National Academies Press: OpenBook

Open Source Software Policy Options for NASA Earth and Space Sciences (2018)

Chapter: Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff

« Previous: Appendix C: Call for White Papers and Listing of Received White Papers
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Open Source Software Policy Options for NASA Earth and Space Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25217.
×

D

Biographies of Committee Members and Staff

COMMITTEE

CHELLE L. GENTEMANN, Co-Chair, is a senior scientist at Earth and Space Research, where she works on remote sensing, air-sea interactions, upper ocean dynamics, and sea surface temperatures (SSTs). Prior to that, Dr. Gentemann was with Remote Sensing Systems, where she focused on air-sea interactions, diurnal warming, passive-microwave SST retrievals, instrument calibration, and radio frequency (RF) interference. Dr. Gentemann participates in a number of science teams and committees, including the Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperatures (GHRSST). She has been the principal investigator (PI) for the U.S. component of GHRSST, the Multi-sensor Improved Sea Surface Temperature project, since 2003. She was awarded the National Oceanographic Partnership Program’s Excellence in Partnering Award and the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Charles S. Falkenberg Award. She received her Ph.D. in meteorology and physical oceanography from the University of Miami. Dr. Gentemann has served on several committees of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, including the Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space and the Committee on a Framework for Analyzing the Needs for Continuity of NASA-Sustained Remote Sensing Observations of the Earth from Space.

MARK A. PARSONS, Co-Chair, is a senior research scientist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Mr. Parsons is also director of data science operations for the Tetherless World Constellation at RPI. Previously, he was secretary general of the Research Data Alliance and an associate director of the Rensselaer Institute for Data Exploration and Applications. Prior to that, he was lead project manager at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has been involved in data management for more than 20 years, during which he defined and implemented comprehensive data management processes for many projects and organizations. He is active in multiple international informatics efforts and led the data management effort for the International Polar Year (IPY). Mr. Parsons is a member of the Foundation for Earth Science Information Partners board of directors and a member of the Coordinating Committee for the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines. He received the AGU/Earth Science Information Partners Charles S. Falkenberg Award. He earned his M.A. in geography at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Mr. Parsons has served on the Committee on the Development of a Strategic Vision and Implementation Plan for the U.S. Antarctic Program, as an ex officio member of the Board on Research Data and Information, and as a member of the Committee on Archiving and Accessing Environmental and Geospatial Data at NOAA.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Open Source Software Policy Options for NASA Earth and Space Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25217.
×

LORENA A. BARBA is an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at George Washington University. Dr. Barba’s research interests include computational fluid dynamics, high-performance computing, computational biophysics, and animal flight. She was an early adopter of GPU technology for scientific computing. She has advocated for open source software for science and open educational resources for years, and her research group is well known for its open science practices. Dr. Barba is a member of the board of directors for NumFOCUS, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports and promotes world-class, innovative, open source scientific computing. She is a member of the editorial board for IEEE/AIP Computing in Science and Engineering (leading a new track on Reproducible Research), Journal of Open Source Software (founding member), and ReScience Journal. Dr. Barba received the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early CAREER award and was named a CUDA fellow by NVIDIA Corporation in 2012. She is an awardee of the U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) First Grant program, is an Amelia Earhart Fellow of the Zonta Foundation, and was awarded a Leamer-Rosenthal Prize by the Berkeley Institute for Transparency in the Social Sciences (BITSS) in the Leaders in Education category. Dr. Barba earned her Ph.D. in aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology.

KELLE L. CRUZ is an associate professor at the City University of New York Hunter College in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Dr. Cruz is also a research associate in the Astrophysics Department at the American Museum of Natural History. Her research interests include the study of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs using optical and near-infrared spectroscopy. She is a member of the coordinating committee of the Astropy Project and is also the founder and editor of the AstroBetter Blog and Wiki. Previously, Dr. Cruz was an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics postdoctoral fellow at the American Museum of Natural History and a Spitzer Postdoctoral fellow at Caltech. She is currently a councilor/trustee of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and served previously as the chair of the Employment Committee. Dr. Cruz earned her Ph.D. in physics and astronomy from the University of Pennsylvania.

BRENDA J. DIETRICH is an IBM fellow and vice president at IBM Business Solutions. As a fellow, author, inventor, and leader in analytics and data science, Dr. Dietrich applies data and computation to processes throughout IBM and IBM clients. She led the Mathematical Sciences Department in IBM Research for over a decade. She was IBM’s chief technology officer for Business Analytics, led emerging technologies in Watson, established Data Science for Insight Cloud Services, and is currently leading data science activities in The Weather Company, a newly acquired IBM Business. Dr. Dietrich’s research interests include mathematical models of decision processes, particularly those related to the allocation of resources; use of data and computation in decision making, both in enterprise processes and in individual choices; use of computational methods such as visualization, statistics, data mining, simulation, and optimization to generate and evaluate decisions; extraction of models that describe the operation of systems, both physical and behavioral, from data, especially data generated by automation of business processes and computer intermediation of social processes; and cognitive computing and extending the base capability of natural language processing and search-based methods to include structured data analysis and interpretation. Dr. Dietrich received a B.S. in mathematics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in operations research from Cornell University. She has served on the National Academies Industrial, Manufacturing, and Operational Systems Engineering Peer Committee, the 2019 Nominating Committee, and the Panel on Assessment and Analysis at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL).

CHRISTOPHER L. FRYER is a Scientist 5 at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in the Computer Science, Computational Science, and Statistics Division. At LANL, Dr. Fryer is the director of the Center for Theoretical Astrophysics and the project lead of the high-energy density physics impact team. Dr. Fryer’s research includes a broad range of astrophysical transients (supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, etc.), neutron star and black hole systems, and nucleosynthesis. He also works on laboratory physics experiments at the National Laboratories and has worked extensively on code development and support. At LANL, he is on the advisory committee for the Center of Non-Linear Studies, the Center for Space and Earth Science, and the Information Science and Technology Institute. He also is on the LANL Nuclear Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology Senior Review Team and the Board for Institutional Computing. For his work on multidimensional simulations of core-collapse supernovae,

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Open Source Software Policy Options for NASA Earth and Space Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25217.
×

he was named an APS fellow, and for this work, combined with his laboratory physics work, he received the E.O. Lawrence Award and was named a LANL fellow. Dr. Fryer earned his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Arizona.

JOE GIACALONE is a professor of planetary sciences at the University of Arizona in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Dr. Giacalone’s research focus is on the origin and physical processes involved in creating high-energy charged particles from near the sun, throughout the heliosphere, and beyond, and how these high-energy particles move throughout the solar system. He has been directly involved with a number of NASA spacecraft missions, including Ulysses, ACE, and Voyager, and is currently a co-investigator for the upcoming Parker Solar Probe mission. Dr. Giacalone uses a wide array of theoretical and computer modeling techniques in his research, including cosmic-ray transport, particle-in-cell kinetic, and magneto-hydrodynamic fluid simulations. Previously, he was a senior research associate at the University of Arizona, and a postdoctoral research associate at Queen Mary, University of London. He is a recipient of an Early Career Award from the NSF and the Professor Leon and Pauline Blitzer Award for Excellence in Teaching of Physics and Related Science at the University of Arizona. He earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Kansas. He has served on the National Academies Panel on Physics and on the Panel on Solar and Heliospheric Physics.

SARA J. GRAVES is the director of the Information Technology and Systems Center, a Board of Trustees University Professor, and professor of computer science at the University of Alabama, Huntsville. Dr. Graves directs research and development in sustainable distributed data infrastructures, data mining and knowledge discovery, semantic technologies, information analytics, and cyber security/resilience. Dr. Graves is a member of the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (GCOOS) board of directors, part of the Integrated Ocean Observing System. GCOOS seeks to facilitate the establishment of a sustained and integrated observing system for the Gulf of Mexico. Dr. Graves is currently a member of the Southeastern Universities Research Association board of trustees and was a founding member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Science Advisory Board Data Archives and Access Requirements Working Group and the Climate Change Science Institute Science Advisory Board of the Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She has also served as a member of the NASA Headquarters Earth System Science and Applications Advisory Committee and as chair of the ESSAAC Subcommittee on Information Systems and Services. Dr. Graves has been the PI on many research projects with NASA, NOAA, NSF, DOE, and the Department of Defense (DOD). She received her Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Alabama, Huntsville. She has served on the Gulf Research Program Advisory Board and the Board on Research Data and Information.

JOSEPH HARRINGTON is a professor of planetary science in the Department of Physics at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Harrington co-founded the physics Ph.D. track in planetary sciences and is leading its transition into an independent Ph.D. program. Dr. Harrington leads the Spitzer Exoplanet Target of Opportunity Program, an international collaboration of planet hunters and specialists in low-signal data analysis. The group has used NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to make the first measurements of dozens of exoplanetary atmospheres, including numerous high-impact results, by developing state-of-the-art methods for removing systematics from Spitzer data. As part of this effort, Dr. Harrington led teams that developed several open source scientific codes, including Bayesian Atmospheric Radiative Transfer, which retrieves atmospheric parameters from exoplanetary eclipse and transit data. He wrote the Reproducible Research Software License to prompt a discussion on the robustness of research results involving complex computer codes in astrophysics and beyond. He is the lead organizer of the ExoClimes workshop series and founded the NumPy Documentation Project, which crowd-sourced the documentation of a nascent, now popular, open source numerical programming package. Prior work includes study of cometary impacts into giant planets, the detection of atmospheric waves in Jupiter’s atmosphere, and stellar occultations by Saturn’s atmosphere and rings. Previously, Dr. Harrington was a researcher at Cornell University and a National Research Council fellow at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). He earned his Ph.D. in planetary science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Open Source Software Policy Options for NASA Earth and Space Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25217.
×

ELVA J. JONES is a professor and chair of computer science of the Department of Computer Science at Winston-Salem State University. Dr. Jones is engaged in study of space science information systems, assistive robotics, computer science education, and assessment methods. Her research interests include artificial intelligence, robotics, computer science education, assessment, game development, gamification, information retrieval, and systems design for decision support. She is the recipient of the Fifty Most Important African Americans in Technology Award; Information Technology Senior Management Forum Ivory Dome Education Leadership Award; Scott Cares Foundation Humanitarian Award for Achievements in Technology; Phi Beta Sigma Outstanding Educator Award; WSSU Sponsored Programs “Million Dollar” Award; City of Winston-Salem Outstanding Women Leaders Award; NASA University Joint Venture (JOVE) Research Award; NASA JOVE Curriculum Development Award; and the NASA JOVE Fellow at NASA GSFC. She is a member of the North Carolina Space Grant executive committee and previously served as a commissioner for the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. She is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery. Dr. Jones earned her Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering with a focus in computer studies at North Carolina State University, Raleigh.

MARIA M. KUZNETSOVA is an astrophysicist in the Space Weather Laboratory and the director of the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) at NASA GSFC. Dr. Kuznetsova’s research interests include global MHD modeling of magnetosphere dynamics and implementation of kinetic effects in MHD models. While with CCMC, she has helped to develop an Open Model Policy, enabling researchers outside the immediate modeling community to have access to modern space science simulations and establishing the CCMC as a leading repository and service center for space weather modeling. Dr. Kuznetsova previously held positions with the Russian Space Research Institute (IKI) and the Raytheon Company, and she currently serves as the chair of the COSPAR Panel on Space Weather and as a liaison to multiple NASA and NSF steering committees. She is a recipient of the NASA Robert H. Goddard Exceptional Achievement Award. Dr. Kuznetsova earned her Ph.D. in theoretical and mathematical physics from the Space Research Institute in Moscow, Russia.

CLIFFORD A. LYNCH is the executive director of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI). Dr. Lynch is also an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Information. Prior to joining CNI, Dr. Lynch served in the University of California Office of the President, and as director of Library Automation. CNI, jointly sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries and EDUCAUSE, includes about 200 member organizations concerned with the intelligent uses of information technology and networked information to enhance scholarship and intellectual life. CNI’s wide-ranging agenda includes work in digital preservation, data-intensive scholarship, teaching, learning and technology, and infrastructure and standards development. Dr. Lynch is both a past president and recipient of the Award of Merit for the American Society for Information Science, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Information Standards Organization. Dr. Lynch earned his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. He has served as co-chair of the Board on Research Data and Information, co-chair of the Committee on Planning a Global Library of Mathematical Sciences, and member of the Planning Committee for a Workshop on Overcoming the Technical and Policy Constraints that Limit Large-Scale Data Integration.

MELISSA A. McGRATH is a senior scientist at the SETI Institute. Dr. McGrath’s research expertise includes planetary and satellite atmospheres and magnetospheres, particularly imaging and spectroscopic studies of Jupiter’s Galilean satellites. She is currently a co-investigator on the Ultraviolet Spectrometer instrument on the European Space Agency (ESA) JUICE mission to Ganymede, as well as a co-investigator on two proposed instruments for NASA’s Europa Clipper mission. Previously, Dr. McGrath served as chief scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Dr. McGrath has served as the chair of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences and as president of the International Astronomical Union’s Commission 16 (Physical Studies of Planets and Satellites). She is currently a scientific editor for both the Astronomical Journal and the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Dr. McGrath has been awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal; the NASA Superior Accomplish-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Open Source Software Policy Options for NASA Earth and Space Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25217.
×

ment Award; and the NASA Ames Honor Award in Lunar Science. Dr. McGrath earned her Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Virginia.

AARON RIDLEY is a professor at the University of Michigan (UM) in the Department of Climate and Space Science and Engineering. Dr. Ridley previously served as a research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute. His research interests include modeling of the near-Earth space environment, ground-based instrumentation, and small satellites. Dr. Ridley currently has an active program for Fabry-Perot interferometers in North America. He has been PI of three CubeSats, including CADRE and two CubeSats for the European QB50 mission, each of which will measure the state of the upper atmosphere. Dr. Ridley has received the UM’s College of Engineering Monroe-Brown Foundation Education Excellence Award, the NASA Group Achievement Award, the UM College of Engineering Outstanding Research Scientist Award, and the Most Cited Paper, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Research. He earned a B.S. from Eastern Michigan University, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in atmospheric and space science from the University of Michigan. He has served on the National Academies Committee on Solar and Space Physics and the Committee on Assessment of the National Science Foundation (NSF) 2015 Geospace Portfolio Review.

STAFF

ABIGAIL A. SHEFFER, Study Director, is a senior program officer with the Space Studies Board (SSB) of the National Academies. In fall 2009, Dr. Sheffer served as a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellow for the National Academies and then joined the SSB. Since joining the National Academies, she has been the staff officer and study director on a variety of activities such as the Committee on Solar and Space Physics, Assessment of the National Science Foundation’s 2015 Geospace Portfolio Review, Achieving Science with CubeSats: Thinking Inside the Box, Landsat and Beyond—Sustaining and Enhancing the Nation’s Land Imaging Program, among others. Dr. Sheffer has been an assisting staff officer on several other reports, including Pathways to Exploration—Rationales and Approaches for a U.S. Program of Human Space Exploration and Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society. Dr. Sheffer earned her Ph.D. in planetary science from the University of Arizona and A.B. in geosciences from Princeton University.

NATHAN J. BOLL is an associate program officer with the SSB and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) of the National Academies. He previously served as a research assistant in civil and commercial space at the Congressional Research Service in the Library of Congress and as a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellow at the National Academies. Mr. Boll’s background in space policy and science communication includes experience in the Office of International and Interagency Relations at NASA Headquarters, in the Aeronautics and Space Academies at the NASA Glenn Research Center, and as a member of the advisory board of the Montana Space Grant Consortium. Nathan earned his M.S. in space sciences from the University of Michigan, his M.A. in international science and technology policy from George Washington University, and his B.S. in mathematics from the University of Montana Western.

ANESIA WILKS is a senior program assistant. Ms. Wilks began working at the National Academies in the conference management office and later transferred to the Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences (DEPS), where she began working on administrative roles for different projects. She is currently working on the Aeronautics Research and Technology Roundtable and the Space Technology Industry-Government-University Roundtable, among various other projects. Ms. Wilks has a B.A. in psychology (magna cum laude) from Trinity University in Washington, D.C.

CARSON BULLOCK is an undergraduate student in their final year at the College of Wooster. They will receive a B.A. in physics and political science in 2019. Mx. Bullock enjoyed their time as a Lloyd V. Berkner Space Policy Intern during the summer of 2018, a position whose interdisciplinary nature represented a perfect intersection of their interests. Mx. Bollock studies collective action problems and commons management, with an emphasis on the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Open Source Software Policy Options for NASA Earth and Space Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25217.
×

proliferation and mitigation of orbital debris. Outside their major fields of study, Mx. Bullock’s broader academic experience includes mathematics, cartography, phonology, and gender.

JONATHAN LUTZ is in his senior year at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) in the astrophysics program and worked as a student associate at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. He was the Lloyd V. Berkner Space Policy Intern at the National Academies in autumn 2018. He was a member of a student-led BalloonSat research team that launched a scintillator gamma-ray detector on a small payload to the stratosphere. Previously, he worked as a freelance graphic designer and has a background in data science. He is on the dean’s list at CU Boulder.

JACOB ROBERTSON was a Lloyd V. Berkner Space Policy Intern at the SSB during fall 2017. He previously interned with the Education Division at the American Institute of Physics (AIP) and with the Dark Energy Survey at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Mr. Robertson received his B.S. in physics from Austin Peay State University in December 2017. He is currently a program assistant with COMPASS Science Communication, a nonprofit that helps scientists participate in the public dialogue through communication training and by facilitating real-world connections.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Open Source Software Policy Options for NASA Earth and Space Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25217.
×
Page 87
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Open Source Software Policy Options for NASA Earth and Space Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25217.
×
Page 88
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Open Source Software Policy Options for NASA Earth and Space Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25217.
×
Page 89
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Open Source Software Policy Options for NASA Earth and Space Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25217.
×
Page 90
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Open Source Software Policy Options for NASA Earth and Space Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25217.
×
Page 91
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Open Source Software Policy Options for NASA Earth and Space Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25217.
×
Page 92
Next: Appendix E: Acronyms »
Open Source Software Policy Options for NASA Earth and Space Sciences Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $40.00 Buy Ebook | $32.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

Modern science is ever more driven by computations and simulations. In particular, the state of the art in space and Earth science often arises from complex simulations of climate, space weather, and astronomical phenomena. At the same time, scientific work requires data processing, presentation, and analysis through broadly available proprietary and community software.1 Implicitly or explicitly, software is central to science. Scientific discovery, understanding, validation, and interpretation are all enhanced by access to the source code of the software used by scientists.

This report investigates and recommends options for NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) as it considers how to establish a policy regarding open source software to complement its existing policy on open data. In particular, the report reviews existing data and software policies and the lessons learned from the implementation of those policies, summarizes community perspectives, and presents policy options and recommendations for implementing an open source software policy for NASA SMD.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!