D

Biographies of Committee Members and Staff

COMMITTEE

JACQUELINE N. HEWITT, Chair, is a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Director of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. She received her B.A. in economics from Bryn Mawr College and her Ph.D. in physics from MIT. After postdoctoral appointments at Haystack Observatory and Princeton University, she returned to MIT to join the faculty. Dr. Hewitt’s research interests are in the application of techniques of radio astronomy, interferometry, and signal processing to problems in astrophysics. She was one of the pioneers of wide-area radio surveys with the Very Large Array radio telescope, work that led to the discovery of the first Einstein ring gravitational lens. Her current research involves low-frequency radio studies of the “Cosmic Dawn,” the formation of the first stars and galaxies, and surveys of transient astronomical radio emission. Dr. Hewitt received the 1993 Booker Prize from the International Union of Radio Science and the 1995 Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award from the American Physical Society (APS). She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science, a fellow of the APS, a former David and Lucile Packard Foundation fellow, and a former Alfred P. Sloan fellow. Dr. Hewitt chaired the 2010 Panel on Particle Astrophysics and Gravitation for the “New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics” decadal survey, and she has served on the Space Studies Board (SSB) and the Board on Physics and Astronomy (BPA) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

ADAM S. BURROWS is a professor at Princeton University in the Department of Astronomical Sciences. He is also director of the Princeton Planets and Life Certificate Program, on the board of trustees of the Aspen Center for Physics, and is a fellow of the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science. His primary research interests are supernova theory, exoplanet and brown dwarf theory, planetary atmospheres, computational astrophysics, and nuclear astrophysics. Well known as a pioneer in the theory of exoplanets, brown dwarfs, and supernovae, Dr. Burrows has written numerous fundamental and influential papers and reviews on these subjects during the past 30 years. He has collaborated with more than 200 co-authors on more than 350 papers and given more than 300 invited talks and colloquia. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a fellow of the APS, the 2010 Beatrice M. Tinsley Centennial Professor, and a former Alfred P. Sloan fellow. He has been a consultant for the American Museum of Natural History in New York and served as the chair of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics Advisory Board, as co-chair of NASA’s Universe Subcommittee, as chair of NASA’s Origins Subcommittee, as co-chair of NASA’s Strategic Roadmapping Committee “Search for Earth-like Planets,” as co-chair of NASA’s Origins/SEUS Roadmapping committee, and as a primary author of NASA 2003 Origins Roadmap. He received his B.S. in physics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in physics from MIT. He has served as chair of the Academies’ BPA as well as serving on the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics, Astro2010, the Rare Isotope Science Assessment Committee, and the Subcommittee on the Implementation of the DOE Long-Range Plan for Nuclear Physics.

NEIL J. CORNISH is a professor of physics at Montana State University in the Department of Physics. Previously, Dr. Cornish was a NASA research fellow at the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University. Before moving to Princeton, he was a research fellow in Stephen Hawking’s group at Cambridge University in England. His research focuses on the interface between general relativity, astrophysics, and early universe cosmology. Dr. Cornish’s main area of research is the newly emerging field of gravitational wave astronomy. He is a member of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatory (LIGO) scientific collaboration and the North American Nanohertz Gravitational Observatory (NANOGrav) collaboration. Dr. Cornish received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Toronto. He served as a member on the Academies’ Astro2010 Panel on Cosmology and Fundamental Physics.

ANDREW W. HOWARD is an assistant astronomer at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Dr. Howard is interested in the formation and evolution of planets orbiting stars other than the Sun and is particularly interested

in the diversity of small planets. Prior to working at the University of Hawaii, he was a research astronomer and postdoctoral fellow with the University of California, Berkeley. He has received the University of Hawaii Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Research and the Cozzarelli Prize. He received his B.S. in physics from MIT and an M.A and Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University.

BRUCE MACINTOSH is a professor of physics at Stanford University. His research focuses on the detection of extrasolar planets through direct imaging and on using adaptive optics to shape the wavefronts of light for a variety of applications. Dr. Macintosh is the principal investigator of the Gemini Planet Imager, an advanced adaptive optics planet-finder for the Gemini South Telescope. Prior to joining Stanford, he was a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where he also completed his postdoctoral work. He received his Ph.D. in astronomy at University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Macintosh served as a member on the Academies’ Astro2010 Panel on Optical and Infrared Astronomy from the Ground and on the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics.

RICHARD F. MUSHOTZKY is a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) in the Department of Astronomy. Prior to joining UMD, he was a senior scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). His recent research has focused on understanding the triggering mechanisms in active galaxies, the nature of ultra-luminous X-ray sources and whether they are intermediate black holes, the evolution of active galaxies across cosmic time, the nature of the innermost regions around supermassive black holes, and the physics of clusters of galaxies and their use as tracers of metal production in the universe. Dr. Mushotzky is a member of the Astro-H science team, a new X-ray spectroscopic observatory being prepared for launch in early 2016, and has been involved in numerous high-energy astrophysics missions—most recently, Swift, Chandra, XMM, and Suzaku. He received his B.S. in physics from MIT and received his M.S. and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Mushotzky’s previous service includes membership on the Academies’ Astro2010 Panel on Galaxies Across Cosmic Time, the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics, the U.S. National Committee for the International Astronomical Union, the Task Group on Space Astronomy and Astrophysics, and the Panel on Cooperation with the USSR in High Energy Astrophysics.

ANGELA V. OLINTO is the Homer J. Livingston Professor of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. She is also a member of the Enrico Fermi Institute and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago. Dr. Olinto’s interests are in theoretical astrophysics, particle and nuclear astrophysics, and cosmology. She is the U.S. principal investigator of the JEM-EUSO space mission and a member of the international collaboration

of the Pierre Auger Observatory, both designed to discover the origin of the highest energy cosmic rays. She made significant contributions to the study of the structure of neutron stars, inflationary theory, cosmic magnetic fields, the nature of the dark matter, and the origin of the highest energy cosmic particles: cosmic rays, gamma rays, and neutrinos. Dr. Olinto has served as chair of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago for two terms. She is a fellow of the APS and has served as chair of its Division of Astrophysics. She is a fellow of AAAS, has served as trustee of the Aspen Center for Physics, and is serving on the Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee. She received her Ph.D. in physics from MIT. Dr. Olinto served as a member on the Academies’ Astro2010 Panel on Particle Astrophysics and Gravitation and the Committee on Scientific Assessment of Proposed U.S. Neutrino Experiments.

STEVEN M. RITZ is a professor of physics and the director of the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). He is a fellow of the APS and a recipient of the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and he was a Sloan Foundation Fellow in Physics. Prior to joining the faculty at UCSC, he was an astrophysicist at NASA GSFC, where he served as the Fermi (nee GLAST) project scientist, and an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland. Before moving to NASA, he was an associate professor of physics at Columbia University. He chaired the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) for the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, and he is currently the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope camera project scientist. He received his B.A. in physics and music from Wesleyan University, his M.S. in physics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His prior Academies’ membership includes the Panel on Implementing Recommendations from New Worlds New Horizons Decadal Survey and the Astro2010 survey committee.

ALEXEY VIKHLININ is deputy associate director at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics of the High Energy Astrophysics Division. He is also an associate senior researcher at the High Energy Astrophysics division of Moscow’s Space Research Institute. His main research area is X-ray studies of galaxy clusters and their applications for cosmology and physics of the intergalactic medium. His research also includes collaboration with the South Pole Telescope team on X-ray observations of clusters discovered by their Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal, improvements in the cluster mass calibration using weak lensing techniques, studies of interplay between stellar and gaseous baryonic components in clusters, helping theorists to improve the intracluster medium modeling in numerical simulations, and also helping to make sure that a next-generation all-sky X-ray survey (e.g., SRG/eRosita or WFXT) becomes a reality. In 1995, Dr. Vikhlinin came to the United

States where his main research is on X-ray studies of galaxy clusters and their application for cosmology and the physics of the intergalactic medium. He was co-awarded the 2008 Rossi Prize from the American Astronomical Society for his work on cluster cosmology and cold fronts. He received his Ph.D. in astrophysics from the Moscow University. Dr. Vikhlinin is a member on the Academies’ Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics.

DAVID H. WEINBERG is Henry L. Cox Professor and Chair of Astronomy and Distinguished Professor of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Weinberg is an observationally oriented theorist who works on large-scale structure, galaxy formation, the intergalactic medium, and observational probes of the matter and energy content and initial conditions of the universe. He joined Ohio State as an assistant professor in 1995 after postdoctoral positions at Cambridge, University of California, Berkeley, and the Institute for Advanced Study. He joined the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) in 1992 and served as project spokesperson for SDSS-II and project scientist for SDSS-III. He is a fellow of AAAS and the APS. Other honors include the Ohio State University Distinguished Scholar Award and the American Astronomical Society’s Lancelot Berkeley Prize. He was a member on the WFIRST Science Definition Team and plans to continue to contribute to the project in the future. He received a B.S. in physics from Yale University and a Ph.D. in astrophysical sciences from Princeton University. Dr. Weinberg served as vice chair of the Astro2010 Panel on Cosmology and Fundamental Physics.

RAINER WEISS is a professor emeritus at MIT. Previously, Dr. Weiss served as an assistant physics professor at Tufts University and has been an adjunct professor at Louisiana State University since 2001. Dr. Weiss is known for his pioneering measurements of the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation, his inventions of the monolithic silicon bolometer and the laser interferometer gravitational wave detector, and his roles as a co-founder and an intellectual leader of both the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Project and the LIGO (gravitational-wave detection) Project. He has received numerous scientific and group achievement awards from NASA, an MIT excellence in teaching award, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, the National Space Club Science Award, the Medaille de l’ADION Observatoire de Nice, the Gruber Cosmology Prize, and the Einstein Prize of the APS. Dr. Weiss is a fellow of AAAS, the APS, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he is a member of the American Astronomical Society, the New York Academy of Sciences, and Sigma Xi. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. in physics from MIT. Dr. Weiss is a member of the NAS and has served on nine Academies’ committees from 1986 to 2007, including the Committee on NASA Astrophysics Performance Assessment; the Panel

on Particle, Nuclear, and Gravitational-wave Astrophysics; and the Task Group on Space Astronomy and Astrophysics.

ERIC M. WILCOTS is a professor and associate dean at the University of Wisconsin (UW), Madison, in the College of Letters and Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics from University of Washington before serving as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). Dr. Wilcots served as chair of the Department of Astronomy at UW-Madison before becoming an associate dean in the College of Letters and Science. He is an observer with broad expertise in the gas content and evolution of galaxies and galaxy groups and the impact of massive stars on the evolution of galaxies. This work includes understanding the distribution and kinematics of neutral hydrogen in and around galaxies, the impact of massive stars on their environment, and the role of active galactic nuclei in the evolution of galaxy groups and structure. He brings knowledge about radio, optical, and infrared astronomy. Dr. Wilcots has served on the Users, Visitors, and Program Advisory Committees for NRAO. He was also a member of the Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), the Committee on the Future of Radio Astronomy, and is now a trustee of the AUI board. He was a member of the science working group for the International Square Kilometer Array project and remains a member of the board of the Southern African Large Telescope. He has also served on the board of the Wisconsin-Indiana-Yale-National Optical Astronomical Observatory consortium. He was a member of the Academies’ Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics and a member on the Astro2010 Panel on Galaxies Across Cosmic Time.

EDWARD L. WRIGHT is the David Saxon Presidential Cahir in Physics and professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). At UCLA, Dr. Wright has been the data team leader on COBE, a co-investigator on the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), an interdisciplinary scientist on the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the principal investigator on the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Dr. Wright is well known for his Cosmology Tutorial website for the informed public and his web-based cosmology calculator for professional astronomers. He earned his Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University. He is a member of the NAS and has served on the Academies’ Beyond Einstein Program Assessment Committee, the Committee to study Autonomy Research in Civil Aviation, the Committee to study NASA’s Planned Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope-Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets program (WFIRST-AFTA), and the Committee for Review of the Federal Aviation Administration Research Plan on Certification of New Technologies into the National Airspace System. As well, Dr. Wright currently serves on the Committee on Achieving Science Goals with CubeSats.

A. THOMAS YOUNG is executive vice president, retired, at Lockheed Martin Corporation. He is also former chair of the board of SAIC. Mr. Young was previously the president and chief operating officer of Martin Marietta Corporation. Prior to joining the industry, Mr. Young worked for 21 years at NASA where he directed NASA GSFC, was deputy director of the Ames Research Center, and directed the Planetary Program in the Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters. Mr. Young received high acclaim for his technical leadership in organizing and directing national space and defense programs, especially the Viking program. He is currently a member of the National Academy of Engineering, an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a fellow of the American Astronautical Society. Mr. Young is a member of the NASA Advisory Council. He earned his B.S. in engineering from the University of Virginia and M.S. in management from MIT. Mr. Young’s Academies’ service includes current membership on the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Committee on Achieving Science Goals with CubeSats. His prior Academies membership includes the Committee on Survey of Surveys: Lessons Learned from the Decadal Survey Process, the Committee on the Assessment of the Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (AFTA) Mission Concepts, the Planning Committee on Lessons Learned in Decadal Planning in Space: A Workshop, the Committee on the Planetary Science Decadal Survey: 2013-2022, the Panel on Implementing Recommendations from New Worlds, New Horizons Decadal Survey, the Committee on the Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2010, and the SSB as vice chair.

STAFF

DAVID B. LANG, Study Director, is a senior program officer for the Academies’ BPA and joined the Academies in 2004. Mr. Lang received a B.S. in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in engineering and public policy from University of Maryland. At the BPA, he has operated many large committees on scientific and technical policy issues including spectrum management and telecommunications, astronomy and astrophysics, plasma science, particle physics, plasma physics, and materials science. He also works with the board to identify pressing policy issues through discussions with policymakers and the science community.

KATIE DAUD is a research associate for the SSB and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB). She comes to the SSB from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies where she was a planetary scientist. A triple major at Bloomsburg University, Ms. Daud received a Bachelor of Science in planetary science and Earth science and a B.A. in political science.

DIONNA WILLIAMS is a program coordinator with the SSB, having previously worked for the Academies’ Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education for 5 years. Ms. Williams has a long career in office administration, having worked as a supervisor in a number of capacities and fields. Ms. Williams attended the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and majored in psychology.

MICHAEL H. MOLONEY is the Director for Space and Aeronautics at the SSB and the ASEB of the Academies. Since joining the ASEB/SSB Dr. Moloney has overseen the production of more than 60 reports, including five decadal surveys, in astronomy and astrophysics, Earth science and applications from space, planetary science, microgravity sciences, and solar and space physics. He has also been involved in reviewing of NASA’s space technology roadmaps and oversaw a major report on the rationale for and future direction of the U.S. human spaceflight program, as well as reports on issues such as NASA’s strategic direction; lessons learned from the decadal survey processes; the science promise of CubeSats; the challenge of orbital debris; the future of NASA’s astronaut corps; NASA’s aeronautical flight research program; and national research agendas for autonomy and low-carbon propulsion in civil aviation. Since joining the Academies in 2001, Dr. Moloney has also served as a study director at the National Materials Advisory Board, the 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. Before joining the SSB and ASEB in 2010, Dr. Moloney was associate director of the BPA and study director for the 2010 decadal survey for astronomy and astrophysics (New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics). 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 Ireland’s embassy in Washington and its 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. Dr. Moloney is a corresponding member of the International Academy of Astronautics and a senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is also a recipient of a distinguished service award from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

JAMES C. LANCASTER is the director of the BPA and acting director of the National Materials and Manufacturing Board. He joined the BPA as a program officer in 2008 and has been responsible staff officer for a number of studies, including the decadal survey on nuclear physics—Nuclear Physics: Exploring the Heart of

the Matter, An Assessment of the Science Proposed for the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL), Research at the Intersection of the Physical and Life Sciences, Frontiers in Crystalline Matter: From Discovery to Technology, and Selling the Nation’s Helium Reserve. Prior to joining the BPA, Dr. Lancaster served on faculty at Rice University, where he taught introductory physics to science and engineering students, and as a staff researcher, where he participated in experimental investigations of the interactions of highly excited atoms with electromagnetic pulses and surfaces. In addition to his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from Rice University, Dr. Lancaster holds a B.A. in economics from Rice University and a J.D. degree from the University of Texas School of Law. Prior to entering the field of physics, Dr. Lancaster practiced law for more than 12 years, specializing in the financial structuring and restructuring of businesses.

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