Dr. Jim Green began his NASA career in 1980 at Marshall Space Flight Center’s Magnetospheric Physics Branch where he developed and managed the Space Physics Analysis Network (SPAN), NASA’s precursor to the Internet. From 1985 to 1992 he served as Head of...

Steven Schmidt joined NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in 1994 as a project engineer and manager on programs such as the X-33, X-38, X-43A, F-15 Advanced Control Technology for Integrated Vehicles, and the SR-71. Between January 2002 and August 2004 Schmidt...

After a brief career teaching at University College London in the U.K., Dr. Robert Youngquist returned to the U.S. and went to work as a contractor at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in 1988. He established KSC’s Optical Instrumentation Laboratory, which...

While pursuing a master’s degree in aerospace guidance, navigation, and control theory at UT Austin, Terry Hill got an opportunity to work at NASA JSC as a primary investigator on a project his educational advisor was conducting. This led...

In 2001, NASA engineer Michael Ewert developed and patented a unique solar-powered vapor-compression refrigeration system that operates without batteries or external power of any kind. The system, which is powered by a photovoltaic...

Born and raised in Seoul, Korea, Jaiwon Shin emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 23, and in 1989, he joined NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH, where he served most recently as Chief of the Aeronautics Projects...

Dr. William Ko joined NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in 1977 after receiving a PhD in aeronautics from California Institute of Technology and conducting research at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. An...

Dr. Robert Braun began his NASA career at Langley Research Center in Virginia in 1987 after receiving a B.S in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State University. While at Langley, he worked on a number of advanced space systems concept and flight programs...

Dr. Adrian Ponce joined JPL/NASA as a postdoctoral scholar in 2000 after receiving a Ph.D. in chemistry from Caltech. In 2002 he invented the Anthrax Smoke Detector, a device capable of detecting the presence of anthrax in less than fifteen minutes. He...

Robert Lightfoot Jr. began his career with NASA in 1989 as a test engineer and program manager for the space shuttle engine technology testbed program and the Russian RD-180 engine testing program. In 2002 he was named director of the Propulsion Test Directorate at Stennis Space...

Mark Polansky enjoyed a successful 14-year career as an Air Force fighter pilot before joining NASA as an aerospace engineer and research pilot in 1992. Selected as an astronaut candidate in April 1996, he has since flown three space shuttle missions to the International Space Station, piloting the...

Dr. Gary Hunter, who joined NASA in 1990, is an expert in the design, fabrication, and testing of sensors, especially chemical species gas sensors. In 1995 and 2005, he led the development of sensor systems that won R&D 100...

Dr. Robert Romanofsky has over 75 publications and holds five patents in the fields of microwave device technology, high-temperature superconductivity, and the use of thin ferroelectric films in microwave applications. A recipient of NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal,...

Dr. Luz Marina Calle earned her Ph.D. in chemistry from Ohio University and shortly thereafter became a professor of chemistry at Randolph College in Virginia. In 1989, she was selected to participate in NASA’s Summer Faculty...

Starr Ginn decided she wanted to work for NASA after interning in their Summer High School Apprenticeship Research Program (SHARP) following her junior year in high school. She is currently the Deputy Branch Chief of the engineering...