F

Biographies of Committee Members and Staff

MEMBERS

JOSEPH K. ALEXANDER, Chair, is a consultant in science and technology policy at Alexander Space Policy Consultants. He was a senior program officer with the Space Studies Board (SSB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine from 2005 until 2013, and he served as SSB director from 1998 until November 2005. Prior to joining the National Academies, he was deputy assistant administrator for science in EPA’s Office of Research and Development. From 1993 to 1994, he was associate director of space sciences at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and served concurrently as acting chief of the Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics. From 1987 until 1993, he was assistant associate administrator at NASA’s Office of Space Science and Applications where he coordinated planning and provided oversight for all scientific research programs. He also served from 1992 to 1993 as acting director of life sciences. Prior positions have included deputy NASA chief scientist, senior policy analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and research scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center. His research interests were in radio astronomy and space physics. He has a B.A. and M.A. in physics from the College of William and Mary. Mr. Alexander’s book, Science Advice to NASA: Conflict, Consensus, Partnership, Leadership, was published by the NASA History Division in 2017.

DAVID P. FIDLER is a visiting professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis and an adjunct senior fellow for cybersecurity and for global health at the Council of Foreign Relations. He also served as the chair of the International Law Association’s Study Group on Terrorism, Cybersecurity, and International Law; and was the editor of and a contributor to the award-winning book The Snowden Reader. He works on international law and global governance across many policy areas, including cyberspace, global health, trade and investment, environmental protection, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and national/international security. His current research focuses on various aspects of national and international cybersecurity. He is the recipient of a Fulbright New Century Scholar Award. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School. Mr. Fidler has previously served on National Academies’ committees including the Committee to Review Planetary Protection Policy Development Processes.

G. SCOTT HUBBARD is an adjunct professor at Stanford University in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is also the director emeritus of the Stanford Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation and the founding editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal New Space. Previous positions include director of NASA’s Ames Research Center and NASA’s first Mars program director. He also founded NASA’s Astrobiology

Institute and authored the award-winning book “Exploring Mars: Chronicles from a Decade of Discovery.” His research interests include the study of both human and robotic exploration of space. He has received eight NASA medals, including NASA’s highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal and was recently elected honorary fellow of the AIAA. He currently chairs the SpaceX Commercial Crew Safety Advisory Panel. He has received several honorary doctorates, was awarded a Sc.D. by the Polytechnic University of Madrid and earned his B.A. in physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt University.

ROSALY M. LOPES is a senior research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (JPL) and principal investigator in the NASA Astrobiology Institute program. Her previous involvements at JPL include the Galileo and Cassini Flight Projects, and she has written more than one hundred and twenty peer-reviewed scientific publications and eight books. Her primary research interest is the geology of Titan, particularly its ice volcanoes. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Geological Society of America, and the American Geophysical Union, and an elected member of the International Academy of Astronautics. She has received several awards, including the American Astronomical Society’s Carl Sagan medal, The Explorers Club’s Lowell Thomas award, the Wings Women of Discovery Air and Space award, and two NASA Exceptional Public Service Medals. She obtained a Ph.D. from University College, London, researching volcanism on Earth and Mars. She has previously served on two National Academies’ committees and is a member of the Space Studies Board.

MARGARITA MARINOVA was until recently the senior Mars and vehicle systems development engineer at SpaceX. Before joining SpaceX, she was a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, where she participated in a variety of martian analog studies, and a propulsion engineer at Airbus Safran Launchers. Her main interests include characterizing extreme environments, understanding the surface of Mars, and technical advancement for solar system exploration. She has conducted research in a diverse variety of environments, including the High Arctic, the Sahara Desert in Egypt, the bottom of a lake in British Columbia in Canada, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. She earned her Ph.D. in planetary science at the California Institute of Technology.

KIRSTEN SIEBACH is an assistant professor in the Rice University Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, and a member of the Science and Operations Team for the Mars Science Laboratory. Prior to joining Rice University, she was a postdoctoral research associate at Stony Brook University studying the geochemistry of martian sediments. Her work focuses on understanding the history of water interacting with sediments on Mars and early Earth through analysis of sedimentary rock textures and chemistry; she is also actively engaged in promoting education and outreach related to Earth and planetary sciences. She has received several NASA Group Achievement Awards for her work on the Mars Science Laboratory, Mars Exploration Rovers, and Phoenix missions. She completed her Ph.D. in geology at the California Institute of Technology.

CAROLINE SMITH is the head of Earth Sciences Collections and Principal Curator of Meteorites at the Natural History Museum in London. Prior to joining the Natural History Museum, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Glasgow. She was also the co-principal investigator of the European Commission Horizon2020 project EURO-CARES. Her main research interests are planetary differentiation and extraterrestrial and terrestrial alteration processes. She was a member of the 2011 ESA/NASA Joint Science Working Group for Mars exploration missions, the co-chair of the iMARS Science Team 2014-2015. She is currently a member of ESA’s Human Spaceflight and Exploration Science Advisory Committee. Her experience and expertise in curation and collections has been recognized by the award of an Aurora Fellowship from the UK Space Agency and a honorary professorship at the University of Glasgow. Dr. Smith earned her Ph.D. in meteoritics from The Open University.

TRISTA VICK-MAJORS is an assistant professor in the Biological Sciences Department at Michigan Technological University. Prior to joining Michigan Technological University, she was a postdoctoral research scientist at l’Université du Québec à Montréal and at the University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station. As

an Antarctic biogeochemist and microbial ecologist, her research projects focus on microbial communities and carbon cycling under ice. She is best known for her work showing that microorganisms are active in subglacial lakes under the Antarctic ice sheet. She completed her Ph.D. in ecology and environmental sciences from Montana State University.

A. THOMAS YOUNG is the retired executive vice president of Lockheed Martin and chair of the Independent Review Board for the James Webb Space Telescope. Previous positions include director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, president and chief operating officer of Martin Marietta Corporation, and chair of Science Applications International Corporation. Mr. Young received high acclaim for his technical leadership in organizing and directing national space and defense programs, especially the Viking program. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and of the American Astronautical Society (AAS). He has received many awards, including NASA’s highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal, as well as the Outstanding Leadership Medal, the Meritorious Executive Presidential Rank Award, and the Distinguished Executive Award. He earned his M.S. in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

STAFF

DAVID H. SMITH joined the SSB as a senior staff officer in 1991. He has been and is the study director for a variety of National Academies’ activities in the general areas of astrobiology, planetary science, and planetary protection. He also organizes the SSB’s Lloyd V. Berkner Space Policy Internships and the joint SSB–Chinese Academy of Sciences Forum for New Leaders in Space Science. He received a B.Sc. in mathematical physics from the University of Liverpool in 1976, achieved the honors standard in Part III of the Mathematics Tripos at the University of Cambridge in 1977, and a D.Phil. in theoretical astrophysics from Sussex University in 1981. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Queen Mary College, University of London, he held the position of associate editor and, later, technical editor of Sky and Telescope. Immediately prior to joining the staff of the SSB, Dr. Smith was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

MIA BROWN joined the SSB as a research associate in 2016. She comes to SSB with experience in both the civil and military space sectors and has primarily focused on policies surrounding U.S. space programs in the international sector. Some of these organizations include NASA’s Office of International and Interagency Relations, Arianespace, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (Austria), and the U.S. Department of State. From 2014 to 2015, Ms. Brown was the managing editor of the International Affairs Review. She received her M.A. in international space policy from the Space Policy Institute at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. Prior to entering the Space Policy Institute, Ms. Brown received her M.A. in historical studies from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she concentrated in the history of science, technology, and medicine and defended a thesis on the development of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.

GAYBRIELLE HOLBERT is a program assistant with the SSB. Prior to joining the National Academies, she was a communications specialist for a nonprofit organization that helped inner-city youth by providing after-school programs and resources to engage their needs. Prior to that, she was the social media consultant for the Development Corporation of Columbia Heights and a production assistant for a Startup Multimedia Production Company. She holds a B.A. in mass media communications from the University of the District of Columbia.

JORDAN McKAIG is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan, where she double majored in biology and international studies. There, she developed rover-based life detection techniques for implementation at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, and studied the evolution of antibiotic resistance in hospital pathogens. She spent the last two summers interning at NASA’s Ames Research Center with the Space Life Sciences Training Program, where she studied how terrestrial bacteria survive in Mars-like environments, what genetic changes occur in bacteria flown in space, and how high-altitude balloons can be used for astrobiological and atmospheric studies.

OSASE OMORUYI graduated from Yale University with a B.S. in astrophysics and will pursue a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics at Harvard University in the fall of 2020. She has worked on many research projects from bubbles in the interstellar medium to gravitational wave-detected black holes with LIGO. She is also passionate about combating socioeconomic inequality in her field.