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Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce (2010)

Chapter: Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
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D
Biographies of Committee Members and Staff

STEVEN R. BOHLEN, Chair, was, during the course of the study, research professor and interim director of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program at Texas A&M University. Prior to his current position, Dr. Bohlen was president of the Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI) Division, Consortium for Ocean Leadership (2007-2008), president of the JOI (2000-2007), and associate chief geologist for science of the U.S. Geological Survey (1995-2000). He received a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He was elected as a fellow of the Geological Society of America in 1997. Dr. Bohlen’s recent committee service is as member of the Stanford Earth Sciences Advisory Board, School of Earth Sciences, Stanford University (2001-present), chair of the American Geophysical Union, Policy Committee for Renewing Investment in Ocean Research (2005), and the NSF Ad Hoc Panel on competition for management of the National Optical Astronomical Observatories (2001). He served on the NRC Board on Earth Science and Resources (2002-2007) and chaired the NRC Committee on NASA Astronomy Science Centers: An Assessment of Best Practices and Guiding Principles for the Future.


KRISTIN A. BLAIS is a senior engineer with the Missile Defense Systems Division of the Network and Space Systems Business of the Boeing Company. She received a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Hawaii for work in solar physics which identified proxies for high-energy emissions from solar flares, thereby allowing comparison of both the morphology and the dynamics of solar and stellar flares. While at Boeing she has served in various capacities including as a chief system engineer and chief system engineering staff for a space program. Prior to her work with Boeing, Dr. Blais was an associate with Steven Myers and Associates, a consulting services company where her work involved running various tiger teams for the ground-based mid-course program. Prior to working for SM&A, she was a senior engineer with Raytheon. She has over 20 years of system engineering experience with sensor systems, as well as experience in the evaluation of spacecraft platforms and their operations and maintenance, covering various platforms for different types of missions.


MARK A. BROSMER is the general manager for the Launch and Satellite Control Division of the Aerospace Corporation. He is responsible for Aerospace support to the Air Force Satellite Control Network and Spacelift Range, as well as the company’s launch operations at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Vandenberg Air Force Base. Dr. Brosmer previously served as the program manger for the Delta IV launch system, providing technical leadership from the early development phase and source selection process through the inaugural launches of the medium, intermediate, and heavy lift configurations of the Delta IV. His prior experience includes systems

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×

engineering, integration, and launch readiness for the Titan IV program. Dr. Brosmer holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Purdue University. He is a senior member of AIAA. He recently served on the NRC Committee on Science Opportunities Enabled by NASA’s Constellation System.


ESTELLE CONDON retired from NASA’s Ames Research Center in 2005 as the center’s associate director for programs and space projects. Before that, she led the Earth Sciences Division. She is knowledgeable about the traditional Earth science airborne campaigns and about the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). She joined the center in 1980 as an expert in measuring trace elements in the atmosphere and served as principal investigator in the Global Tropospheric Experiment campaign aboard NASA’s science aircraft. She quickly moved into leadership of NASA’s Earth observation program and served as project manager of the vast international teams that measured the ozone holes above Antarctica and the Arctic. She inspired and led the first concerted efforts to study the impact of aviation on the global environment. Although retired, she still does some limited consulting, via a grant to UCSC.


CHRISTINE M. FOREMAN is an associate research professor at Montana State University. Dr. Foreman studies life in extreme conditions and remote environments, connecting the very smallest organisms to the workings of the entire planet. Her research revolves around the organization of microbial communities in relation to their physical environment, and the processing of nutrients and dissolved organic matter (DOM). She is interested in the contribution of DOM to global carbon budgets, including potential storage in ice, and how this DOM is responsive to enhanced UV radiation. Dr. Foreman has spent several seasons in Antarctica investigating microbial interactions in the permanently ice covered lakes, and glacial cryoconites, as well as studying deep ice from Lake Vostok and the WAIS Divide. In addition, these studies set the stage for future investigations of life on other icy planets and moons. Dr. Foreman is a member of the U.S. Committee for Limnology and Geochemistry of the International Subcommittee on Antarctic Lake Environments and has served on two NASA advisory panels for the Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets program.


ADAM P.-H. HUANG received his Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2006, where his thesis work included demonstrating flight control on delta-wing aircraft with micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) sensors and actuators. He was also a member of the technical staff at The Aerospace Corporation from 2000-2006 working on photo-structurable glass ceramics propulsion systems for pico- and nano-satellites. Since 2006, he has been an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas, Department of Mechanical Engineering. His current research interests are in the experimental aspects of the multi-scale (from nano to macro) science and integration technologies for aerospace and robotic applications. These include understanding the R&D and insertion paths of micro- and nano-technologies into aero and space platforms such as micro aerial vehicles and CubeSats.


MICHAEL J. KURYLO III is a senior research scientist at the Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology (GEST) Center of the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He recently retired from NASA Headquarters where he managed the Upper Atmosphere Research Program in the Earth Science Division. This program was (and remains) the largest user of suborbital (aircraft and balloon) assets of any of the Earth Science Research and Analysis Programs. During his NASA tenure of more than 20 years, Dr. Kurylo worked with the atmospheric sciences community to plan and implement numerous airborne and balloon campaigns for process studies and satellite validation. He has spent many months in the field during these campaigns as both a program scientist and participant and is extremely familiar with the suborbital program, its platform assets, and its management structure. As an internationally acclaimed atmospheric research scientist and program manager, Dr. Kurylo has received numerous awards. These include the Department of Commerce Bronze and Silver Medals, two NASA Exceptional Service Medals, the NASA Cooperative External Achievement Award, more than 15 NASA Group Achievement Awards, the Catholic University of America Alumni Achievement Award in the Field of Science, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Environmental Hero Award, and the U.S. Environmental

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×

Protection Agency Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award. His efforts leading to the success of the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer have been acknowledged by his being named to the Montreal Protocol Who’s Who listing. His current responsibilities at GEST include committee leadership and participation for a number of international organizations in atmospheric science.


ROBERT P. LIN (NAS) is a professor in the Department of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and former director of the Space Sciences Laboratory. Dr. Lin is a world-renowned experimentalist in space science whose primary interest is in how particles are accelerated to high energies in nature. He has revealed the behavior of electrons and ions accelerated by the Sun through numerous, innovative instruments that have flown on NASA missions to directly measure the plasma, fields, and energetic particles in regions where acceleration is occurring; and to do imaging and spectroscopy of the x-rays and gamma-rays emitted by energetic particles at the Sun. He studies the acceleration that occurs in transient events that involve the phenomena of magnetic reconnection or collisionless shock waves. He is the principal investigator on the NASA Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) Small Explorer mission, and on the 3D Plasma and Energetic Particle investigation on the Wind spacecraft, as well as on the Gamma-Ray Imager/Polarimeter for Solar Flares (GRIPS) experiment, which will utilize high-altitude balloons. He served on the NRC 2008 Arctowski Medal Selection Committee, Panel on Solar and Space Physics, Review of NASA Strategic Roadmaps: Science Panel, and Committee on Solar and Space Physics.


FRANKLIN D. MARTIN is president of Martin Consulting, Inc., which provides services to aerospace projects. He is currently serving as co-chair of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center independent review team for Glory, a climate change mission scheduled for launch in 2010. Dr. Martin has also been working with 4-D Systems since 2002. Sponsored by NASA’s Office of the Chief Engineer’s Academy of Program/Project and Engineering Leadership (APPEL), the major focus of 4-D Systems is performance enhancement for NASA teams. Dr. Martin is a lead 4-D workshop presenter and serves as an adviser to Charlie Pellerin, president of 4-D Systems. His career with NASA and Lockheed Martin includes Science Mission Operations on Apollo 16 and Apollo 17; director, Solar Terrestrial and Astrophysics at NASA Headquarters (included the Sounding Rocket and Balloon Programs); GSFC director for space and Earth science; NASA deputy associate administrator, space station; NASA associate administrator for human exploration, and director, space systems and engineering, civil space for Lockheed Martin, with responsibility for the Hubble servicing missions, Space Infrared Telescope Facility (Spitzer), Lunar Prospector, and Gravity Probe-B. Dr. Martin resigned from NASA in 1990 and retired from Lockheed Martin in 2001. He received NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal in 1990, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1981, and the SES Presidential Ranks of Distinguished Executive in 1990 and Meritorious Executive in 1987. He was elected a fellow of AAS in 1999. He received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Tennessee in 1971 and a B.A. with majors in physics and in mathematics from Pfeiffer College (currently Pfeiffer University) in 1966. He served on the NRC Committee on Science Opportunities Enabled by NASA’s Constellation System and the Committee on Systems Integration for Project Constellation.


R. BRUCE PARTRIDGE is a professor at Haverford College. Most of his early research involved observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). He is still active in that field (as a member, for instance, of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and Planck teams). In the past, he was involved in two balloon campaigns, one to measure the large-scale isotropy of the CMB, the other to measure sky backgrounds at near to mid-infrared wavelengths. In the past decade, he has worked on extreme radio sources, using ground-based facilities like the Very Large Array. He has also published material on astronomy education. At Haverford, he served as dean of the college for several years, and then later as provost. He was president of one of the divisions (on cosmology) of the International Astronomical Union, and is currently president of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. His NRC service includes the Committee on the Review and Evaluation of NASA’s Pre-College Education Program; the Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee and its Panel on Astronomy Education and Policy; and the Panel on Gravitation, Cosmology, and Cosmic-Ray Physics.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×

ROBERT PINCUS is an independent consultant. Mr. Pincus joined the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Sounding Rocket Branch in 1962. He designed flight and ground hardware, and supported field activities and launches both in the U.S. and international launch ranges. His areas of endeavor included telemetry, instrumentation, radiofrequency, power systems, ordnance circuits, and ground avionics hardware. He supported approximately 500 missions in various levels of responsibility. His sounding rocket activity transitioned to space shuttle efforts in the mid-1980s, and he helped pioneer new low-cost activities to support scientific payloads on the shuttle. The “Get Away Special” and Spartan Programs were two of these programs. As head of the Sounding Rocket Division System’s Development office, he served as project manager for the first small satellite flown on the first Pegasus launch from a B-52. This was done in conjunction with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for a total cost, including field and “on orbit support,” of approximately $2.5 million. Following this successful mission, he led the team to develop a low-cost satellite bus for the NASA Small Explorer Program (SMEX). He received an Exceptional Achievement Award from NASA/GSFC in 1984 and the NASA Exceptional Achievement Award in 1990. He also received recognition in Group Achievement Awards for the following programs: Pegsat Development Team 1990, Spartan I Team 1985, STS GetAway Special Program 1982, Skylab Achievement Award 1974, and 2000th Sounding Rocket 1977. Upon retiring from NASA in 1992, he continued as a consultant for missile defense programs in Huntsville, Alabama. Presently he provides technical consultation for a variety of missile defense targets, which utilize various surplus launch vehicles. He is presently supporting independent review team (IRT) activities for the Ground Based Interceptor and other Missile Defense Agency (MDA) programs for preliminary and critical design reviews, and anomaly and failure reviews. He is on the staff as a senior engineer at Teledyne Solutions, and Davidson-Tech, both located in Huntsville, Alabama. He provides consultation services as an IRT member on Northrop Grumman Rocket Systems Launch Program suborbital and orbital programs.


W. THOMAS VESTRAND is the director of the Center for Space Science and Exploration at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Dr. Vestrand’s primary research interests are in observational high-energy astrophysics and the development of autonomous robotic instrumentation. He has had extensive experience with NASA and Department of Energy (DOE) space missions, serving, for example, as a co-investigator, and then principal investigator, for the Gamma Ray Spectrometer onboard NASA’s Solar Maximum Mission satellite. His work has had a significant impact on LANL’s programmatic missions and has helped LANL make important contributions to national needs. He is currently principal investigator and architect for the Thinking Telescopes/Raptor program and was recently awarded the fellow’s prize for research at LANL in recognition of his discoveries associated with explosive transients and contributions to understanding of gamma ray bursts.


ERIK WILKINSON is a staff scientist at the Southwest Research Institute leading the development of satellite-based optical instrumentation for scientific research. Prior to moving to SwRI, Dr. Wilkinson worked at Ball Aerospace Technologies Corporation (2004 to early 2009), where he was responsible for system architecture, requirements development, test planning and execution, and flight operations preparations for satellite-based optical instrumentation. From 1996 to 2004 he was instrument scientist for Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph at the University of Colorado. Dr. Wilkinson was also the principal investigator for the NASA UV Sounding Rocket Program and Spectrograph Scientist for NASA’s Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) at the University of Colorado. From 1992 to 2004 he was heavily involved in the development of UV instrumentation for sounding rocket and satellite-based astrophysical research. This included developing unique optical designs with aberration-corrected gratings, UV coatings, and MCP detectors and the integration and test of flight hardware.

Staff

ROBERT L. RIEMER, Study Director, joined the staff of the NRC in 1985. He is a senior program officer and has worked on many studies in physics, astronomy, and other areas for the Board on Physics and Astronomy (where he served as associate director from 1988 to 2000), the Space Studies Board, and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board. Prior to joining the NRC, Dr. Riemer was a senior project geophysicist with Chevron Corporation.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×

He received a Ph.D. in experimental high-energy physics from the University of Kansas-Lawrence and a B.S. in physics and astrophysics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.


DWAYNE A. DAY, a program officer for the Space Studies Board (SSB), has a Ph.D. in political science from the George Washington University and has previously served as an investigator for the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. He was on the staff of the Congressional Budget Office and also worked for the Space Policy Institute at the George Washington University. He has held Guggenheim and Verville fellowships and is an associate editor of the German spaceflight magazine Raumfahrt Concret, in addition to writing for such publications as Novosti Kosmonavtiki (Russia), Spaceflight, and Space Chronicle (United Kingdom). He has served as study director for several NRC reports, including Space Radiation Hazards and the Vision for Space Exploration (2006), Grading NASA’s Solar System Exploration Program: A Midterm Review (2008), and Opening New Frontiers in Space: Choices for the Next New Frontiers Announcement of Opportunity (2008).


CATHERINE A. GRUBER, an editor for the SSB, joined the board as a senior program assistant in 1995. Ms. Gruber first came to the NRC in 1988 as a senior secretary for the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board and has also worked as an outreach assistant for the National Academy of Sciences-Smithsonian Institution’s National Science Resources Center. She was a research assistant (chemist) in the National Institute of Mental Health’s Laboratory of Cell Biology for 2 years. She has a B.A. in natural science from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.


LINDA WALKER has been with the National Academies since September 2007. Before her assignment with the Space Studies Board, she was on assignment with the National Academies Press. Prior to her working at the National Academies, she was with the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy in Falls Church, Virginia. Ms. Walker has 28 years of administrative experience. She is a native Washingtonian, mother of 27-year-old identical twins, and a grandmother of two. Her hobbies are reading, traveling, and spending quality time with her grandkids.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page 80
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page 81
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page 82
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page 83
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2010. Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12862.
×
Page 84
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Suborbital flight activities, including the use of sounding rockets, aircraft, high-altitude balloons, and suborbital reusable launch vehicles, offer valuable opportunities to advance science, train the next generation of scientists and engineers, and provide opportunities for participants in the programs to acquire skills in systems engineering and systems integration that are critical to maintaining the nation's leadership in space programs. Furthermore, the NASA Authorization Act of 2008 finds it in the national interest to expand the size of NASA's suborbital research program and to consider increased funding.

Revitalizing NASA's Suborbital Program is an assessment of the current state and potential of NASA's suborbital research programs and a review of NASA's capabilities in this area. The scope of this review includes: existing programs that make use of suborbital flights; the status, capability, and availability of suborbital platforms; the existing or planned launch facilities for suborbital missions (including the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy); and opportunities for scientific research, training, and educational collaboration in the conduct of suborbital missions by NASA.

The findings illustrate that suborbital program elements-airborne, balloon, and sounding rockets-play vital and necessary strategic roles in NASA's research, innovation, education, employee development, and spaceflight mission success, thus providing the foundation for achievement of agency goals.

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