Albright College in Redding, Pennsylvania; a master’s in developmental biology from American University in Washington, D.C.; and a Ph.D. in environmental science from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. How did you come to work for Goddard? Initially I wanted to be a doctor, but I started teaching science at the middle school and high school at the Maya Angelou Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., and found that I loved teaching. (I got to meet her once, and she was phenomenal!) Around 2000, I asked NASA to send a speaker, Dr. Octavia Tripp. Through her suggestion, I became an aerospace education specialist and then the NASA Explorer Schools Workshop Coordinator at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Around 2005, I became Goddard’s education representative for Maryland. In 2015, I became a public affairs specialist for Goddard’s Office of Communications. In 2016, I started in my current position. What is your message to students? I work with students from kindergarten through college. I want them to reach for the stars and realize that they can be scientists or engineers who work at NASA. I want them to know that NASA also offers a plethora of other careers, which I also want them to consider. What is your message for citizen scientists? I tell them that they are an important piece of the NASA puzzle who help us with our scientific efforts. For example, the Globe Observer App can be downloaded to a smart phone. Using this app, they can take photos of clouds, land cover, tree height, and mosquito larvae. They can also take tree height measurements. What was your favorite large-scale event? I was one of the co-leads for Goddard’s open house in 2015, my first large-scale project of this magnitude. Over 20,000 people attended. We had so many people that the Greenbelt Metro Station had to close. People even came from other states. I loved seeing all our hard work pay off and how excited all the people were to be at Goddard. I especially enjoyed watching the kids interreacting with our scientists and engineers, asking questions. They are our future. Dr. Trena Ferrell, the education and public outreach lead for NASA’s Earth Science Division, works with students from kindergarten through college. “I want them to reach for the stars and realize that they can be scientists or engineers who work at NASA. I want them to know that NASA also offers a plethora of other careers, which I also want them to consider.”NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Bill Hrybyk When did you feel like you were part of the NASA family? While working on our 2015 open house, I worked with an amazing team. Kudos to the Office of Communications; especially to Michelle Jones, Leslee Scott, Deanna Trask, and Amy Grigg. This event made me realize that NASA really is a family. Everyone works together for a positive outcome; a shared, common interest. If you need help, someone shows up to help you without asking. And you do the same for others who need help. World-class scientist and engineers willingly give their time to tell the world about their expertise. They are good with people of all ages and are always particularly kind with kids, our next generation of explorers. How has working at Goddard changed your life? While at Goddard, I met my husband Mark Branch, a Goddard engineer. He was our subject matter expert for a student outreach event I organized. We married two years after meeting, in 2010. Someday I’d like to write a book about all the couples who met at Goddard. I sincerely thank everyone at Goddard who has touched my life and helped me! Who has guided you the most in life? My parents did everything they could to give my sister and me the best possible opportunities. They told us to dream big and to do big things. They are always there for us. They are amazing people! I adore my family. I love that I have added new family members from NASA. What do you do to relax? I attended a French high school for my junior year and became an admirer of French culture and cuisine. I like to cook, including French food. I also love traveling. I enjoy reading fiction to relax. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. By Elizabeth M. Jarrell NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Explore More 8 min read John Moisan Studies the Ocean Through the ‘Eyes’ of AI Article 9 mins ago 5 min read Mark SubbaRao Brings Data to Life Through Art Article 9 mins ago 5 min read NASA Scientists & Historian Named AAAS 2022 Fellows Article 9 mins ago Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterPeople of GoddardPeople of NASA View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

“I’m always proud every time I see a new picture taken by Hubble,u0022 said Phathom Donald, a satellite systems engineer for the Hubble Space Telescope. u0022It feels like an accomplishment and an honor even to be part of a mission that brings those images to people on Earth.”u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Rob Andreoliu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e Name: Phathom Donald Title: Mission Engineer Formal Job Classification: Satellite Systems Engineer Organization: Astrophysics Project Division, Hubble Space Telescope Operations Project, Code 441 What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? As a member of the flight operations team for the Hubble Space Telescope, I monitor and evaluate the performance of Hubble’s subsystems through its telemetry. I send commands to Hubble as needed for routine maintenance, maintaining communication with the spacecraft, and recovery from onboard anomalies. I also support ground system maintenance to ensure that operations run smoothly and uninterrupted. On the flight software team, I build and run simulations to verify flight software changes before they’re installed onto Hubble. Just like how your laptop or your smartphone gets regular updates to add new features or to fix bugs, Hubble gets flight software updates for added capabilities and to address new issues. Being a flight controller was a dream of mine, so being able to command a spacecraft has been really exciting. I also really enjoy coding, and it’s been interesting seeing how all these critical and complicated activities happen at the same time. I think the work I do outside of my flight controller role has helped me become a better flight controller, because I have a better idea of what’s happening behind the scenes — things feel a bit more intuitive to me. How did you find your path to Goddard? During undergrad, I was on a path to become a power systems engineer. But one day in my senior design class, our professor invited the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) project manager at the time to speak to our class about systems engineering and its applications to the mission. Within five minutes of this presentation, I was on the verge of tears. This presentation alone changed the course of my career because it reminded me that I love the stars and I love space. More importantly, it made me feel like a career at NASA was actually possible. So, I emailed the speaker and asked him for advice, and he responded with excellent guidance and encouragement. I saved that email and essentially used it as a career guide. After graduating, I worked for a NASA contractor first as a quality engineer, then as a model-based systems engineer. While I was in that role, I pursued my master’s, and about a month after graduating, I saw the job posting for Hubble’s flight operations team at Goddard. After a year or so of settling in, I reached out to that same speaker and I let him know I took his advice, I made it to NASA, and that I couldn’t be more grateful for his help. He responded beautifully, saying that he was humbled to have played any role in me getting to where I wanted to be. What first sparked your interest in space? My dad used to take my brothers and me to the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles all the time. I loved going to those shows in the planetarium and just feeling engrossed in what they were teaching. I’d always wanted to take an astronomy class, but I didn’t get the chance until my last year of undergrad. I’m so glad I did; it just reaffirmed that space is for me. u0022In moments where Hubble’s mission is at risk, I’ll look at the situation and think, ‘Okay, what can we do to either fix or mitigate this problem?’u0022 said Phathom Donald, a satellite systems engineer for the Hubble Space Telescope. u0022I do what I can with care, I communicate clearly with those I’m working with, and I trust the abilities of my colleagues.”u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Rebecca Rothu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e What is your educational background? I graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 2014 with a bachelor’s in electrical engineering. I also have a master’s in space systems engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. Right now, I’m pursuing a graduate certificate in control systems from the University of Michigan at Dearborn to prepare for a role supporting Hubble’s pointing and control subsystems. After I’m done, I plan to pursue a graduate certificate in aerospace for that same reason; I want to pick up and hone skills in order to maximize my contributions to Hubble. How do you keep a cool head when you have a mission-critical situation? I think I’m generally a pretty calm person, but in moments where Hubble’s mission is at risk, I tend to focus on what is in my power to get done. So I’ll look at the situation and think, “OK, what can we do to either fix or mitigate this problem?” And I do what I can with care, I communicate clearly with those I’m working with, and I trust the abilities of my colleagues. I work with really brilliant, dedicated people who love what they do, so I know that they’re going to do what’s best for the mission. What is your proudest accomplishment at Goddard? To be honest, I’m always proud every time I see a new picture taken by Hubble, especially after we’ve recovered it from an anomaly. It feels like an accomplishment and an honor even to be part of a mission that brings those images to people on Earth. Who are your science role models, and how have they shaped your career in science? Katherine Johnson: she was an African American mathematician who was pivotal in the success of the early human spaceflight missions carried out by NASA. Her complex trajectory calculations got the first man into space and back unharmed. I also admire Dr. Sian Proctor: she was the first ****** woman to pilot a spacecraft. As a *********, it can be easy to feel like an outlier in the space industry. Seeing people like Katherine and Dr. Proctor succeed and excel in these fields adds a bit of comfort. They show me that these technically demanding roles are attainable. How do you like to spend your time outside of work? What are your hobbies? I spend a lot of time with my tiny dog, Chara. I named her after a yellow star in the Hunting Dogs constellation. Chara is Greek for “joy,” and to say she brings me joy would be an understatement. I actually have a new obsession with snorkeling and freediving. I went snorkeling for the first time in early 2021 and it completely changed my life. Before snorkeling, I was terrified of water. After snorkeling, I wanted to be a fish. I just love the freedom that comes with the lack of equipment. I love the peace that I feel underwater. What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words. “The stars are not too far.” What is some advice you would give your 10-year-old self? You are capable of more than you know, more than what people might try to make you believe. Do what makes you feel fulfilled and define your own success. Your passion is your strength. By Hannah Richter NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 Related TermsGoddard Space Flight Center****** History MonthHubble Space TelescopePeople of Goddard Latest News More NASA News Article8 Min ReadJohn Moisan Studies the Ocean Through the ‘Eyes’ of AI Article5 Min ReadMark SubbaRao Brings Data to Life Through Art 5 Min ReadNASA Scientists & Historian Named AAAS 2022 Fellows Article 6 Min ReadPhathom Donald Brings Space Closer as a Hubble Mission Engineer Article 5 Min ReadTrena Ferrell Inspires Through Science and Education Article View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Four individuals with NASA affiliations have been named 2022 fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in recognition of their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements in the scientific enterprise. Election as a Fellow by the AAAS Council honors members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications in service to society have distinguished them among their peers and colleagues. The 2022 Fellows class includes 508 scientists, engineers, and innovators spanning 24 scientific disciplines. Rita Sambruna from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, was recognized in the AAAS Section on Astronomy, and Jennifer Wiseman, also from Goddard, was recognized in the AAAS Section on Physics. Dorothy Peteet of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York was honored in the AAAS section on Earth Science. Erik Conway of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in southern California was honored for distinguished contributions and public outreach to the history of science and understanding of contemporary science and science policy. Dr. Rita Sambruna is the acting deputy director of the Science and Exploration Directorate and the deputy director of the Astrophysics Division at Goddard. She also promotes increased participation of underrepresented groups in science.Courtesy of Rita M. Sambruna Rita Sambruna Dr. Rita Sambruna is the acting deputy director of the Science and Exploration Directorate and the deputy director of the Astrophysics Division at Goddard. She also promotes increased participation of underrepresented groups in science. She worked with a team to position Goddard to lead the decadal top priority missions. She led a team to set into place a vision for a Multi-Messenger Astrophysics Science Support Center at Goddard, to lead the astrophysics community in reaping the most from NASA- and ground-based observations of celestial sources. She came to Goddard in 2005 to work on multiwavelength observations of jets using the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and other NASA capabilities. From 2010 to 2020 she worked at NASA Headquarters, Washington, as a program scientist for astrophysics. Her research interests include relativistic jets, physics of compact objects, supermassive ****** holes in galaxies, and multiwavelength and multi-messenger astrophysics. In December 2022, Sambruna was awarded the Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) as an internationally acclaimed astrophysicist who embodies the RAS mission in promoting the advancement of science, the increased participation of historically underrepresented groups in astronomy, and a broad interest in astronomy. In 2019 she was awarded the NASA Extraordinary Achievement Medal for her leadership on the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey studies. She was named Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2020 and a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2021. Dr. Jennifer Wiseman is a senior astrophysicist at Goddard and a Senior Fellow at Goddard, where she serves as the senior project scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope. Her primary responsibility is to ensure that the Hubble mission is as scientifically productive as possible.NASA Jennifer Wiseman Dr. Jennifer Wiseman is a senior astrophysicist at Goddard and a Senior Fellow at Goddard, where she serves as the senior project scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope. Her primary responsibility is to ensure that the Hubble mission is as scientifically productive as possible. Previously, Wiseman headed Goddard’s Laboratory for Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics. She started her career at NASA in 2003 as the program scientist for Hubble and several other astrophysics missions at NASA Headquarters. Wiseman’s scientific expertise is centered on the study of star-forming regions in our galaxy using a variety of tools, including radio, optical, and infrared telescopes. She has a particular interest in dense interstellar gas cloud cores, embedded protostars, and their related outflows as active ingredients of cosmic nurseries where stars and their planetary systems are born. In addition to research in astrophysics, Wiseman is also interested in science policy and public science outreach and engagement. She has served as a congressional science fellow of the American Physical Society, an elected councilor of the American Astronomical Society, and a public dialogue leader for AAAS. She enjoys giving talks on the excitement of astronomy and scientific discovery, and has appeared in many science and news venues, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NOVA, and National Public Radio. Dr. Dorothy M. Peteet is a senior research scientist at GISS and an adjunct professor at Columbia University. She directs the Paleoecology Division of the New Core Lab at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia.NASA Dorothy Peteet Dr. Dorothy M. Peteet is a senior research scientist at GISS and an adjunct professor at Columbia University. She directs the Paleoecology Division of the New Core Lab at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia. In collaboration with GISS climate modelers and LDEO geochemists, she is studying conditions of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene that are archived in sediments from lakes and wetlands. Peteet documents past changes in vegetation, derived from analyses of pollen and spores, plant and animal macrofossils, carbon, and charcoal embedded in sediments. Her research provides local and regional records of ancient vegetational and climate history. One recent focus has been the sequestration of carbon in northern peatlands and coastal marshes: ecosystems that are now vulnerable to climate change and potentially substantial releases of carbon back into the atmosphere. Peteet also has performed climate modeling experiments to test hypotheses concerning the last glacial maximum and abrupt climate change. She is interested in climate sensitivity and in how past climate changes and ecological shifts might provide insights on future climate change. Erik Conway has served as the historian at JPL since 2004. Prior to that, he was a contract historian at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. He is a historian of science and technology, and has written histories of atmospheric science, supersonic transportation, aviation infrastructure, Mars exploration, and climate change denial.NASA Erik Conway Erik Conway has served as the historian at JPL since 2004. Prior to that, he was a contract historian at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. He is a historian of science and technology, and has written histories of atmospheric science, supersonic transportation, aviation infrastructure, Mars exploration, and climate change denial. He is the author of nine books, most recently, “A History of Near-Earth Objects Research” (NASA, 2022), and “The Big Myth” (Bloomsbury, 2023). His book “Merchants of Doubt” with Naomi Oreskes was awarded the Helen Miles Davis and Watson Davis prize from the History of Science Society. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2018 and the Athelstan Spilhaus Award from the American Geophysical Union in 2016. AAAS noted that these honorees have gone above and beyond in their respective disciplines. They bring a broad diversity of perspectives, innovation, curiosity, and passion that will help sustain the scientific field today and into the future. Many of these individuals have broken barriers to achieve successes in their given disciplines. AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: [Hidden Content] Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 EditorJamie Adkins Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterGoddard Institute for Space StudiesPeople of Goddard View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Dr. Peyman Abbaszadeh poses outside Princeton University, where he is a postdoctoral research associate in the department of civil and environmental engineering. Peyman’s research area is computational hydrology and satellite data assimilation.u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: Atieh Alipour / Courtesy of Peyman Abbaszadehu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e Editor’s Note: A revised version of this story was posted on February 17, 2023, to include the interviewee’s updated description of his work responsibilities and goals. Name: Dr. Peyman Abbaszadeh Title: Science Collaborator Organization: Hydrological Sciences Laboratory, Sciences and Exploration Directorate (Code 617) What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? I work with researchers at Goddard on developing a new generation of hydrologic data assimilation systems by integrating the NASA LIS (Land Information Systems) and ParFlow hydrologic model. My role at Goddard is especially interesting because I get to work with a team of researchers from all over to collaborate on this project. Our goal is to understand the interaction between the land surface and subsurface hydrologic processes and how this complex system is affected by human activities and the environment at different spatial and temporal scales. It is very exciting working closely with outstanding scientists at NASA on solving unknown problems. This is a great opportunity, and I am so excited about that. Providing access to the information we generate empowers others in the scientific community to use it in their own field studies. Like a recipe, we post all our models and analyses on GitHub with instructions, so that users can utilize them efficiently. What is your background? I got my bachelor’s in civil engineering at the University of Tabriz in Iran. Later I moved to Tehran to study hydrology at Tehran Polytechnic University. Later I moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where I got my Ph.D. in water resources at the University of Alabama. Currently, I am continuing my postdoctoral research at Princeton University and reside in New Jersey. Dr. Peyman Abbaszadeh, a science collaboration researcher at Goddard, discusses the importance of uncertainty in hydrologic studies with high school students in the Water and Climate Academy Week at Watershed Institute, Hopewell Township, New Jersey.u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: Lisa Gallagher / Courtesy of Peyman Abbaszadehu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e Can you explain how these hydrologic models function? Hydrologic models simplify the Earth’s surface and subsurface physical processes using a combination of mathematical equations. They are built to predict and estimate the ways in which water flows above and below the surface of the Earth. Knowing this is extremely important as it helps us to better manage water resources and irrigation systems in different locations with different hydroclimate regimes. Hydrologic models are utilized to enhance drought monitoring, flood forecasting, and other early warning systems by providing more accurate and reliable estimates of soil moisture, evapotranspiration, surface runoff, and subsurface water flow among others. Why did you become a hydrology focused scientist? I became a hydrologist to study how much water we have access to on Earth and how it moves and stores in the atmosphere, on the land surface, and below the ground while being affected by climate change. Along with conducting research, one of my top priorities is making sure that my research contributes to the education of younger generations. To achieve this, I am so happy that I got the chance to get involved in the outreach and education program at the IGWMC (Integrated GroundWater Modeling Center) at Princeton University, where we promote the education of K-12 students and teachers, as well as community members. Can you explain why hydrological science is significant to current research? As we know, climate change is now a climate crisis, as it is warming our planet and disturbing the water cycle by changing the hydrologic processes on the land surface and below the ground. Understanding how the hydrologic variables and fluxes — for example, soil moisture, evapotranspiration, river flow, and groundwater — change over time and interact helps us better prepare and plan for current conditions and accurately forecast future events, such as floods, droughts, wildfires, and heatwaves. These extreme events cause billions of dollars in damage annually in the US and globally. Hydrologic science contributes to a better understanding of the physics behind these processes and their interactions and paves the way for better estimating the likelihood of future events. What inspires you? I decided to apply for this position because during my Ph.D. study, there was a constant voice in the back of my head asking how I could apply the skills I had learned and contribute to society. I wanted to reapply my knowledge in the field to help solve real-world water-related problems and challenges. Working on this project helps me see the real footprint of my research. What do you like to do in your free time? I love to travel with my wife. Recently we had the opportunity to visit Vermont and New Hampshire, which have beautiful scenery. I also love hiking, so this recent trip was a blast! How do you relax after a long day spent in the lab? Card games are another passion of mine, particularly a good poker night. But it’s not a complete end of the day without a good TV show to unwind. Learn more about LIS here: [Hidden Content] By Ranna P. Zahabi NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterPeople of GoddardWater & Energy CycleWater on Earth Explore More 8 min read John Moisan Studies the Ocean Through the ‘Eyes’ of AI Article 9 mins ago 5 min read Mark SubbaRao Brings Data to Life Through Art Article 9 mins ago 5 min read NASA Scientists & Historian Named AAAS 2022 Fellows Article 9 mins ago View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has elected three new members with NASA affiliations. Two employees and one retiree from three different NASA centers around the country were awarded the honor on Feb. 7. Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Individuals in the newly elected class will be formally inducted during the NAE’s annual meeting Oct. 1. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature” and to ‘the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.” Christine Mann Darden, director (retired), Strategic Communications Office, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia.u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: NASAu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e Christine Mann Darden, director (retired), Strategic Communications Office, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, was awarded for pioneering research in supersonic flight technologies and leadership in advancing aerodynamics design to produce low-***** sonic effects. She is internationally known for her research into supersonic aircraft noise, especially sonic ***** reduction, and recognized for her groundbreaking achievement as the first African American woman at NASA Langley to be appointed to the top management rank of Senior Executive Service. She is equally known for her efforts to inspire and educate generations of aerospace scientists and engineers. Christa D. Peters-Lidard, deputy director, Science and Exploration, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: NASA Office of the Chief Information Officeru003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e Christa D. Peters-Lidard, director, Science and Exploration, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, was honored for contributions to understanding land-atmosphere interactions, soil moisture monitoring and modeling, and leadership in Earth system modeling. Her research interests include the application of high-performance computing and communications technologies in Earth system modeling, for which her Land Information System team was awarded the 2005 NASA Software of the Year Award. Vanessa E. Wyche, director, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston.u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: NASAu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e Vanessa E. Wyche, director, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston, received the honor for leadership of NASA Johnson, enabling a commercial low-Earth orbit space economy and future Moon and Mars missions. She is responsible for a broad range of human spaceflight activities, including development and operation of human spacecraft, NASA astronaut selection and training, and mission control. Wyche oversees commercialization of low-Earth orbit – ensuring commercially provided destinations to continue research there following transition from the International Space Station in 2030. Additionally, she leads Johnson’s role in exploring the Moon and Mars with NASA’s Artemis spacecraft, including surface system capabilities for human and commercial robotic missions, and partners with academia, industry, and international community to establish a sustainable lunar economy. Rob Gutro NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center *****@*****.tld L. Eileen Erickson / Kim Case National Academy of Engineering *****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Explore More 8 min read John Moisan Studies the Ocean Through the ‘Eyes’ of AI Article 9 mins ago 5 min read Mark SubbaRao Brings Data to Life Through Art Article 9 mins ago 5 min read NASA Scientists & Historian Named AAAS 2022 Fellows Article 9 mins ago Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterJohnson Space CenterLangley Research CenterPeople of Goddard View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Jonathan Gardner of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, was selected as a 2023 Fellow of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) for extraordinary achievement and service. He is being recognized for exceptional community service and scientific leadership of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope science teams, leading to Webb’s flight hardware exceeding all of its requirements. Dr. Jonathan Gardner is the Deputy Senior Project Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.Credits: Courtesy of Jonathan Gardner Gardner is the deputy senior project scientist for the Webb telescope in Goddard’s Astrophysics Science Division. Webb, which launched Dec. 25, 2021, is the largest, most powerful, and most complex space science telescope ever built. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the ********* Space Agency. John Mather, senior project scientist on Webb and a senior astrophysicist at Goddard, nominated Gardner for the fellowship. In his nomination, Mather wrote: “Jonathan Gardner is a quiet superstar, well known to the Webb community. As deputy senior project scientist for Webb, Gardner represents the senior project scientist in all aspects of the mission, with responsibility for ensuring Webb’s scientific performance. Gardner is a tireless advocate for the scientific vision and its accurate implementation. He is the main spokesperson for Webb science throughout NASA and in the wider astronomy community. He is the person most responsible for keeping the science teams working well together and for communicating with other astronomers.” Gardner began working on Webb as a member of the Ad-Hoc Science Working Group in the late 1990s, joining the project as the deputy senior project scientist in 2002. Beginning in 2002, Gardner organized all the meetings and communications of the Science Working Group, which included people from the U.S., Europe, and Canada, including instrument teams and other partners. He recruited Goddard scientists for the mission’s Project Science Team, and ensured a scientist was assigned to every engineering topic. Gardner also wrote and published the scientific requirements in a dedicated issue of Space Science Reviews. He set up the Science Requirements Analysis Board to review any potential threats to the scientific goals of the mission and worked with engineering teams to avoid any failures. He represented scientific interests throughout the engineering project and throughout NASA, by ensuring regular communication between scientists, managers, and engineers. The 2023 AAS Fellows are recognized for enhancing and sharing humanity’s scientific understanding of the universe through personal achievement and extraordinary service to the astronomical sciences and to the AAS. AAS, established in 1899, is a major international organization of professional astronomers, astronomy educators, and amateur astronomers. Its membership of approximately 8,000 also includes physicists, geologists, engineers, and others whose interests lie within the broad spectrum of subjects now comprising the astronomical sciences. The mission of the AAS is to enhance and share humanity’s scientific understanding of the universe as a diverse and inclusive astronomical community, which it achieves through publishing, meetings, science advocacy, education and outreach, and training and professional development. For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: [Hidden Content] By Robert Gutro NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

u0022The really interesting thing to me is how time theoretically acts strangely around ****** holes. According to Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity, ****** holes change the flow of time,u0022 said Jeremy Schnittman, Goddard research astrophysicist. u0022So much of how we experience the world is based on time, time marching steadily forward. Anything that changes that is a fascinating take on reality.u0022u003cstrongu003eu003cemu003eCredits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Rebecca Rothu003c/emu003eu003c/strongu003e Name: Jeremy Schnittman Formal Job Classification: Research astrophysicist Organization: Gravitational Astrophysics Laboratory, Astrophysics Division (Code 663) What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? I try to understand the formation and properties of ****** holes. I also help develop ideas for new missions to study ****** holes. What drew you to astrophysics? I always liked science and math. The great thing about astrophysics is that it involves a little bit of everything – math, computer programming, physics, chemistry and even philosophy to understand the big picture, the enormity of space. I have a B.A. in physics from Harvard, and a Ph.D. in physics from MIT. I came to Goddard in 2010 after two post-doctoral fellowships. Explore how the extreme gravity of two orbiting supermassive ****** holes distorts our view. In this visualization, disks of bright, hot, churning gas encircle both ****** holes, shown in red and blue to better track the light source. The red disk orbits the larger ****** hole, which weighs 200 million times the mass of our Sun, while its smaller blue companion weighs half as much. Zooming into each ****** hole reveals multiple, increasingly warped images of its partner. Watch to learn more. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman and Brian P. Powell Download high-resolution video and images from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio As an astrophysicist, what do you think about? I think of myself as a computational physicist as opposed to an experimental or observational physicist. I write many computer programs to do computer simulations of ****** holes. I also do a lot of theoretical physics, which is pencil and paper work. I think a lot about equations and math to understand ****** holes. What is most philosophical about ****** holes to me is not so much what people most often think about, that their gravity is so strong that even light cannot escape. The really interesting thing to me is how time theoretically acts strangely around ****** holes. According to Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity, ****** holes change the flow of time. If you could get close enough to a ****** hole, theoretically you could go back and forth in time. All our experiments and observations seem to indicate that is how ****** holes might behave. So much of how we experience the world is based on time, time marching steadily forward. Anything that changes that is a fascinating take on reality. Related Link: Gravity Assist: ****** Hole Mysteries, with Jeremy Schnittman What do you tell the people you mentor? I mentor undergraduate, graduate, and post graduate students in astrophysics. Since we are working remotely, I have students from all over the country. I help them with their research projects which mostly relate to ****** holes in some way. I also offer career advice and help them with their work-life balance. When possible, family comes first. There are more people coming out of graduate school in astrophysics than there are jobs, so there are going to be many people who will not work for NASA or as a professor. Fortunately, there are a lot of other fascinating, related jobs, and I help guide the students there. What do you do for fun? I have a woodshop in our basement where I build furniture, dollhouses, toys, and other items for gifts. As a theoretical physicist, I don’t get to work in a lab. So it is nice to have some hands on experience. I do a lot of hiking and cycling to exercise. I also enjoy spending time with my family. Who is your favorite author? Andy Weir is probably my favorite sci-fi author. I also love the epic naval historical fiction by Patrick O’Brian. Who inspires you? My childhood hero, who is still my scientific hero, is Albert Einstein. The more I work in astrophysics, the more he impresses me. Every single one of his predictions that we have been able to test has proven true. It may be a while, but someday I hope we prove his theories about time travel. Also, I admire Kip Thorne, an American physicist from Cal Tech and recent Nobel laureate, who is “the man” when it comes to ****** holes. He is also a really nice, good guy, a real mensch. Very humble and down-to-earth. He is always extremely patient, kind and encouraging especially to the younger scientists. He is a good role model as I transition from junior to more senior status. What is your one big dream? I make a lot of predictions, so it would be exciting if one of my theories was proven correct. Hopefully someday. By Elizabeth M. Jarrell NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Conversations with Goddard Conversations With Goddard is a collection of question and answer profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterAstrophysicsGalaxies, Stars, & ****** Holes ResearchPeople of Goddard Explore More 8 min read John Moisan Studies the Ocean Through the ‘Eyes’ of AI Article 9 mins ago 5 min read Mark SubbaRao Brings Data to Life Through Art Article 9 mins ago 5 min read NASA Scientists & Historian Named AAAS 2022 Fellows Article 9 mins ago View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

u0022From a natural resources perspective, I often say that Wallops has all the aspects of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (which shares its home with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge) in Florida but in a compressed area,u0022 said Shari Miller, NEPA manager and natural resources manager at Wallops Flight Facility. u0022We protect all these species while launching rockets and unmanned aerial systems (UASs) or drones above them.u0022NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility / Jamie Adkins Name: Shari Miller Title: Wallops Flight Facility National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Manager and Wallops Natural Resources Manager Formal Job Classification: Environmental Engineer Organization: Medical and Environmental Management Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (Code 250) What do you do at Goddard? For half my job, I do environmental planning and review all projects and missions looking to come to Wallops or that Wallops project managers are looking to perform anywhere in the world. For the other half of my job, I manage the natural resources permitting and review at Wallops. Why did you become an environmental engineer? I have always been an outdoors person and was raised to love nature and the environment. I have a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and biology from Salisbury University and a master’s in environmental science from the University of Maryland. I have worked at Wallops for over 23 years. What are some of Wallops’ unique environmental attributes? From a natural resources perspective, I often say that Wallops has all the aspects of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (which shares its home with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge) in Florida but in a compressed area. We have endangered species including nesting shorebirds called the piping plover and red knots, and protected species, including bald eagles and peregrine falcons. Loggerhead sea turtles sometimes nest on our shores. Seals may stop to rest. We protect all these species while launching rockets and unmanned aerial systems (UASs) or drones above them. For the other half of my job, I can be analyzing the environmental impacts of a rocket launched from a balloon over Hawaii ranging to that of replacing a bridge or building a new rocket launch pad at Wallops, all in the same day. Environmental impacts may include noise levels; socioeconomic effects in the community; and changes, positive or negative, to air, water, or other natural resources. Environmental planning allows the public to comment on proposed federal projects including infrastructure and mission. Shari Miller, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) manager and natural resources manager at Wallops Flight Facility, helps balance mission needs while also protecting Wallops’ diverse local ecosystem. u0022We have endangered species including nesting shorebirds called the piping plover and red knots, and protected species, including bald eagles and peregrine falcons. Loggerhead sea turtles sometimes nest on our shores. Seals may stop to rest.u0022NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility / Shari Miller What is the coolest thing you have done at work? In 2015, I worked on a NASA mission called the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project in Hawaii. A sounding rocket launched from a balloon was used to test a decelerator and parachute for landing rovers on Mars. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Southern California designed the decelerator and parachute. Wallops designed the balloon and sounding rocket system and performed the launch. The Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility provided the launch range in Hawaii. Both the balloon and the decelerator systems had the potential to land in a National Marine Monument, a highly protected area. I worked with the Hawaiian governor’s office, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service on obtaining the necessary permits. I loved the challenge of working with so many entities. I planned all the permits and analyses to ensure that the mission could proceed. Do you like to plan in advance? The point of early planning is to “know before you go” to allow time to make any necessary changes. I am a planner, at work and in life. I start planning early. How are you going to know where you are going and get plane tickets unless someone does some advance planning? Who inspires you? My parents inspire me. My father passed away, but he taught me to appreciate a thunderstorm. My mom is in her mid-seventies and retired, but she never sits still. She is one of the most on-the-go people I know. If she is not walking her dogs in the woods, she is either at a card game, a college class, or on a lunch date with friends. Her energy and love of learning and reading and her excitement to share what she has learned, inspires me. I am a data-driven, scientific person. She gave me my love of nature, science, data, and learning. u0022I can be analyzing the environmental impacts of a rocket launched from a balloon over Hawaii ranging to that of replacing a bridge or building a new rocket launch pad at Wallops, all in the same day,u0022 Wallops Flight Facility resources manager Shari Miller describes her job. u0022Environmental impacts may include noise levels; socioeconomic effects in the community; and changes, positive or negative, to air, water, or other natural resources.u0022NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility / Shari Miller As a nature lover and environmentalist, what is your favorite place in the world and why? I love hiking with my two dogs in the woods and to our local creeks and lakes. I love to travel. I’ve been fortunate to have traveled a lot, including to Japan and Thailand. The top of my traveling wish list is New Zealand. How does being in nature ground you? I am a high-energy person. Being in nature allows me to slow down and breathe; to listen to the stillness, the wind and birdsong. Just to listen to the quiet. All this grounds and calms me, it is almost meditative. It is also energizing and recharges my battery. What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words. Nature-lover balancing the environment and missions. By Elizabeth M. Jarrell NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterPeople of GoddardPeople of NASAWallops Flight FacilityWomen's History Month Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Wallops Flight Facility Environmental Management Division Explore Earth Science From its origins, NASA has studied our planet in novel ways, using a fleet of satellites and ambitious airborne and ground-based… View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has awarded its inaugural Mani L. Bhaumik Breakthrough of the Year Award to standout contributors to NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, also known as Webb or JWST. It honors three individuals who supported vast swaths of the Webb community over decades and whose persistence ensured the mission’s success. The award recognizes former NASA Administrator Charles Frank Bolden Jr.; Dr. John Mather, senior project scientist of Webb since 1995; and Bill Ochs, Webb project manager from 2011 through the telescope’s launch in 2021. The award selection committee sought to acknowledge not only the winners’ individual contributions, but the teams they inspired, whose collective work has given us all a completely different view of the universe. The Bhaumik Breakthrough of the Year Award builds upon the Science Breakthrough of the Year, the journal’s choice of the top research advance of the year. In 2022, the successful deployment of Webb, and the first images revealed on July 12, earned Science’s “breakthrough” status. The inaugural award represents three key groups: the scientists, the engineers, and the leaders who advocated for the Webb mission. Bolden, a retired U.S. Marine Corps major general and a former astronaut who served as administrator of NASA from 2009 to 2017, was passionate about the telescope. With a deep understanding of its potential for scientific discovery he made the telescope’s completion an agency-wide priority. Former NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden.Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls “This telescope was going to revolutionize our understanding of astrophysics,” said Bolden, whose enthusiasm for Webb came in part from his time as co-pilot crew member of the mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990. “What we’d learn from JWST would dwarf what we’d learned from Hubble.” Mather played a key role in the project from the earliest days. In his work leading the Webb telescope science team beginning in 1995, Mather represented scientific interests to project management and helped see each step forward, no matter how small. Dr. John Mather, the senior project scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope, has been working on the observatory for more than 25 years.Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn Meet the Team: John Mather “We set ourselves an incredible challenge,” said Mather. “The telescope represented a very revolutionary idea, and we had to invent many things.” His work included setting up international science contests to find the best talent to invent the right instruments and technologies for the telescope, and to bring the same inventions to life.” Ochs, who served as Webb project manager starting in 2011 – representing both engineering and science teams – confronted challenges in terms of schedule and budget. Bill Ochs, former project manager for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.Credits: Courtesy of Bill Ochs Meet the Team: Bill Ochs “I had to learn this huge, complex mission and figure out a new launch estimate and cost estimate,” said Ochs. He was very focused on the people at the center of the project. “I am very honored to have been selected as one of the recipients of the Bhaumik Breakthrough of the Year Award by the AAAS,” Ochs said. “Leading the JWST team for almost 12 years was extraordinarily special. The ‘Webb Experience’ not only allowed me to work with some the smartest people I have ever met, but also the best all-around individuals you could ever encounter. It was the best 12 years of my career.” On May 3, an event at AAAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., will honor Ochs, Mather, and Bolden. Each winner will speak about their time serving the Webb telescope community. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s largest, most powerful, and most complex space science telescope ever built. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the ********* Space Agency. By Robert Gutro and Thaddeus Cesari NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Name: Lynn Bassford Title: Hubble Space Telescope Mission Flight Operations Manager Formal Job Classification: Multifunctional Engineering and Science Manager Organization: Astrophysics Project Division, Hubble Space Telescope Operations Project, Code 441 Lynn Bassford’s long career enables her to keep learning. “It’s just a fact of my life to learn something new every day until the day I die,” she says. “I’m not happy being stagnant.”NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Tim Childers What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? I help Goddard’s Hubble Space Telescope Mission Operations Team to make sure that we’re taking care of the health and safety of the spacecraft. This includes commanding and playing back data from Hubble and working with the ground system and subsystems engineering teams to coordinate procedures, train people, schedule everyone, and manage resources. How did you find your path to Goddard? I graduated and wasn’t quite sure where a physics major would go for a position. So, I picked up a copy of Physics Today, went through every company in there, and sent out my résumé. After sending approximately 200, an application came back from Lockheed. It said to fill it out and send it to the Lockheed closest to you. There were 10 different locations, so I sent it to all 10. One day, there was a message on the answering machine that said, “Hey, Lynn, just wondering if you would like to work on a telescope in space for NASA.” The person who called, his name sounded like “Mr. Adventure,” and I gave him a call back and found out his name was Mr. Ed Venter. I can’t help but think it’s pretty cool, actually, because it has indeed been a great adventure! What is your favorite part of working at Goddard? Working with the spacecraft! Physically sending a command up and seeing it come back is just utterly amazing. Over the years, I’ve had the luck of being able to meet several astronauts that have gone up in our servicing missions. In a couple cases, we had them visit us in the middle of the night on our long shifts. Meeting them is like meeting a rock star. What first sparked your interest in space? Space was a combination of sci-fi and reality. The Apollo 11 Moon landing took place a couple of months after I was born, so my dad and I like to say that I was in front of the TV watching and it just got absorbed into my persona. One day, I saw Sally Ride up working in space and the TV said she had a background in physics, so I did physics. Lynn Bassford says her favorite part of working at Goddard has always been working directly with the Hubble Space Telescope. “Physically sending a command up and seeing it come back is just utterly amazing,” she says.Courtesy of Lynn Bassford What is your educational background? I was always very good at science and math and absolutely loved them. In middle school, I wanted to do astrogeology, but everyone I talked to said I kind of made that up. Now it’s all around the place! I went to University of Lowell for physics, which became UMass at Lowell. I ended up working for a physics professor who was also the head of the astronomy department. You’ve held many roles over your years at Goddard. How do you feel that they’ve contributed to your current role as a manager? Everything I’ve done aligns. I learn from everyone at all levels that I interact with. I did eight-and-a-half years of rotating shift work with flight operations, and I made sure that I moved across the room from console to console learning the different areas. Then I went into science instruments system engineering for over five years, where I became the lead. Then I moved into this role in mission operations, which combines those but also brings in employee performance, career growth, safety, diversity and inclusion, and engagement. Understanding what each area does and how they work together helps you optimize everything. It’s just a fact of my life to learn something new every day until the day I die. I’m not happy being stagnant. How do you manage stressful situations when working with the telescope? I don’t even think about how stressful it is because of the training I had in those early days: working with and learning from the experts about what you look at, who you call, what you do, and how to keep the telescope in a safe condition. Even during issues or service missions, we’re actually a very calm team. What is your proudest accomplishment at Goddard? When I was a Flight Operations Team shift supervisor in charge of my own crew for Hubble, on Jan. 6, 1996, we got hit with a three-foot snowstorm. Back in those days, we were on rotating shift work. When I left work that day, there was a light layer of snow, so I went home and collected whatever I could in the house for food, knowing there were at least five people on-site that might not go home. I drove back to work with half-a-foot of snow. Seven people stayed for two-and-a-half days straight. We pulled the foam coverings off the walls, piled them up in layers, and made a mattress out of it. We put it in one of the warmer inner offices so we could take turns sleeping eight hours and splitting 16 hours between working real-time operations and moving our vehicles from lot to lot for the Goddard snowplows. NASA gave us a small award afterwards. Lynn Bassford and the 1996 Hubble flight operations team received an award for keeping Hubble running during a three-foot snowstorm. “Seven people stayed for two-and-a-half days straight,” Lynn recalls.NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center What is the coolest part of your job? Hubble’s mission is just generally the coolest. It’s helping to discover, and to rewrite science books. Helping humanity discover what’s out there and move forward into the universe is groundbreaking. What advice would you give to people looking to have jobs at Goddard? For students, make sure you work hard even though college can be quite a challenge. That’s the intention – to get you thinking in all different ways and broaden your mind. Don’t give up, even when it’s challenging. For workers, diversifying your interests and not specializing in one area will make you open to a lot of different opportunities that you might not know about. You need to keep learning in order to be the best asset to an employer. Do you have a favorite space or Hubble fact? Hubble is a green telescope! We had solar panels before houses did. Lynn Bassford frequently helps out with Hubble outreach. “Hubble’s mission is just generally the coolest,” she says. “Helping humanity discover what’s out there and move forward into the universe is groundbreaking.” Courtesy of Jim Jeletic How do you like to spend your time outside of work? My dedication to work and family takes up most of my time, admittedly. If I can fit it in, I like to walk outside, do artwork that involves Hubble, and do challenging sports like white water rafting and bungee jumping. In the ’90s, I played on the men’s softball team at Goddard. I was a pitcher for the Hubble team. What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words. We’re all made of stardust, IDIC. IDIC stands for infinite diversity in infinite combinations – it comes from Star Trek’s Spock. By Hannah Richter NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterHubble Space TelescopePeople of Goddard Explore More 6 min read Shaigh Sisk: Keeping the Wheels Turning in Projects and Pottery Project support specialist Shaigh Sisk helps keep things running in Goddard's Exploration and Space Communications… Article 6 mins ago 3 min read NASA’s Sandra Irish Wins 2023 Society of Women Engineers Award Article 6 mins ago 4 min read Webb Telescope’s Marcia Rieke Awarded Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal Article 6 mins ago View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Shaigh Sisk, planner and scheduler for the Optical to Orion project in the Laser-Enhanced Mission Navigation and Operational Services (LEMNOS) office, enjoys traveling near water when she isn’t at work.Credits: Courtesy of Shaigh Sisk Name: Shaigh Sisk Title: Planner / Scheduler, Orion Artemis II Optical Comm System (O2O), Laser-Enhanced Mission Navigation and Operational Services (LEMNOS) Office Organization: Exploration and Space Communications Projects (ESC) Division, Code 450 What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? I provide administrative support to division management and scientists on multiple tasks and projects. I also facilitate and streamline processes for official government travel and government purchases using a government credit card. What is your educational background? How did you come to Goddard? In 2017, I earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Maryland University College in environmental management. My dream job through college was to work for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, where I started working in 2017 supporting their education department. In 2019, after a friend who worked at Goddard said how much she loved working here, I came to Goddard into my current position because of greater opportunities. What is the most interesting work you have done at Goddard? I started shortly before the COVID shutdown and associated restrictions. I had to navigate the COVID policies in terms of government travel and purchasing, which have changed over the last two years. One benefit is that sorting out these new processes and restrictions have allowed me to work with a great number of people at Goddard. Project support specialist Shaigh Sisk provides administrative support to several divisions and tasks at Goddard, helping with things like travel and project management. Her six-word memoir, she says, is “Dive in, the water is great!”Credits: Courtesy of Shaigh Sisk Who are your mentors? Until recently, I directly supported Stephanie Getty, the director of our division. Her position keeps evolving so I have to keep up with her. She is brilliant! She supports so many amazing scientific ventures and is a phenomenal leader. She truly cares about the people in the workforce as individuals. I was five months pregnant with my first child in March 2020 as we went into lockdown. Stephanie is a great role model, as she is a working mom of two in a leadership position. She is always very understanding about work-life balance and is an inspiration, especially on really hard days, to do your best and keep going forward. She has recommended me for opportunities to consult with other individuals in the directorate’s office to streamline policies and processes relating to travel. Also, Juri Schauermann, the assistant director, has encouraged me and provided opportunities to work on tasks that continuously improve my skills. Juri creates a work environment that is fun and efficient. She is an amazing female role model balancing a successful career and a family of six. I feel grateful to have her as a supportive mentor but also as a friend. What do you like most about working at Goddard? It would be my group of people. Our front office group is very supportive and tight knit. I feel fortunate to work with people who look out for each other, and they are truly my work family The first thing we do Monday morning is catch up with each other as a group to go over what our week looks like and form a game plan. We ask about each other’s weekends, vacations, and children. Aside from everyone being amazing humans, we are all spectacular at what we do and keep the division running super smooth. The culture of Goddard is just unmatched. Where do you hope to be in five years? Over the next few years, I want to explore and develop skills in project management. In five years, I want to have gained experience in leading projects and tasks that I am excited about and continue to work with people at Goddard within different disciplines. What I love about my current position is that after only three years, I have been exposed to so many avenues. Project support specialist Shaigh Sisk creates pottery when she’s not at work. “I love the opportunity that pottery provides to mesh creativity and science,” she said.Credits: Courtesy of Shaigh Sisk What are your hobbies? In my spare time I love spending time at a local pottery studio near my house and creating new forms on the pottery wheel. I hope to one day have my own little pottery studio at my house where I can have a place to be creative and continue to practice a craft I started doing in high school. I love the opportunity that pottery provides to mesh creativity and science. After you create your form, it all comes down to chemistry. One of the most interesting examples of chemistry in pottery that I’ve experienced is Raku firing. This is an ancient Japanese ceramics technique that uses a mixture of high heat, combustibles, and starvation of oxygen to create unique and random colors within the glaze depending on how the different elements react. Where is your favorite place in the world and why? Anywhere near water. I find water very tranquil and relaxing, and I love how my senses come alive when I’m near it. I’m fascinated with the different ecosystems that exist within and around water. A trip to the state of Washington to see killer and humpback whales swim freely in their natural habitat was an unexplainable experience for me. My travel destinations are always chosen around what aquatic creatures I can interact with. My dream place to visit would be the Galapagos Islands. What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words. Dive in, the water is great! Editor’s Note: At the time of this interview, Shaigh worked as a lead project support specialist in the Solar System Exploration Division, and her answers reflect her work at that time. As of February 2023, she now works as the planner and scheduler for the Orion Artemis II Optical Comm System (O2O) project in the Laser-Enhanced Mission Navigation and Operational Services (LEMNOS) office, while still supporting the SSED office group. By Elizabeth M. Jarrell NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterCommunicating and Navigating with MissionsPeople of GoddardTechnology Explore More 6 min read Lynn Bassford Prioritizes Learning as a Hubble Mission Manager Lynn Bassford levels decades of experience and a desire for self-growth as she helps lead… Article 6 mins ago 3 min read NASA’s Sandra Irish Wins 2023 Society of Women Engineers Award Article 6 mins ago 4 min read Webb Telescope’s Marcia Rieke Awarded Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal Article 6 mins ago View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Joshua Abel’s job as lead systems engineer for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s Optical Telescope Assembly is “to deliver the assembly to the Roman observatory on time, within budget, and meeting all the technical requirements.”Credit: NASA / Chris Gunn Name: Joshua Abel Title: Lead systems engineer for the Roman Space Optical Telescope Assembly Formal Job Classification: Flight Systems Design Engineer Organization: Instrument/Payload Systems Engineering Branch (Code 592), Mission Engineering and Systems Analysis Division, Engineering and Technology Directorate Editor’s note: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s Optical Telescope Assembly (gaming platforms) includes the telescope’s primary and secondary mirrors, as well as supporting optics. The gaming platforms enables the telescope to collect light that is then delivered to the observatory instruments. What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? As the lead systems engineer for the Roman Space Telescope Optical Telescope Assembly, I am the government technical authority for procurement of the assembly, currently being manufactured by L3Harris Corporation in Rochester, New York. I am responsible for technical oversight of the vendor and verifying requirements. What was your path to becoming an aerospace engineer at Goddard? In 1999, I received a B.S. in interdisciplinary engineering focused on biomedical engineering from Purdue University. I began a master’s in biomedical engineering in bioheat transfer from Purdue University, but left in 2001 to work at Space Systems/Loral as a thermal systems engineer for satellites. In 2005, I came to Goddard to work on Hubble Servicing Mission 4 and other NASA satellite servicing projects as a thermal systems engineer. In 2018, I began supporting the New Opportunities Office as a systems engineer, later joining the Instrument/Payload Systems Engineering Branch in my current role. What are your goals as the lead systems engineer for the Roman Space Telescope Optical Telescope Assembly? My goal is to deliver the assembly to the Roman observatory on time, within budget, and meeting all the technical requirements. I lead a small team of subject matter experts to review the vendor’s plans and help resolve any technical issues. What is your management style? I have a broad engineering background which helps me ask the right questions. I like to build consensus within the team and consolidate everyone’s work into a cohesive and understandable package, communicating complex issues both within the team and to management. What makes Goddard special? Everyone here loves their work and is focused on mission success. Even when conversations are difficult and the stakes are high, the emotion comes from caring so deeply. As a systems engineer, my goal is to listen to all ideas and help find the best direction for the project. Systems engineer Joshua Abel is a team player at work, where he and his team review vendor plans and resolve technical issues for the Roman Space Telescope’s Optical Telescope Assembly, and at home, where he plays and coaches soccer.Courtesy of Joshua Abel What drives you? I try to do what is needed and contribute to the best of my ability. I am energized when someone says they need help, be it fixing things that are broken or putting new things together. I’m always excited to continue to learn from the our expert team members and vendors. I prefer working in a team. I like the dynamic environment of systems engineering, which is full of difficult problems that need a larger group to get enough perspectives to solve. My background and skill mix are a little bit of everything. I enjoy English, communication, math, and science. These interests help me see different sides of a problem. I like to take things that are slow and repetitive and make them faster and more interesting for myself and others. For example, I like to write Microsoft Excel programs to analyze thermal model data and other large databases to improve productivity. What advice would you give young engineers? Take whatever project you are working on and exceed expectations. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Early tasks for young engineers are not always the most exciting, but work to the best of your ability and try to learn as much as you can. Understand the job and try to see if it can be accomplished better or faster. If you approach every task with this attitude, the next opportunity will always come. Build your network of experts and use their lessons learned to help your project, always returning that help when you can. Oftentimes the most important piece of knowledge you’ll be able to provide your team is simply knowing who to call to for advice. All of NASA’s engineers are always willing to help. What are your hobbies? I play and coach soccer and I also play guitar with my three children around our fire pit. Like every engineer, I’m continually working on home improvement projects for my favorite manager, my wife, who is a thermal systems engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. By Elizabeth M. Jarrell NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 EditorJessica EvansContactRob Garner*****@*****.tldLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsPeople of GoddardGoddard Space Flight CenterNancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Explore More 6 min read Lynn Bassford Prioritizes Learning as a Hubble Mission Manager Lynn Bassford levels decades of experience and a desire for self-growth as she helps lead… Article 6 mins ago 6 min read Glenn Bazemore: Professional Problem-Solver Glenn Bazemore is a mechanical engineer working on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Team.… Article 2 years ago 5 min read Melissa Harris: Propelling Space Telescopes Toward Success Melissa Harris is an engineer working on the propulsion system for the Nancy Grace Roman… Article 2 years ago View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Dr. Marcia Rieke, principal investigator for the Near-Infrared Camera on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the Astronomical Society of the Pacific’s (ASP) 2023 recipient of its most prestigious award. ASP’s Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal honors Rieke, a Regents Professor of astronomy and Elizabeth Roemer Endowed Chair, Steward Observatory, at the University of Arizona. Rieke’s award and achievements were recognized at the ASP Awards Gala on Saturday, Nov. 11, in Redwood City, California. Marcia Rieke, Regents’ Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona and principal investigator for the near-infrared camera on the James Webb Space Telescope.Credit: George Rieke / UAZ Groundbreaking Contributions Rieke’s research has focused on infrared observations of the center of the Milky Way and high redshift galaxies in the early universe. Rieke is considered by many to be one of the “founding mothers of infrared astronomy,” and it is for her groundbreaking contributions to astronomical research at these wavelengths that she is being recognized and celebrated. “I owe a debt of gratitude to my team that made all this possible. I am humbled that I’m on a list that includes the founders of infrared astronomy, Gerry Neugebauer and Frank Low,” said Rieke. Rieke served as deputy principal investigator for the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and co-investigator for the multiband imaging photometer on NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope. Rieke was also involved with several infrared ground-based observatories, including the Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory in Arizona. Rieke’s nominators credit her leadership for the success of Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). As one of her nominators stated, “NIRCam was the Webb program’s most challenging instrument development effort. The instrument’s outstanding performance is due largely to the outstanding performance of its principal investigator. Marcia’s consistent focus, diligence, and ‘lead from the front’ approach under extremely difficult technical and programmatic circumstances presents an example for others to follow.” Marcia Rieke, Regents’ Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona and principal investigator for the near-infrared camera on the James Webb Space Telescope.Credit: George Rieke / UAZ Rieke has authored 310 refereed publications, which have over 30,000 citations. Her deep knowledge and expertise were put into service as vice chair for program prioritization for the Astro 2010 Decadal Survey Committee’s report, “New Worlds, New Horizons.” Her landmark contributions to astronomical research and instrument development, as well as her service to public policy and public outreach, have been recognized nationally. She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007, a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences in 2012, and a legacy fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2020. Rieke has also been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2023 for her contribution to the field of astronomy and key role in the development of cutting-edge instruments for Webb. About the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal ASP is an international non-profit scientific and educational organization, founded in 1889, that works to increase understanding and appreciation of astronomy. The Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal is the organization’s highest award given annually to a professional astronomer in recognition of a lifetime of outstanding achievement and contributions to astrophysics research. It was established by Catherine Wolfe Bruce, an American philanthropist and patroness of astronomy. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s largest, most powerful, and most complex space science telescope ever built. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the ********* Space Agency. For more information about NASA’s Webb telescope visit: www.nasa.gov/webb Media Contact Rob Gutro NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Infrared Waves What are Infrared Waves? Infrared waves, or infrared light, are part of the electromagnetic spectrum. People encounter Infrared waves every… The Electromagnetic Spectrum Video Series & Companion Book Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 EditorMarty McCoy Related TermsJames Webb Space Telescope (JWST)Goddard Space Flight CenterPeople of Goddard View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Sandra Irish, mechanical systems lead structures engineer for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, has been selected to receive the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Resnik Challenger Medal Award for her visionary contributions to the development, testing, transport, and launch of NASA’s premier space telescope since 2006. The medal was awarded during the World’s Largest Conference for Women in Engineering and Technology or WE23, which took place Oct. 26-28 in Los Angeles. Sandra Irish, lead structures engineer of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, was selected to receive the 2023 Society of Women Engineers Resnick Challenger Medal Award.NASA As an engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for over 40 years, Irish’s mechanical systems expertise has helped to ensure the successful operation of many NASA programs including the Webb telescope. As Webb’s lead structures engineer, Irish led a group of 12 engineers that performed meticulous analysis and testing which helped confirm that the observatory’s mechanical design was fit to survive the rigors of spaceflight and on-orbit operations. While Irish’s primary focus was on preparing the telescope for a long life of service in space, she was also intimately involved in safely transporting the telescope to various locations around the United States for testing and assembly, and ultimately to its final destination where it launched from Europe’s Spaceport located near Kourou, French Guiana. Her steadfast dedication and expansive mechanical systems knowledge were key factors in the success of the notedly complex Webb mission. In addition to performing her duties on Webb, she served, and still actively serves, as the group lead for NASA Goddard’s mechanical systems analysis and simulation branch. Sandra Irish, lead structures engineer for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, stands in front of the nearly fully tested observatory she dedicated a significant part of her career to working on, just prior to its shipment to the launch site.Northrop Grumman “I am honored to be this year’s recipient of SWE’s Resnik Challenger Medal Award for my role in Webb,” said Irish. “For 16 years of my engineering career at NASA, I worked on designing, building, testing, and delivering the most amazing telescope that NASA has ever launched into space. It was a joy to lead Webb’s structures team of such dedicated and talented engineers. Each day we tackled challenging design and test problems together, which resulted in a telescope that is successfully operating a million miles away! I smile every time a new image or discovery is shared with the world. It was wonderful to have been a part of the Webb team!” About the Resnik Challenger Medal Award The Resnik Challenger Medal was established in 1986 to honor SWE’s Dr. Judith A. Resnik, NASA mission specialist on the Challenger space shuttle flight lost Jan. 28, 1986. It is awarded for visionary contributions to space programs to an individual who identifies as a woman with at least ten years of experience. This award acknowledges a specific engineering breakthrough or achievement that has expanded the horizons of human activities in space. SWE strives to advance and honor the contributions of women at all stages of their careers and recognize the successes of SWE members and individuals who enhance the engineering profession through contributions to the industry, education, and the community. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the ********* Space Agency. For more information about NASA’s Webb telescope visit: www.nasa.gov/webb Media Contacts Thaddeus Cesari NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 EditorMarty McCoy Related TermsJames Webb Space Telescope (JWST)Goddard Space Flight CenterPeople of Goddard View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Earth science researcher Dr. Antonia Gambacorta earned the 2023 Goddard IRAD Technology Leadership award for pioneering new ways to measure lower layers of Earth’s atmosphere from space. The award from the chief technologist of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, recognizes Gambacorta’s work demonstrating how hyperspectral microwave sounding, the measurement of hundreds of thousands of wavelengths of microwave light, could dissect Earth’s atmospheric planetary boundary layer (PBL). She also conceptualized a microwave photonics radiometer instrument to reveal these measurements. NASA / Christopher Gunn The part of Earth’s atmosphere people live in, and have the most experience studying, is the hardest to measure from space due to the volume and complex behavior of the air above it, Gambacorta said. Developing the ability to probe and measure the boundary layer on a global, routine basis is important to better understanding its connections to the rest of our atmosphere, the land surface, and the oceans. “The unique challenge of the PBL requires a novel path forward that will bring together traditionally disparate observing system components in order to enable transformative scientific advances in Earth system science,” said fellow researcher Joseph Santanello. “To that end, Dr. Gambacorta’s efforts extend beyond individual technology developments, and are represented in her aspirational vision of PBL sounding as ‘the tie that binds.’ Just as notably, Dr. Gambacorta’s passion, enthusiasm, and respect for her colleagues has been evident through each of stage of the project’s development.” In seeking solutions to measure the boundary layer, Gambacorta stepped up to lead Goddard’s hyperspectral microwave projects and became the face of the center’s Decadal Survey Incubation (DSI) efforts. Through multiple Internal Research and Development, or IRAD grants, she and her team performed fundamental research to show the effectiveness of hyperspectral microwave sounding, conceptualized a microwave photonics radiometer instrument, and more recently began developing a framework to integrate data from multiple sensors for boundary layer science observations. Photonics Integrated Chips like this one being tested in a Goddard Lab will be able to translate microwave signals into infrared light for more efficient processing of more wavelengths than current technology. This chip can process thousands of microwave bandwidths compared to existing, much larger processors. NASA / Christopher Gunn “Antonia’s innovation rises above her individual successes as a capable and creative innovator,” said Goddard Chief Technologist Peter Hughes. “She capitalized on multiple programs to incubate new technology while engaging expertise from across agencies and around the world to connect to other resources.” Her cutting-edge innovations and research earned support from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office and from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Specifically, Gambacorta built on her IRAD successes to secure an Earth Science Technology Office Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) project award to further develop her team’s microwave photonics radiometer concept and DSI funding to advance the multi-sensor fusion framework. Additionally, her momentum enabled a DSI-funded airborne instrument project attempting to transform CoSMIR, Goddard’s Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Radiometer, into a hyperspectral sensor. That project is led by up-and-coming instrument scientist Rachael Kroodsma. This entire portfolio that Gambacorta now manages also culminated in a successful NOAA Broad Agency Announcement proposal to demonstrate hyperspectral microwave radiometry. Through her engagement with colleagues in ESTO, NOAA, and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, Hughes said Goddard’s hyperspectral microwave and PBL initiatives are regarded globally as the trusted strategy for understanding the planetary boundary layer. Goddard is widely viewed as a pioneer in the use of integrated photonics for Earth remote sensing due to Gambacorta’s leadership, he added. “Antonia serves as a true inspiration to the technologists and scientists on her teams,” her colleague Santanello added. “Her innovation and contribution to Goddard and the larger community can also be measured in each of these ways.” By Karl B. Hille NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Share Details Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 Related TermsPeople of GoddardGoddard Space Flight CenterOffice of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS)People of NASAScience & ResearchScience-enabling TechnologyTechnologyTechnology Research Explore More 6 min read Shaigh Sisk: Keeping the Wheels Turning in Projects and Pottery Project support specialist Shaigh Sisk helps keep things running in Goddard's Exploration and Space Communications… Article 6 mins ago 6 min read Lynn Bassford Prioritizes Learning as a Hubble Mission Manager Lynn Bassford levels decades of experience and a desire for self-growth as she helps lead… Article 6 mins ago 3 min read NASA’s Sandra Irish Wins 2023 Society of Women Engineers Award Article 6 mins ago View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]