board_members_and

The Board is composed of prominent scientists, engineers, industrialists, scholars, and policy experts in space research. A representative member of the SSB's standing committees also serve as members of the Board.

For information about past and upcoming meetings go to the Board's meetings page.

The Space Studies Board's Executive Committee (XCOM) is a subset of the full Board, and acts on the Board's behalf between its regular meetings. The XCOM assists the chair with strategic planning, consults on Board and committee membership, and develops agendas for Board meetings. The XCOM usually meets, separate from the full Board, in late summer.

Members

Charles F. Kennel, Chair, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego
John Klineberg, Vice Chair, Space Systems/Loral (Retired)
Mark Abbott,Oregon State University
Elizabeth Cantwell, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Fiona Harrison, California Institute of Technology
Molly K. Macauley, Resources for the Future
Robert Pappalardo,Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Thomas Zurbuchen, University of Michigan

CHARLES F. KENNEL (NAS), Chair, is a distinguished professor of atmospheric science and director emeritus in the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Dr. Kennel was the founding director of the UCSD Environment and Sustainability Initiative, an all-campus effort embracing teaching, research, campus operations, and public outreach, and is now a senior advisor to the UCSD Sustainability Solutions Institute. His research covers plasma physics, space plasma physics, solar-terrestrial physics, plasma astrophysics, and environmental science and policy. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the International Academy of Astronautics. He was a member of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) from 1998 to 2006, its chair from 2001-2005, and since becoming Space Studies Board Chair, is again an (ex officio) member of the NAC. He chaired the California Council on Science and Technology from 2006 to 2010. He has had visiting appointments to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (Trieste), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (Boulder), the EcolePolytechnique (Paris), California Institute of Technology (Pasadena), Princeton, Space Research Institutes (Moscow and Brazil), and the University of Cambridge (U.K.). He is a recipient of the James Clerk Maxwell Prize (American Physical Society), the Hannes Alfven Prize (European Geophysical Society), the Aurelio Peccei Prize (Accademia Lincei), and the NASA Distinguished Service and Distinguished Public Service Medals. He was the 2007 C.P. Snow Lecturer at Christ's College, Cambridge (U.K.). Dr. Kennel has served on numerous other NRC committees and boards including the Committee on NASA's Beyond Einstein Program: An Architecture for Implementation (co-chair), the Committee on Global Change Research (chair), the Committee on Fusion Science Assessment (chair), the Board on Physics and Astronomy (chair), the Panel to Review the National Space Science Data Center/World Data Center-A for Rockets and Satellites, the Committee on Cooperation with the USSR in Solar Activity, Solar Wind, Terrestrial Effects, and Solar Acceleration (co-chair), the Plasma Science Committee (chair), the Air Force Physics Research Committee. and the Panel on Implementing Recommendations for the New Worlds, New Horizons Decadal Survey (co-chair).

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JOHN M. KLINEBERG, Vice Chair, is the former CEO of Swales Aerospace and retired president of Space Systems/Loral (SS/L). Before assuming the presidency of SS/L, Dr. Klineberg served as executive vice president for Loral’s Globalstar program, where he successfully led the development, production, and deployment of the Globalstar satellite constellation used for telephone services. Prior to joining Loral in 1995, Dr. Klineberg spent 25 years at NASA, where he served in a variety of management and technical positions. He was the director of the Goddard Space Flight Center, director of the Lewis (now Glenn) Research Center, deputy associate administrator for aeronautics and space technology at NASA Headquarters, and a research scientist at the Ames Research Center. Before beginning his career at NASA, he conducted fundamental studies in fluid dynamics at the California Institute of Technology and worked at the Douglas Aircraft Company and the Grumman Aircraft Company. Dr. Klineberg has a B.S. in engineering from Princeton University and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology. He is the former chair of two NRC study committees, including the Committee to Review the NASA Astrobiology Institute, a former member of two other NRC committees, and a former member of the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board. He is currently serving as a member of the steering committee of a NRC Review of NASA Technology Development Roadmaps.

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MARK R. ABBOTT is Dean and Professor at the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. He received his B.S. in Conservation of Natural Resources from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1974 and his Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California, Davis, in 1978. He has been at OSU since 1988 and has been Dean of the College since 2001. He served on the National Science Board from 2006 until 2013. 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. Dr. Abbott is a pioneer in the use of satellite ocean color data to study coupled physical/biological processes. He has also advised the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation on ocean information infrastructure. He is currently president of The Oceanography Society and chairs the Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space for the NRC.

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JAMES G. ANDERSON (NAS) is the Philip S. Weld Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at Harvard University. His research interests include energy and environmental systems, atmospheric and climate modeling, and oceans and geophysics. His research group focuses on gas phase kinetics of free radicals, photochemistry of planetary atmospheres, kinetics of excited molecular states, and in situ detection of free radicals in the troposphere and stratosphere of the Earth. Dr. Anderson joined the Harvard faculty in 1978 as the Robert P. Burden Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, and was appointed four years later as the Philip S. Weld Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry. He also served as chairman of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology from 1998 to 2001. Dr. Anderson is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts of Sciences, and a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In addition, he is the recipient of numerous awards, including the United Nations Vienna Convention Award for Protection of the Ozone Layer and the United Nations Earth Day International Award.

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JAMES P. BAGIAN (NAE/IOM) is the director of the Center for Health Engineering and Patient Safety and is a professor in the Medical School and the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. Previously, he served as the first Director of the VA National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS) and the first Chief Patient Safety Officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs from 1999 to 2010 where he developed numerous patient safety related tools and programs that have been adopted nationally and internationally. Dr. Bagian served as a NASA astronaut and is a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions including as the lead mission specialist for the first dedicated Life Sciences Spacelab mission. Currently his primary interest and expertise involves the development and implementation of multidisciplinary programs and projects that involve the integration of engineering, medical/life sciences, and human factor disciplines. Presently, he is applying the majority of his attention to the application of systems engineering approaches to the analysis of medical adverse events and the development and implementation of suitable corrective actions that will enhance patient safety primarily through preventive means. He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Drexel University and his M.D. from Jefferson Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Bagian is a member of both the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bagian has served on numerous NRC committees, including the Space Studies Board (2000-2003) and the Task Group on Research on the International Space Station (2001-2003), the Committee on Space Biology and Medicine (2000-2003), the Review of NASA Strategic Roadmaps: Space Station Panel (2005), the Committee on NASA’s Bioastronautics Critical Path Roadmap (2004-2006), the Committee on Optimizing Graduate Medical Trainee (Resident) Hours and Work Schedules to Improve Patient Safety (2007-2009) and the Microgravity Decadal Survey Panel (2009 – 2010 ).

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ELIZABETH R. CANTWELL is director of Mission Development at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She previously served as the director for national security initiatives at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Prior to joining Oak Ridge, she was the deputy division leader for science and technology in the International, Space and Response Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Cantwell has served as the section leader for the Micro and Nanotechnology Center at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She began her career building life support systems for human spaceflight missions with the NASA. Her NRC experience includes past membership on the Committee on NASA's Bioastronautics Critical Path Roadmap, the Space Station Panel of the Review of NASA Strategic Roadmaps, the Committee on Technology for Human/Robotic Exploration and Development of Space, and the Committee on Advanced Technology for Human Support in Space.

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ANDREW B. CHRISTENSEN is on the staff of Dixie State College and he is a part-time employee of the Aerospace Corporation. He previously held the position of chief scientist in the Civil Space Division at Northrop-Grumman Space Technology. He retired from Aerospace in 2003 and completed a two-year assignment with NOAA/NESDIS as their representative to the European Meteorological Satellite Organization in Darmstadt Germany. As an employee of Aerospace, Dr. Christensen served as the director of the Space Science and Applications Laboratory in El Segundo, California. He is currently the principal investigator for the Global Ultraviolet Imager on the NASA TIMED satellite mission launched in 2001. Dr. Christensen’s research interests include the physics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. He has served on numerous evaluation panels for both NASA and NSF and currently serves as the chair of the Mission Planning Working Group that is preparing a Science Roadmap for the Heliophysics Division at NASA. He has served as a member of the NASA Advisory Council and as chair of the Space Science Advisory Committee. He participated in the NASA Office of Space Science Strategic Planning Workshops and the Sun-Earth Connection Roadmap committees.

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ALAN DRESSLER (NAS) is an observational astronomer at the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution. His principal areas of research cover the formation and evolution of galaxies and the study of star populations of distant galaxies. Dr. Dressler has made significant contributions in understanding galaxy formation and evolution, including effects of the environment on galaxy morphology. He was a leader in the identification of the "great attractor" which causes a large distortion of the Hubble expansion. From 1993-1995 Dr. Dressler chaired the AURA committee "HST & Beyond: Exploration and the Search for Origins" that presented NASA with A Vision for Ultraviolet-Optical-Infrared Space Astronomy. NASA embraced the report's three recommendations—the extension of the Hubble mission, the building of a infrared-optimized successor to Hubble (the James Webb Space Telescope) to study the birth of galaxies in the early universe, and the development of technology for space telescopes capable of finding Earth-like planets around neighboring stars—which now form a substantial component of the NASA program in astrophysics. Dr. Dressler served on the NRC Committee on Setting Priorities for NSF-Sponsored Large Research Facility Projects and he chaired the Panel on Optical and Infrared Astronomy from the Ground of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee.

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HEIDI B. HAMMEL is executive vice president at AURA. Previously she served as a senior research scientist with the Space Science Institute, an independent research and education organization based in Boulder, Colorado. Her primary research interests are the outer planets and their satellites, with a specific focus on observational techniques. Dr. Hammel is a leading expert on the planet Neptune and was a member of the Imaging Science Team during the Voyager 2 spacecraft’s encounter with that planet in 1989. For the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in July 1994, Dr. Hammel led the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) team that investigated Jupiter’s atmospheric response to the collisions. Her latest research has focused on the imaging of Neptune and Uranus with the HST and on ground-based observations of Uranus. Dr. Hammel is the recipient of many awards, including the 1996 Urey Prize from the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences (AAS/DPS) and the San Francisco Exploratorium’s 1998 Public Understanding of Science Award. More recently, Dr. Hammel was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2000 and received the AAS/DPS’s Sagan Medal for outstanding communication by an active planetary scientist to the general public in 2002. In addition, Asteroid 1981 EC20 has been renamed 3530 Hammel in her honor. She received her Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of Hawaii. She has served on the NRC Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration and on the Panel on Solar System Exploration of the Committee on Priorities for Space Science Enabled by Nuclear Power and Propulsion: A Vision for Beyond 2015.

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THOMAS R. GAVIN is special assistant to the director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology. Prior to his current role, he was the interim director for solar system exploration at JPL. In addition, Mr. Gavin served as associate director for flight projects and mission success at JPL to provide oversight of flight process and the mission success organization. From 1968 to 1990, Mr. Gavin was a member of the Galileo and Voyager project offices responsible for mission assurance, and he went on to also direct JPL’s Space Science Flight Projects Directorate, which oversaw the Genesis, Mars 2001 Odyssey, Mars Exploration Rover, Spitzer Space Telescope and Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) projects. He was also the deputy director of JPL’s Space and Earth Science Programs Directorate. Mr. Gavin received NASA's Exceptional Service Medal in 1981 for his work on Voyager, NASA's Medal for Outstanding Leadership in 1991 for Galileo and in 1999 for Cassini. Mr. Gavin received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 2004 in recognition of outstanding and sustained engineering and management contributions to space exploration, and the American Astronautical Society 2005 Randolph Lovelace II Award for leading the management, design, and operations of all JPL and NASA robotic scientific spacecraft missions since from 2001 until retirement in 2009. He received NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal in 2007 for his leadership in the development of NPR 7120.5, a policy document that affects all of NASA’s space flight missions. In 2009 he received a second Distinguished Service Medal for his contributions to NASA.

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FIONA A. HARRISON is a professor of physics and astronomy in the Space Radiation Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Harrison's primary research interests are in experimental and observational high-energy astrophysics. She is developing optics and detectors for future balloon- and satellite-borne x-ray and gamma-ray missions. In addition, she has an active observational program in gamma-ray, x-ray, and optical observations of gamma-ray bursts, active galaxies, and neutron stars. Dr. Harrison was a member of the NRC Committee on the Physics of the Universe. She currently serves on the Committee on NASA's Beyond Einstein Program: An Architecture for Implementation.

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JOSEPH S. HEZIR is the co-founder and managing partner of the EOP Group, Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in federal government regulatory strategy development and budget policy. He previously served 18 years in the White House Office of Management and Budget in positions of increasing responsibility, serving for 6 years as deputy associate director for energy and science. He has also served on a number of advisory bodies, including the NASA Advisory Council and the Metropolitan Area Board of Directors for the Red Cross. From Carnegie Mellon University, Mr. Hezir earned a B.S. in chemical engineering and an M.S. from the Heinz School of Public Policy. He has previously served on numerous NRC committees, including the Committee on EPP2010: Elementary Particle Physics in the 21st Century, the Committee on Burning Plasma Assessment, the Committee on Cost of and Payment for Animal Research, and he is currently a member on the Board on Physics and Astronomy.

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ANTHONY C. JANETOS is director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland. He previously served as vice president of the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment in Washington, D.C., where he directed the center's Global Change Program. He has written and spoken widely to policy, business, and scientific audiences on the need for scientific input and scientific assessment in the policymaking process and about the need to understand the scientific, environmental, economic, and policy linkages among the major global environmental issues. Dr. Janetos has served on several national and international study teams, including working as a co-chair of the U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. He also was an author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Land-Use Change and Forestry, the Global Biodiversity Assessment, and was a coordinating lead author in the recently published Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. He currently serves as a member of the NRC’s Climate Research Committee. Dr. Janetos graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a bachelor’s degree in biology and earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in biology from Princeton University. He has served on numerous NRC committees including the steering committee of the decadal survey, Earth Science and Applications from Space: A Community Assessment and Strategy for the Future; the Panel on Earth Science Applications and Societal Needs; the Ecological Impacts of Climate Change and the Socioeconomic Scenarios for Climate Change Impact and Response Assessments.

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JOAN JOHNSON-FREESE is chair of the Department of National Security Decision Making at the Naval War College (NWC). Prior to that, she held positions as chair of the Transnational Studies Department at the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii, as a faculty member at the Air War College in Montgomery, AL and as director of the Center for Space Policy and Law at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Johnson-Freese has focused her research and writing on security studies generally, and space programs and policies specifically, including issues relating to technology transfer and export, missile defense, transparency, space and regional development, transformation, and globalization. She is on the editorial board of China Security and a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. She has testified before Congress concerning U.S.-Sino security issues concerning space. Dr. Johnson-Freese's most recent book is Space as a Strategic Asset, Columbia University Press (2007). Her next book, Heavenly Ambition: Will America Dominate Space? is forthcoming from University of Pennsylvania Press in 2009.

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MOLLY K. MACAULEY is Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF), Washington, DC. RFF was established in 1952 upon request of a US presidential commission and serves to advance economics research on environmental and natural resources. Dr. Macauley’s research at RFF includes studies on economics and policy issues of outer space, the valuation of non-priced space resources, the design of incentive arrangements to improve space resource use, and the appropriate relationship between public and private endeavors in space research, development, and commercial enterprise. Dr. Macauley serves as a visiting professor in the department of economics at Johns Hopkins University. She has frequently testified before Congress and serves on many national-level committees and panels. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, the Board of Directors of the American Astronautical Society, the Board of Advisors of the Thomas Jefferson Public Policy Program at the College of William and Mary, and the Women in Aerospace Scholarship Fund. Dr. Macauley currently serves as a member of the NRC Committee on the Assessment of NASA’s Earth Science Programs. She previously served on the NRC Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, the Panel on Earth Science Applications and Societal Needs, the Assessment of NASA’s Orbital Debris Program, and the Science Panel of the Review of NASA Strategic Roadmaps. Her B.A. in economics is from the College of William and Mary and her PhD in economics is from Johns Hopkins University.

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JOHN F. MUSTARD is professor of geological sciences at Brown University. The central themes that run through his research are the processes that modify solid surfaces and the spatial and temporal scales that control environmental processes on Earth. He served as deputy principal investigator for CRISM on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, as co-investigator for OMEGA on Mars Express, as moon mineralogy mapper on Chandrayan, and as co-investigator on Earth Observer 1 as Science Team Member. He is a member of the American Geophysical Union, the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received his B.Sc. in geological sciences from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in geological sciences from Brown University. Committee on a New Science Strategy for Solar System Exploration and the Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration.

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ROBERT T. PAPPALARDO is a senior research scientist in the Planetary Science Division of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. He also holds visiting faculty positions in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology and in the Department of Geological Sciences and Laboratory for Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His research interests focus on the study of processes that have shaped the icy satellites of the outer solar system, particularly Jupiter's Europa. He is also involved in the study of the nature, origin, and evolution of bright grooved terrain on Jupiter's moon, Ganymede, specifically the style of tectonism. In addition to these projects, he is interested in the geological implications of geyser-like activity on Saturn's moon, Enceladus. He is currently the project scientist for the extended mission of the Cassini spacecraft. He was formerly an affiliate member of the Galileo Imaging Team and oversaw many of the Galileo observations of Jupiter's icy Galilean satellites. Dr. Pappalardo's previous NRC service includes membership on the Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration and the Committee on Solar System Exploration Strategy. He is currently the co-chair of the Committee on the Origins and Evolution of Life.

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MARCIA J. RIEKE is a Regent's Professor and astronomer in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. Her research interests include infrared observations of galactic nuclei and high redshift galaxies. She has served as the deputy principal investigator on the near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer for the Hubble Space Telescope (NICMOS), and she is currently the principal investigator for the near-infrared camera (NIRCam) for the James Webb Space Telescope. Dr. Rieke has worked with the Spitzer Space Telescope as a co-investigator for the multiband imaging photometer, as outreach coordinator, and as a member of the Science Working Group. She was also involved with several infrared ground observatories, including the Multiple Mirror Telescope in Arizona. Dr. Rieke is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has been on several NRC committees, most recently as a member of the last decadal survey on astronomy and astrophysics, where she served as the vice chair in charge of the program prioritization and cost and technical evaluation processes of the survey. She also served as a survey committee member for the 2002 survey and as vice chair of that survey’s Panel on Ultraviolet, Optical, and Infrared Astronomy from Space. She received her Ph.D. in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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DAVID N. SPERGEL (NAS) is Charles A. Young Professor of Astronomy and chair of the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University. He was the W.M. Keck Distinguished Visiting Professor of Astrophysics at the Institute for Advanced Study. Dr. Spergel has made major contributions to cosmology, astroparticle physics, galactic structure, and instrumentation. He led the theoretical analysis for the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), invented novel coronagraphs for planet detection, originated and explored the concept of self-interacting dark matter, and showed that the Milky Way is a barred galaxy. He was an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow and received the following awards: NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, the Helen B. Warner Prize, the Bart Bok Prize, the AAS Second Century Lecturer, and a MacArthur Fellowship. He is a member of the Science Working Group for the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). He is a member of the American Astronomical Society, the American Physical Society and the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Dr. Spergel served on the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee for Astronomical Sciences, the Theory, Experimental and Laboratory Astrophysics Subcommittee, and the Scientific Advisory Board for the Hayden Planetarium. He is the editor of the Princeton Series in Astrophysics, the Science Advisor for NPR “Earth & Sky” radio program; and on the Scientific Advisory Board for New Astronomy. He received an A.B. (astronomy summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Princeton University; he was Harvard Travelling Scholar at Oxford University; and he received an A.M. in astronomy and a Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University. His NRC service includes the following committees: Committee to Review the Science Requirements for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA); Committee on Physics of the Universe; Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics; Committee on Gravitational Physics; member of the Organizing Committee for the Eighth and Ninth Annual Symposiums on Frontiers of Science; Task Group on Space Astronomy and Astrophysics; and the Panel on Cooperation with the USSR in High Energy Astrophysics.

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MEENAKSHI WADHWA is director of the Center for Meteorite Studies and professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. Her research interests focus on deciphering the origin and evolution of the solar system and planetary bodies through geochemical and isotopic investigations. She uses high-precision mass spectrometric techniques to study a wide range of solar system materials including meteorites of martian and asteroidal origin, Moon rocks (from the Apollo missions and lunar meteorites), and other samples returned by spacecraft missions. Dr. Wadhwa is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship (2005) and the Nier Prize of the Meteoritical Society (2000), which is awarded for outstanding research by a young scientist. Asteroid 8356 has been named 8356 Wadhwa in recognition of her contributions to planetary science. She recently chaired NASA’s Curation and Analysis Planning Team for Extraterrestrial Materials. She received her Ph.D. in earth and planetary sciences from Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Wadhwa has served on several NRC committees, including the NRC Committee on the Origins and Evolution of Life, the Committee on an Astrobiology Strategy for the Exploration of Mars, and the Committee on the Review of Planetary Protection Requirements for Mars Sample-Return Missions.

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CLIFFORD M. WILL (NAS) is distinuished professor of physics in the physics department at the Univesity of Florida. Previously her served as the James S. McDonnell Professor in the Department of Physics and a member of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University, St. Louis. He served as chair of the Department of Physics. His research is on general relativity theory and its applications to astrophysics, gravitational radiation, black holes and experimental gravitation. He is an expert on tests of general relativity using space probes, dating from the early Mariner and Viking missions to the Cassini mission, as well as proposed future experiments (STEP, LATOR, LAGEOS, PHARAOH/ACES, improved Lunar Laser Ranging, etc.). Dr. Will now has interests in gravitational-wave astronomy, with particular interest in LIGO, LISA, and in strong-field tests of general relativity. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of the NAS. He served as chair of the NASA Science Advisory Committee for Gravity Probe B and as chair of the American Physical Society Topical Group on Gravitation. Dr. Will was president of the International Society of General Relativity and Gravitation and is currently vice chair of the Division of Astrophysics of the American Physical Society. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Will has served on many NRC study committees, most recently as a member of the Cosmology and Fundamental Physics Science Frontiers Panel of the Astro2010 Astronomy and Astrophysics decadal survey, the Task Group on Space Astrophysics and Astronomy, the Committee on Gravitational Physics, the Committee on Physics of the Universe (Quarks to the Cosmos, and the Beyond Einstein Program Assessment Committee.

THOMAS H. ZURBUCHEN is a professor of space science and engineering in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences and the associate dean for entrepreneurship in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan (UM). At UM, Dr. Zurbuchen is leading the Solar and Heliospheric Research Group, which focuses on solar and space physics through novel experiments, data analysis, and theoretical methods. This group has been actively involved in ACE, WIND, Ulyssees, MESSENGER, and Solar Orbitor. Dr. Zurbuchens research interests include instruments that measure the composition of plasmas in the heliosphere, new particle detection technologies suitable for future space missions, theoretical concepts and experimental exploration methods of interaction between the heliosphere and local interstellar medium, and developing and analyzing space mission architectures for various exploration and commercial applications. Dr. Zurbuchen is a recipient of a Presidential Early Career for Scientists and Engineers Award. He served on the NRC Panel on the Sun and Heliospheric Physics, the Plasma Science Committee, and the Workshop Organizing Committee on Solar Systems Radiation Environment and NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration. Dr. Zurbuchen served as vice chair of the Committee on Solar and Space Physics. He earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Bern, Switzerland.

MICHAEL MOLONEY MICHAEL MOLONEY is the Director of the Space Studies Board and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board at the National Research Council of the National Academies. Since joining the NRC in 2001, Dr. Moloney has served as a Study Director at the National Materials Advisory Board (NMAB), the Board on Physics and Astronomy (BPA), the Board on Manufacturing and Engineering Design (BMED), and the Center for Economic, Governance, and International Studies (CEGIS). In his time at the ASEB/SSB Dr. Moloney has overseen the production of over 30 reports including three decadal surveys—in planetary science, life and microgravity science, and solar and space physics—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 January 2010, Dr. Moloney was Associate Director of the BPA and Study Director for the Astro2010 decadal survey for Astronomy and Astrophysics. With 12 years experience at the NRC Dr. Moloney has served as study director or senior staff for a series of reports that includes: Controlling the Quantum World – The Science of Atoms, Molecules, and Photons; Selling the Nation’s Helium Reserve; Connecting Quarks with the Cosmos – Eleven Science Questions for the New Century; Funding Smithsonian Scientific Research; Frontiers in High Energy Density Physics; Burning Plasma: Bringing a Star to Earth; Managing Materials for a 21st Century Military; Assessment of Corrosion Education; Globalization of Materials R&D; A Matter of Size – Triennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative; A Path to the Next Generation of US Banknotes – Keeping Them Real; A Review of the Federal Strategy for Nanotechnology-Related Environmental, Health and Safety Research; and Analyzing the U.S. Content of Imports and the Foreign Content of Exports. In addition to his professional experience at the National Academies, Dr. Moloney has over seven years experience as a foreign-service officer for the Irish government and has served at the Irish Embassy in Washington, the Irish Mission to the United Nations in New York, and the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, Ireland, in that capacity. A physicist, Dr. Moloney did his graduate PhD 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.

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JOSEPH K. ALEXANDER is a senior program officer for the Space Studies Board. He served as SSB director from 1998-2005. He was previously deputy assistant administrator for science in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development (1994-98), associate director of space sciences at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (1993-94), and Assistant Associate Administrator for Space Sciences and Applications in the NASA Office of Space Science and Applications (1987-93). Other positions have included deputy NASA chief scientist and senior policy analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Mr. Alexander’s own research work has been in radio astronomy and space physics. Mr. Alexander received B.S. and M.A. degrees in physics from the College of William and Mary.

CARMELA J. CHAMBERLAIN has worked for the National Academies since 1974. She started as a senior project assistant in the Institute for Laboratory Animals for Research, which is now a board in the Division on Earth and Life Sciences, where she worked for 2 years, then transferred to the Space Science Board, which is now the Space Studies Board (SSB). She is now an administrative coordinator with the SSB.

ARTHUR A. CHARO joined the Space Studies Board as a senior program officer in 1995. He has directed studies that have resulted in some 30 reports, notably the first NRC “decadal surveys” in solar and space physics (2002) and Earth science and applications from space (2007). Dr. Charo received his Ph.D. in physics from Duke University in 1981 and was a postdoctoral fellow in chemical physics at Harvard University from 1982 to 1985. He then pursued his interests in national security and arms control 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. 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 the 1988-1989 American Institute of Physics AAAS Congressional Science Fellow.

SANDRA J. GRAHAM joined the Space Studies Board as a senior program officer in 1994. A recipient of the National Academies Distinguished Service Award, Dr. Graham has directed a large number of major studies, many of them focused on space research in biological and physical sciences and technology. Her more recent work includes an assessment of servicing options for the Hubble Space Telescope, reviews of the NASA roadmaps for space sciences and the International Space Station, and a review of NASA’s Space Communications program while on loan to the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board. She directs the activities of the Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration. Prior to receiving her Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Duke University in 1990, she carried out research focused primarily on topics in bioinorganic chemistry, such as the exchange mechanisms and reaction chemistry of biological metal complexes and their analogs. From 1990 to 1994 she held the position of senior scientist at the Bionetics Corporation, where she worked in the science branch of the Microgravity Science and Applications Division at NASA headquarters.

LEWIS B. GROSWALD is a research associate who joined the SSB as the Autumn 2008 Lloyd V. Berkner Space Policy Intern. 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 aerospace issues and informing 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.

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

CELESTE A. NAYLOR is the information management associate for the Space Studies Board. She collaborates with the staff to ensure adherence to division and institutional requirements through all phases of the committee creation process. She also enjoys managing the boards website, exhibits and report distribution. She joined the NRC in 2002 as a senior project assistant. She has worked with the Committee on Assessment of Options to Extend the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics, the Committee on Microgravity Research and the Task Group on Research on the International Space Station. Ms. Naylor is a member of the Society of Government Meeting Professionals, Women in Aerospace and the American Women in Science. She has more than ten years of experience in event management. She has studied event management at George Washington University's School of Professional Studies and attended Trinity University in Washington, DC.

TANJA E. PILZAK is the manager of program operations for the Space Studies Board. She comes to the SSB from the Division on Earth and Life Studies where she was a research associate for five years in the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources and the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources. Prior to becoming a research associate, Ms. Pilzak was a proposal specialist and a contract assistant in the Office of Contracts and Grants for three years as. She holds an M.S. in environmental management from the University of Maryland University College and a B.S. in natural resources management from the University of Maryland College Park.

IAN W. PRYKE is a senior program officer with the Space Studies Board. Mr. Pryke, who retired from the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2003, is also a senior fellow/assistant professor at the Center for Aerospace Policy Research in the School of Public Policy at George Mason University. While at ESA, he first worked in the areas of data processing and satellite communications and then, the Earth Observation Programme Office where he was involved in the formulation of ESA's Remote Sensing program. In 1979, he moved to the ESA Washington, D.C. office, where he served as a liaison to both government and industry in the U.S. and Canada. He became head of the office in 1983. Mr. Pryke holds a B.S. in physics from the University of London and an M.A. in space electronics and communications from the University of Kent. He is a fellow of the American Astronautical Society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the British Interplanetary Society. He is also a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and an associate founder and trustee of the International Space University.

ABIGAIL A. SHEFFER joined the SSB in Fall 2009 as a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellow. She enjoyed her fellowship so much that she continued with SSB to become an associate program officer. Dr. Sheffer earned her Ph.D. in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona and her A.B. in Geosciences from Princeton University. She is primarily working on the Planetary Science Decadal Survey, but she is also assisting with several other of the SSB’s exciting projects.

CHRISTINA O. SHIPMAN is the financial officer for the Space Studies Board and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board. She came to work at the SSB on a fulltime basis in January 2005, having worked with both the SSB and the NRC Executive Office immediately prior to that. She was also the financial officer for the Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications for many years. She attended Mercer University and majored in sociology.

DAVID H. SMITH joined the Space Studies Board in 1991. He is the senior staff officer and study director for a variety of NRC activities, including the Committee on the Origins and Evolution of Life, the Mars Astrobiology Task Group, the Mars Architecture Assessment Task Group, the Committee on the Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems, the Task Group on Organic Environments in the Solar System, the Nuclear Systems Committee, and the proposed Lunar Science Strategy Committee. He also organizes the SSB’s summer intern program and supervises most, if not all, of the interns. He received a B.Sc. in mathematical physics from the University of Liverpool in 1976 and a D.Phil. in theoretical astrophysics from Sussex University in 1981. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Queen Mary College University of London (1980-1982), 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 (1990-1991).

LINDA M. WALKER is a senior program assistant with the Space Studies Board. She has been with the National Academies of Science since September 2007. Before joining the Board Linda worked with the National Academies Press department. She has 28 years of administrative experience. She is a native Washingtonian, mother of 27-year old identical twin girls and a grandmother of two. Her hobbies are reading, traveling and spending quality time with her grandkids.

DIONNA WILLIAMS is a program associate with the Space Studies Board, having previously worked for The National Academies’ Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education for five 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 at Colorado Springs and majored in psychology.

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SANDRA WILSON is a financial assistant for the Space Studies Board. She came to the NRC in 2007 and previously, was a temporary assistant in the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, The National Materials Advisory Board and the Space Studies Board. During this time, she worked on the Independent Assessment of the Nation’s Wake Turbulence R&D Program, The Assessment of NASA’s Aeronautics Research Program, Assessing Corrosion Education and the Lunar Research and Technology Workshop. Mrs. Wilson previously served in a managerial capacity in the retail industry for two years. She is currently enrolled at Prince George’s Community College, majoring in Accounting.