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Committee and Staff Biographical Information
BYRON D. TAPLEY, Chair, is the Clare Cockrell Williams Centennial Chair in Engineering and is director of the Center for Space Research at the University of Texas, Austin. His research interests include orbit mechanics, precision orbit determination, nonlinear parameter estimation, satellite data analysis, and the uses of methods from these areas to study the Earth and planetary system. Currently, he is the mission principal investigator for the Gravity Research and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Mission, which is the first NASA Earth System Pathfinder Mission. A recent focus of his research has been directed to applying the GRACE measurements to determine accurate models for Earth’s gravity field and using these measurements for studies of climate driven mass exchange between Earth’s dynamic system components. Dr. Tapley was also the chair of the NASA Advisory Council’s Earth Science Subcommittee. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and a fellow member of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement, the NASA Public Service Medal, the AAS Brouwer Award, the AIAA Mechanics and Control of Flight Award and the AGU Charles A. Whitten Medal are among the awards he has received. He has been a principal investigator for seven NASA and international missions. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Texas. He earned his Ph.D. in engineering mechanics, his M.S. in engineering mechanics, and his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas, Austin. His previous National Research Council (NRC) membership service includes the Panel on Climate Variability and Change, the Space Studies Board (SSB), the Panel to Review NASA’s Earth Observing System in the Context of the USGCRP, the Committee on NASA’s Space Station Engineering and Technology Development, and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB), the Geophysics Research Forum, and the steering committee for the Study and Workshop on NASA’s Space Research and Technology Program.
MICHAEL D. KING, Vice Chair, is senior research scientist in the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Dr. King is also the science team leader for the MODIS instrument that flies on the Aqua and Terra satellites currently in orbit. He served as senior project scientist of NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS). He joined NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) as a physical scientist and previously served as project scientist of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE). His research experience includes conceiving, developing, and operating multispectral scanning radiometers from a number of aircraft platforms in field experiments ranging from arctic stratus clouds to smoke from the Kuwait oil fires and biomass burning in Brazil and southern Africa. Dr. King is also interested in surface reflectance properties of natural surfaces as well as
aerosol optical and microphysical properties. Earlier, he developed the Cloud Absorption Radiometer for studying the absorption properties of optically thick clouds as well as the bidirectional reflectance properties of many natural surfaces. He was formerly the principal investigator of the MODIS Airborne Simulator, an imaging spectrometer that flies onboard the NASA ER-2 aircraft—an instrument that has aided in the development of atmospheric and land remote sensing algorithms for MODIS, which is used for studies of Earth’s environment from space. Dr. King is a member of the NAE, a fellow of the AGU, the American Meteorological Society (AMS), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), a recipient of the Verner E. Suomi Award of the AMS for fundamental contributions to remote sensing and radiative transfer, and a recipient of the Space Systems Award of the AIAA for NASA’s Earth Observing System. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences from the University of Arizona. Dr. King is currently a member of the NRC’s Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space, and previously served on the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, and the Climate Research Committee.
MARK R. ABBOTT began serving as president and director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on October 1, 2015. Until this time, Dr. Abbott was at Oregon State University (OSU), beginning in 1988, where he served as dean of the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences since 2001. Before OSU, he served as a member of the technical staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and as a research oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Dr. Abbott’s research focuses on the interaction of biological and physical processes in the upper ocean and relies on both remote sensing and field observations. He is a pioneer in the use of satellite ocean color data to study coupled physical/biological processes. As part of a NASA Earth Observing System interdisciplinary science team, Dr. Abbott led an effort to link remotely sensed data of the Southern Ocean with coupled ocean circulation/ecosystem models. His field research included the first deployment of an array of bio-optical moorings in the Southern Ocean as part of the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS). Dr. Abbott has been a member of the National Science Board since 2006. He also currently chairs the U.S. JGOFS Science Steering Committee and is the vice chair of the Oregon Global Warming Commission. He is currently a member of the board of trustees for the Consortium for Ocean Leadership and the board of trustees for the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. His past advisory posts include chairing the Coastal Ocean Applications and Science Team for NOAA and chairing the U.S. Joint Global Flux Study Science Steering Committee. He has also been a member of the Director’s Advisory Council for JPL and NASA’s MODIS and SeaWiFS science teams and the Earth Observing System Investigators Working Group. He was recently named the 2011 recipient of the Jim Gray eScience Award, presented by Microsoft Research. He received his B.S. in conservation of natural resources from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California, Davis. Dr. Abbott is a national associate member of the National Academies and is currently a member of the NRC’s Space Studies Board, chair of the Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space, and a member of the Panel on the Review of the Draft 2013 National Climate Assessment (NCA) Report. Amongst his prolific NRC service, Dr. Abbott served on the NRC’s Committee on Evaluating NASA’s Strategic Direction, the Committee on the Assessment of NASA’s Earth Science Programs, the Committee on the Role and Scope of Mission-Enabling Activities in NASA’s Space and Earth Science Missions, and the Panel on Land-Use Change, Ecosystem Dynamics and Biodiversity for the 2007 Earth science and applications from space decadal survey.
STEVEN A. ACKERMAN is a professor of atmospheric and ocean sciences and director of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dr. Ackerman’s research focuses on satellite remote sensing and has produced several new methodologies for interpreting satellite observations, which has led to improved understanding of the radiative properties of clouds, a critical factor in weather and climate. Dr. Ackerman is principal investigator for the following NASA projects: Refinement and Maintenance of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Cloud Mask Algorithm on Terra and Aqua; Comparison of A-Train Cloud Retrievals and Multi-Instrument Algorithm Studies; and Algorithm Maintenance and Validation of MODIS Cloud Mask, Cloud Top-Pressure, Cloud Phase and Atmospheric Sounding Algorithms. He is co-principal investigator for NASA’s Global Analysis of MODIS Level-3 Cloud Properties and Their Sensitivity to Aggregation Strategies and Land Surface Characterization Using High Spectral Resolution AIRS and Moderate Spatial Resolution MODIS Observations from the EOS Aqua Platform. He was recently elected a fellow of the
Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts and Letters and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal and the American Meteorological Society’s (AMS’s) Teaching Excellence Award. He received his M.S. in atmospheric science from Colorado State University and his Ph.D. in atmospheric science from Colorado State University. Dr. Ackerman is currently a member of the NRC’s Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space.
JOHN J. BATES is principal scientist of Remote Sensing at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). Prior to becoming principal scientist, he was chief of the Remote Sensing Applications Division at NCDC. Dr. Bates’s primary research interests include satellite observations of the global water and energy cycle, air-sea interactions, and climate variability. He currently serves on the board of directors of the AGU in addition to being a member of the organization. Prior to working at NCDC, Dr. Bates was a Mellon Foundation post-doctoral fellow at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography; meteorologist at the NOAA Boulder Climate Diagnostics Center and then the NOAA Boulder Environmental Technology Laboratory. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 1998 Editors’ Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Geophysical Research Letters, the 2004 NOAA Administrator’s Award, and the Outstanding Heroic Act Award in 2009 for Excellence in Public Service from Buncombe Country, North Carolina. Dr. Bates received his B.S. in meteorology from Florida State University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in meteorology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He previously served on the NRC’s Panel on the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) and the Workshop on Uncertainty Management in Remote Sensing of Climate Data.
RAFAEL L. BRAS is the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is also a professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. He currently holds the K. Harrison Brown Family Chair. His research interests are hydrology, hydroclimatology, and hydrometeorology. From 2008-2010, Dr. Bras was a distinguished professor and dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering of the University of California, Irvine. For 32 years prior to joining UCI he was a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is past chair of the MIT faculty, former head of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and director of the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory at MIT. Dr. Bras has served as advisor to many government and private institutions. Some of the most significant include: advisory board, Engineering Directorate, NSF; NRCs Board of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate; chairman, Earth Systems Sciences and Applications Committee of NASA and the NASA Advisory Committee; advisor to departments at Cornell University, Princeton University, Johns Hopkins, Technion, RPI, University of Puerto Rico, the University of California, Irvine, Instituto Veneto; the Stockholm Water Foundation and Prize; and Clarke Prize. Dr. Bras is on the board of directors of the AGU and also a member of the board of trustees of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and of the Foundation for Puerto Rico. Dr. Bras has received many honors and awards, including: honorary degree for the University of Perugia, Italy; Hispanic Engineer Hall of Fame member; NASA Public Service Medal; the Macelwane Medal of AGU; and the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. In addition to being a member of the NAE, he is also a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Puerto Rico, and the Mexican National Academy of Engineering and Mexican National Academy of Sciences. He is an elected fellow of AGU and served as past president of the Hydrology section of the AGU, and is also a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the AMS, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received his B.S. and M.S. in civil engineering from MIT and his Sc.D. in water resources and hydrology from MIT. He most recently served on the NRC’s Committee on New Orleans Regional Hurricane Protection Projects, and was also a member of the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, among other NRC service.
ROBERT E. DICKINSON is professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a respected leader in dynamic meteorology, physical climatology, and climate modeling for the last 4 decades. He first delineated the way planetary scale-Rossby waves interact with the mean flow—a process central to understanding the general circulation of the atmosphere. He has also established the major role of foliage
in climate dynamics and made major contributions to other problems. His areas of interest include the dynamics of atmospheric planetary waves, stratospheric dynamics, models of global structure and dynamics of terrestrial and planetary thermosphere, NLTE infrared radiative transfer in planetary mesopheres, global climate modeling and processes, the role of land processes in climate systems, the modeling role of vegetation in regional evapotranspiration, and the role of tropical forests in climate systems. His recent research has focused on climate variability and change, aerosols, the hydrological cycle and droughts, land surface processes, the terrestrial carbon cycle, and the application of remote sensing data to modeling of land surface processes. He is an elected member of both the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, an honorary member of the European Geophysical Society and the European Geo-sciences Union and a foreign member of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has been a member of numerous scientific advisory organizations, including the NRC. He holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in meteorology from MIT. He currently serves on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences editorial board, as well as the NRC’s Committee to Advise the U.S. Global Change Research Program and Panel on the Review of the Draft 2013 National Climate Assessment (NCA) Report. He has also served on numerous climate and environmental science-related committees for the NRC in the past.
RANDALL R. FRIEDL is manager of the Earth System Science Formulation Office within JPL’s Earth Science and Technology Directorate. In that role he is responsible for fostering research and mission concepts in response to competitive opportunities. Prior to his current assignment, Dr. Friedl held positions as the deputy director for research in the Engineering and Science Directorate and as chief scientist in the Earth Science and Technology Directorate. Dr. Friedl’s research interests are focused on gas and particle reactions relevant to Earth’s stratosphere and troposphere. He has participated in a number of international and national assessments, notably, as lead author for the IPCC Special Report on Aviation and the Global Atmosphere (1999), as contributing author for the IPCC Third Assessment Report on Climate Change (2001). In addition to his JPL activities, Dr. Friedl has served several roles at NASA Headquarters. From 1994 to 1996 he was the project scientist for the Atmospheric Effects of Aviation Project. During that tenure, he developed and organized numerous research efforts, including several aircraft field campaigns to study aircraft impacts on the upper troposphere. For his work on the aviation-related issues he received a NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1997 and a NASA Group Achievement Award in 1999. Dr. Friedl spent a year and a half at NASA Headquarters as the deputy chief scientist for Earth science within the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and as the deputy for science within the Earth Science Division of SMD. In those roles, Dr. Friedl was the primary advisor on Earth science issues to the NASA associate administrator and earth science director and was tasked with formulating internal strategy for the NASA Earth science program as well as joint strategies with other federal agencies. He also served on the NRC’s Panel on Earth Science Applications and Societal Needs for the 2007 Earth science and applications from space decadal survey.
LEE-LEUNG FU is a JPL fellow and senior research scientist at JPL, California Institute of Technology. He has been the project scientist for JPL’s satellite altimetry missions since 1988, including TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason, and Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason-2. He is currently the project scientist for the U.S./France joint Surface Water and Ocean Topography Mission (SWOT), which is being developed as the next generation altimetry mission for measuring water elevation on Earth. Dr. Fu’s research has been focused on the dynamics of ocean waves and currents ranging from small-scale internal gravity waves to ocean basin-scale circulation. He received a B.S. degree in physics from National Taiwan University and a Ph.D. in oceanography from MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He is a member of the NAE and a fellow of the AGU and the AMS. Recently he was awarded the COSPAR International Cooperation Medal for his leadership in the development and continuation of satellite altimetry missions.
CHELLE L. GENTEMANN is a senior principal scientist at Remote Sensing Systems, a research-oriented business located in Santa Rosa, California. Dr. Gentemann’s research focuses on air-sea interactions; upper ocean physical processes; microwave remote sensing of geophysical variables, including sea surface temperature and sea ice; and multi-instrument data fusion. She has served on many national and international science teams and working groups, including the NASA Sea Surface Temperature Science Team, the NASA Satellite Ocean Atlas team, the
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) GCOM-W AMSR2 Science Team, the International Group for High Resolution SST Science Team and Advisory Council, and the MIT Educational Council. She is currently chair of the NASA PO.DAAC User Working Group. Dr. Gentemann was principal investigator of the Multi-instrument Improved Sea Surface Temperature (MISST) Project that received the National Oceanographic Partnership Program Excellence in Partnering Award. She was part of the Satellite Ocean Atlas Team that was awarded the NASA Group Achievement Award for outstanding achievement in utilization of multiple observations from space for the study of the global oceans. She currently has 28 peer-reviewed papers published and is a member of the AGU, AMS, and IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society. Dr. Gentemann received her B.S. in earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences from MIT, her M.S. in physical oceanography from Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and her Ph.D. in meteorology and physical oceanography from the University of Miami. Dr. Gentemann is currently a member of the NRC’s Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space.
KATHRYN A. KELLY is professor in the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington (UW) and principal oceanographer at the Applied Physics Laboratory. Prior to joining the UW faculty, she was a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for over a decade. Her research focuses on air-sea interaction and the ocean’s transport of various properties. Recently, Dr. Kelly has been studying ocean heat transport in the Atlantic Ocean to understand its impact on oceanic heat fluxes to the atmosphere. Her primary scientific interest is the role of the ocean in climate, which she studies using large data sets, particularly from satellite instruments, in collaboration with numerical modelers and scientists who make in situ measurements. She is a fellow of the AMS and also served as co-chair for the implementation plan for the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation multi-agency initiative. Dr. Kelly received her B.S. in engineering mathematics and statistics from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Ph.D. in physical oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography for research into the causes of SST anomalies in the California current using satellite infrared data. She is a member of NASA’s Ocean Surface Topography and Sea Surface Temperature science teams and was a member of NASA’s Ocean Vector Winds Science Team for 2 decades. She previously served on the NASA Earth System Science and Applications Advisory Committee and on the steering committee of the NRC’s 2007 Earth science and applications from space decadal survey.
JUDITH L. LEAN is senior scientist for Sun-Earth System Research in the Space Science Division of the Naval Research Laboratory. After completing her Ph.D. she worked for CIRES at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and then joined the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. She is the recipient of a number of NASA research grants, in collaboration with other SSD and U.S. scientists, and is currently a co-investigator on the SORCE, TIMED/SEE, SDO/EVE and GLORY/TIM space missions. The focus of her research is to understand the Sun’s variability using measurements and models, and to determine the impact of this variability on the Earth system, including climate change, the ozone layer, and space weather. She has published 116 papers in journals and books, and delivered over 250 presentations documenting her research. A member of the AGU, IAGA, AAS/SPD, and AMS, Dr. Lean was elected a fellow of the AGU in 2002, a member of U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2003, and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2013. She has served on a variety of NASA, NSF, NOAA, and NRC advisory committees. She has a Ph.D. in atmospheric physics from the University of Adelaide, Australia. Dr. Lean most recently completed service as a member of the NRC’s 2012 solar and space physics decadal survey. She also chaired the NRC’s Working Group on Solar Influences on Global Change, and was a member of the Committee on a Strategy to Mitigate the Impact of Instrument De-scopes and De-manifests on the NPOESS and GOES-R Spacecraft, and the Panel on Climate Variability and Change of the 2007 Earth science and applications from space decadal survey, among other committees.
JOYCE E. PENNER is the Ralph J. Cicerone Distinguished University Professor of Atmospheric Science and associate chair of the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences at the University of Michigan. Dr. Penner’s research focuses on improving climate models through the addition of interactive chemistry and the description of aerosols and their direct and indirect effects on the radiation balance in climate models. She is also interested in urban, regional, and global tropospheric chemistry and budgets, cloud and aerosol interactions and
cloud microphysics, climate and climate change, and model development and interpretation. Dr. Penner has been a member of numerous advisory committees related to atmospheric chemistry, global change, and Earth science, including the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and, consequently, a co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. She was the coordinating lead author for IPCC (2001) Chapter 5 on aerosols. She is a member of COSPAR committee formulating an Earth science roadmap. Dr. Penner received a B.A. in applied mathematics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her M.S. and Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Harvard University. She is currently a member of the NRC Committee on Assessment of NASA’s Earth Science Program and the U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics and the vice chair of the NRC’s Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space. She previously served as a member of the Space Studies Board, the planning committee for the Workshop on Uncertainty Management in Remote Sensing of Climate Data, and Panel on Climate Variability and Change for the 2007 decadal survey on Earth science and applications from space.
MICHAEL J. PRATHER is a professor of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on the simulation of the physical, chemical, and biological processes that determine atmospheric composition; development of detailed numerical models of photochemistry and atmospheric radiation; and global chemical transport models that describe ozone and other trace gases. Post-Ph.D., Dr. Prather was a research fellow at Harvard University and then a scientist at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, including also managing NASA Headquarters programs on upper atmosphere and aviation impacts. A fellow of the AGU and a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, he served from 1997 through 2001 as editor-in-chief of Geophysical Research Letters. He received a B.A. in mathematics from Yale University, a B.A. in physics from the University of Oxford, and a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics from Yale University. Prather currently participates in key United Nations’ environmental efforts, including the international ozone assessments (1985, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 2010, 2014) and climate assessments (IPCC: 1992, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2007, 2013, 2014). Dr. Prather has served on numerous NRC committees, most recently as a member of the Assessment of NASA’s Earth Science Programs. He also previously served on the Committee on Methods for Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions, the Panel on Climate Variability and Change of the 2007 decadal survey on Earth science and applications from space, and the Committee for Review of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program Strategic Plan.
ERIC J. RIGNOT is Chancellor Professor of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine. He is also a senior research scientist and joint faculty appointee at the California Institute of Technology’s JPL. Dr. Rignot’s primary research interests lie in glaciology, climate change, radar remote sensing, ice sheet numerical modeling, radar interferometry, radio echo sounding, and ice-ocean interactions. His research group focuses on understanding the interactions of ice and climate, ice sheet mass balance, ice-ocean interactions in Greenland and Antarctica, and current/future contributions of ice sheets to sea level change. He has 22 years of experience in glaciology, he has been the advisor of 9 Ph.D. students, 7 postdocs, and has published more than 130 peer-reviewed papers (h-index 48) including 14 in Science, 2 in Nature. He received the following awards: NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 2003 and 2007, NASA Outstanding Leadership in 2012, Nobel Peace Prize attributed to IPCC AR4 authors in 2007, three JPL Director Award for Outstanding Research Publication, and 12 NASA Certificates of Recognition. Dr. Rignot is a fellow of the AGU and a member of the International Glaciological Society and AAAS, a lead author of IPCC AR5, and former editor of Geophysical Research Letters. He received his B.S. in engineering from Ecole Centrale Arts et Manufactures Paris, his M.S. in astronomy and astrophysics from University Paris VI, a double M.S. in aerospace engineering and electrical engineering from the University of Southern California (USC), and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from USC.
WILLIAM L. SMITH is a distinguished professor of the Department of Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia. He is also professor emeritus of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Professor Smith was the principal investigator of several satellite programs for NOAA; professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he also directed the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) and
subsequently the positions of chief, Atmospheric Sciences Division; and senior scientist at the NASA’s Langley Research Center until 2004. Dr. Smith is an active satellite and airborne experimentalist. Most notably, Dr. Smith pioneered the hyper-spectral resolution sounding technique that is being used for current and future polar satellite advanced infrared sounding systems (e.g., the Aqua/AIRS, MetOp/IASI, and NPP/NPOESS CrIS). Dr. Smith has published more than 150 papers in the scientific literature and has contributed to books used for scientific research and teaching. He has also received numerous awards for his research accomplishments in the field of atmospheric science. Dr. Smith currently serves on the NRC’s Committee on Evaluating NOAA’s Plan to Mitigate the Loss of Total Solar Irradiance Measurements from Space, and prior to that served on the Telescopes/Observatories and Instruments and Instruments Panel of the Committee for the Review of NASA’s Capability Roadmaps, and the Committee on NOAA NESDIS Transition from Research to Operations.
COMPTON J. TUCKER is a senior scientist at NASA GSFC. His research focus on Earth systems through the use of satellite remote sensing, including global vegetation dynamics, Landsat Forest Deforestation, and the Famine Early Warning System for Africa via USAID. He is also adjunct professor at the University of Maryland, Department of Geographical Sciences, where he teaches courses on remote sensing. Prior to working at NASA GSFC, Dr. Tucker worked at the Grassland Biome at Colorado State University, and was then a National Academy of Sciences postdoctoral fellow. He has received numerous awards, including two NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medals, the Henry Shaw Medal of the Missouri Botanical Garden, the National Air and Space Museum Trophy for Current Achievement, and most recently the Galathea Medal of the Royal Danish Geographical Society, among others. Dr. Tucker received his B.S. degree in biology and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in forestry from Colorado State University.
BRUCE A. WIELICKI is senior scientist for radiation sciences in the Science Directorate at NASA Langley Research Center. He currently serves as Science Team lead for the CLARREO (Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory) decadal survey mission. He served as principal investigator on the CERES Investigation for 18 years, and as a co-investigator on the NASA Cloudsat and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite. For more than 20 years, Dr. Wielicki’s research has focused on clouds and their role in Earth’s radiative energy balance. Specific research interests include the following: remote sensing of single and multiple cloud layer properties from multispectral imagery; validation of remotely-sensed cloud properties; effect of clouds on Earth’s radiation budget; and cloud radiative transfer modeling. Dr. Wielicki received his B.S. degree in applied math and engineering physics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and his Ph.D. degree in physical oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He received a NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award in 1992 and the Henry G. Houghton Award from the AMS in 1995. He recently completed service on the NRC’s Committee for Evaluating NOAA’s Plan to Mitigate the Loss of Total Solar Irradiance Measurements from Space.
STAFF
ARTHUR A. CHARO, Study Director, has worked since 1995 as a senior program officer with the SSB. He is the staff officer for the Board’s Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space and the Committee on Solar and Space Physics, and has directed studies resulting in some 36 reports, notably the first NRC “decadal survey” in solar and space physics (2003) and Earth science and applications from space (2007). Recently, he served as the study director for the second NRC decadal survey in solar and space physics, a midterm assessment of the Earth science decadal survey, and an assessment of impediments to interagency collaboration on space and Earth science missions. Dr. Charo received his Ph.D. in experimental atomic and molecular physics in 1981 from Duke University and was a post-doctoral fellow in chemical physics at Harvard University from 1982-1985 where he worked on developing techniques to enable far-infrared laser spectroscopy of weakly bound complexes formed in a molecular beam. He then pursued his interests in national security and arms control as a Fellow at Harvard University’s Center for Science and International Affairs. From 1988 to 1995, he worked as a senior analyst and study director in the International Security and Space Program in the U.S. Congress’s Office of Technology Assessment. In addition to contributing to NRC reports, he is the author of research papers in the field of molecular spectroscopy; reports on
arms control and space policy; and the monograph, Continental Air Defense: A Neglected Dimension of Strategic Defense (University Press of America, 1990). Dr. Charo is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in International Security (1985-1987) and a Harvard-Sloan Foundation Fellowship (1987-1988). He was a 1988-1989 AAAS Congressional Science Fellow, sponsored by the American Institute of Physics.
LEWIS B. GROSWALD1 is an associate program officer for the SSB. Mr. Groswald is a graduate of George Washington University, where he received a master’s degree in international science and technology policy and a bachelor’s degree in international affairs, with a double concentration in conflict and security and Europe and Eurasia. Following his work with the National Space Society during his senior year as an undergraduate, Mr. Groswald decided to pursue a career in space policy, with a focus on educating the public on space issues and formulating policy. He has worked on NRC reports covering a wide range of topics, including near-Earth objects, orbital debris, life and physical sciences in space, and planetary science.
ANESIA WILKS joined the SSB as a program assistant in August 2013. Ms. Wilks brings experience working in the National Academies conference management office as well as other administrative positions in the D.C. metropolitan area. She has a B.A. in psychology, magna cum laude, from Trinity University in Washington, D.C.
KATIE DAUD2 is a research associate for the SSB and the ASEB. Previously, she worked at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies as a planetary scientist. Ms. Daud was a triple major at Bloomsburg University, receiving a B.S. in planetary science and Earth science and a B.A. in political science.
MICHELLE THOMPSON3 is a Lloyd V. Berkner Space Policy Intern. She is a Ph.D. student in planetary sciences at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Her research is focused on understanding the effects of space weathering on airless body surfaces. Ms. Thompson uses transmission electron microscopy to study microstructural and microchemical signatures of space weathering in lunar and asteroidal surface samples returned from the NASA Apollo missions and the JAXA Hayabusa mission. She has received several awards for her presentations at scientific conferences and was recently awarded a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship for her research. She serves on several committees as a student in Tucson, including as a representative for the graduate students to the faculty, coordinator for visiting colloquium speakers, and organizer of non-academic career seminars for the students in her department.
ANGELA DAPREMONT4 is a Lloyd V. Berkner Space Policy Intern. She recently graduated from the College of Charleston with a B.S. in geology and a minor in French and francophone studies. Ms. Dapremont developed an interest in the merging of science and policy as a result of participating in meetings with congressional aides about science education and funding during her final year of undergraduate study. She has conducted research in the field of planetary geology at NASA Johnson Space Center and NASA GSFC. As an SSB autumn intern, she has had the opportunity to utilize her research skills and has accomplished her goal of gaining insight into the formulation and implementation of space policy. She hopes to continue to work in science policy and use her experiences as a guide for the next steps in her research career.
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1 Through June 20, 2014.
2 From September 22, 2014.
3 From October 6, 2014, to December 12, 2014.
4 From September 29, 2014, to March 27, 2015.
MICHAEL H. MOLONEY is the director for Space and Aeronautics at the SSB and the ASEB of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Since joining the ASEB/SSB, Dr. Moloney has overseen the production of more than 40 reports, including four decadal surveys—in astronomy and astrophysics, planetary science, life and microgravity science, and solar and space physics—a review of the goals and direction of the U.S. human exploration program, a prioritization of NASA space technology roadmaps, as well as reports on issues such as NASA’s Strategic Direction, orbital debris, the future of NASA’s astronaut corps, and NASA’s flight research program. Before joining the SSB and ASEB in 2010, Dr. Moloney was associate director of the BPA and study director for the decadal survey for astronomy and astrophysics (Astro2010). Since joining the NRC in 2001, Dr. Moloney has served as a study director at the National Materials Advisory Board, the Board on Physics and Astronomy (BPA), the Board on Manufacturing and Engineering Design, and the Center for Economic, Governance, and International Studies. Dr. Moloney has served as study director or senior staff for a series of reports on subject matters as varied as quantum physics, nanotechnology, cosmology, the operation of the nation’s helium reserve, new anti-counterfeiting technologies for currency, corrosion science, and nuclear fusion. In addition to his professional experience at the Academies, Dr. Moloney has more than 7 years’ experience as a foreign-service officer for the Irish government—including serving at the Irish Embassy in Washington and the Irish Mission to the United Nations in New York. A physicist, Dr. Moloney did his Ph.D. work at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. He received his undergraduate degree in experimental physics at University College Dublin, where he was awarded the Nevin Medal for Physics.
