NAAA EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MESSAGE
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - The 1998 Ames Academy
NAAA EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MESSAGE
Dear NASA Academy Alumni,
Greetings... I would like to echo Mike Moreau's words on membership and fundraising. The potential of NAAA to become a powerful organization must not be underscored (see the Forbes article on ISU Alumni). However, there are two essential elements for progress:
* Interest (at the very minimum, your
membership renewal)
* Money (donations...
$1 to $100 are all great...)
However, I must admit that giving should start from the top. Thus, the Executive Coucil (Srimal, Mindy, and I) are donating $200 as a group towards the NAAA. I hope that many of you will follow this example and also send in (tax-deductible) donations. In any event, thank you for your time in reading this, and I hope you are doing well in all aspects of your lives.
Jim Chase
President of NAAA Ref: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/00/0417/6509104a.htm
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - The 1998
Ames Academy
Name: Brad E. Bailey
Email: bebailey@mail.arc.nasa.gov
Work company or school: New Mexico Tech (soon to be Scripps Institute
of Oceanography)
Major work/school project(s): Soon to get master's in astrophysics
and will go to Scripps for Ph.D. in geophysics
Discussion (what's up with life - fun, work, family, dreams, etc.):
Currently working on my volleyball skills and hoping
to learn how to surf when I get to San Diego.
Name: Stephanie Gliege
Email: sgliege@mail.arc.nasa.gov
Work company or school: Arizona State University College of Law
Major work/school project(s): pursuing law degree
Discussion (what's up with life - fun, work, family, dreams, etc):
In the last few years my plans seem to change every
month, but lately I've been limiting myself to one. Law school doesn't
allow for much of anything except reading. I have absolutely no social
life because I study more than I ever imagined was possible (constantly!).
I never dreamed I'd end up in law school, but here I am, and I'm loving
it! It's definitely a challenge. Sometimes it's a little overwhelming,
but for the most part it has been enjoyable. The people are really
different from those involved with science and engineering. They
have different ideas and goals. I sometimes find it difficult to
connect with the people around me.
I decided to go into law while working at Ames last
year. I realized that there is little connection between law and science,
yet they really depend on each other. The world needs science and
technology to move into the future, and society needs to organize itself
to accomplish this goal. The problem is that people who do science
don't want to be involved with law and those who practice law don't usually
know much about science. Consequently, they're both afraid of each
other and problems ensue. It seems we all have to find our
niche in this world, and bridging the gap between law and science seems
to suit me for now.
While keeping in touch with current activities in
space law, I am planning to go into environmental law. It is my hope
that someday I will be able to use the environmental law experience I gain
here on earth to help develop workable and efficient societies off this
planet. One could say I am preparing myself for the space law of
tomorrow.
Name: Tyson H. Harty
Email: tharty@mail.arc.nasa.gov
Current contact info: 1925 NW 27th, Corvallis, Oregon 97330
541/758-1051
Work company or school: Oregon State University
Work title and/or major and degree sought: M.S. in "Biological Robotics"
Major work/school project(s):
I design and develop Artificial Lifeforms, i.e.
autonomous, adaptive mechanical organisms (or biological robots) that use
biologically-inspired control systems based on principles of collective
organization found in mammalian nervous systems and groups of organisms
(e.g. social insects, flocking birds, schooling fish).
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
After completing my degree this spring, I will be
joining the research and development company "3 Sigma Robotics", which
designs biologically-based control systems for adaptive, autonomous robots
for use in space and other challenging environments. My email address
will be "tyson.harty@3sigmarobotics.com"
and the company's website is "www.3sigmarobotics.com".
Name: Jen Heldmann
Email: jheldmann@mail.arc.nasa.gov
Work company or school: NASA Ames Research Center
Major work/school project(s):
I'm doing research with Chris Mckay and working
on a bunch of cool projects: conducting experiments with simulated mars
soil & organics, analyzing Antarctic data, building sampling equipment
for the Arctic, etc. and working in the astrobiology integration office.
Name: Loretta Hidalgo
Email: loretta@caltech.edu
Work company or school: Caltech Biology PhD program -the "rookie" year
Major work/school project(s):
Hopefully starting with Ken Nealson's group soon
looking at prokaryotic life that survives in Earth's harshest places.
(for now still doing my rotation projects)
Discussion (what's up with life - fun, work, family, dreams, etc):
-Got accepted to ISU summer session in Chile (the
project is space tourism!) now just need to raise some funding.
-Went to the UN conference on Space last summer
and am now involved also with an International group of space kids (they
are great!) trying to get the word out and do what we can...
-trip to the arctic was great. Nice to do
research on "little Mars"
-Enjoying grad school and new adventurous and social
friends, having fun and trying a new life
-It was nice to see some of the Ames gang at Planetfest,
and to ski with Steph at Christmas
-If anyone needs me for anything call (626) 304-9794
Name: Jessica J. Marquez
Email: jjm@mit.edu
Current contact info: 70 Vassar St. ; 37-155; Cambridge, MA 02139
Work company or school: MIT
Work title and/or major and degree sought: M.S. in Aero/Astro
Major work/school project(s): Virtual Environment Research
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
I finished my undergrad years successfully and ventured
into graduate life this past year. Currently, I have a research assistantship
in the Man-Vehicle Lab at MIT in the Aeronautics and Astronautics department.
My project involves creating navigational tools within virtual environments
that will hopefully be used as countermeasure for space disorientation.
Boston is a great city and I encourage you all to come and visit me *hint,hint*
:)
Name: Erin Robinson
Email: robinse@colorado.edu
Work company or school: University of Colorado at Boulder
Work title and/or major and degree sought: MS in Aerospace Engineering
Major work/school projects:
I'm working with Bioserve Space Technologies here
at the university on various space hardware support projects, most recently
assisting in the design of an ISS Cooling Simulator for ground testing
and verification of in-house ISS payloads and experimenting with humidity
control in small enclosures for application in insect habitats planned
for future flights
Discussion:
With graduation coming up in May, I've been on the
job hunt all year in search of what space stuff I really want to be involved
in to start my career. At this point, all signs point to my ending
up in Housing working either for Boeing on the International Space Station
Command and Control Software or for the United Space Alliance doing Electrical
Power Analysis for the Space Shuttle. Both positions would be a step
in the right direction of making my dreams come true so it will be exciting
to figure out how to make the decision.
In the meantime, I've been trying to enjoy my dwindling
time in Colorado, hiking and playing outside building snowmen when possible.
I have also finally had the chance to try out snowboarding (had to heal
up a sprained ankle at the beginning of the year first), which I was surprised
to fall in love with and would highly recommend to anyone the least bit
curious about it. With only my fourth outing behind me, I've already
dabbled in jumps and plan to try the half-pipe this weekend so I'm living
(and still uninjured) proof that it's neither as difficult nor as dangerous
as it looks (we're talking baby jumps, not backflips or 360's or anything
- right).
Life is awesome, dreams do come true, and adventure
is everywhere so I'm having a great time!
Name: Maggie Turnbull
Email: turnbull@as.arizona.edu
Work company or school: University of Arizona
Major work/school project(s): Search for planets orbiting binary
stars
Discussion:
I'm finishing up my 2nd year in an astrophysics
Ph.D. program and preparing to take the preliminary exams for Ph.D. candidacy.
I continue to work for SETI as well as my own planet search project.
Aside from astronomy, I've gotten really interested in science education
at the K-12 and undergraduate levels, so I've been spending lots of time
in classrooms. The
main goal is to show teachers how we do research so that they can use
FUN and realistic activities with their students. School shouldn't
be mind-numbingly boring, as mine was, but interesting and creative, like
the rest of the world.
Goddard 1998 Academy… you're up next! Please send me your entry in a timely manner!
Name:
Email:
Homepage:
Current contact info:
Work company or school:
Work title and/or major and degree sought:
Major work/school project(s):
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
Newsletter Editor: Erin Robinson erobinson@mail.arc.nasa.gov
The Executive Committee: ec@nasa-academy.org
Jim Chase, President president@nasa-academy.org
Srimal Wangu, Vice-president
of Operations vp-ops@nasa.academy.org
Mindy Delaney, Vice-president
of Finance vp-finance@nasa.academy.org