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Meet our space experts from across the country!
ePALS is very pleased to have been joined by the following space experts:
Don't miss the chance to see what members asked about space exploration and the Design Challenges. Visit the Space Day Talk discussion board. |
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Susan Ramsey is the lead of the Habitability Design Center (HDC) within Johnson Space Center's Space and Life Sciences Directorate. She leads a team of architects and engineers in developing human factors design requirements and creating conceptual designs of "habitability" hardware-hardware used by astronauts for living in space. The HDC takes a "human-centered" approach to designing space hardware in an effort to increase crew usability, productivity, and safety on-orbit. The HDC's current primary projects include hardware needed for living on-board the International Space Station-a Waste & Hygiene Compartment, a Galley, Refrigerator/Freezers, and Food Accessories. Other hardware that the HDC has recently played a role in designing are a Sleep Station for the crew, and a conceptual Wardroom Table for eating, socialization, and recreation.
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Dr. Ayanna Howard is a robotics engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She leads a small group of researchers who work on getting robots to be 'smarter' than they already are. She uses creative programming and logic to make sure robots do not get hurt when they go to Mars or other planets. This will allow humans to one day visit other planets and have robots work closely with them as assistants.
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Kelly DiNardo, B.S. in Communications (Cornell) is Content Developer for News at USATODAY.com. Part of the job involves choosing stories for our homefront. She also writes and edits original content for the site including a weekly entertainment column.
Prior to becoming a Content Developer for news, Kelly was a Content Developer for Life at USATODAY.com, helping develop the section's TV
section. She's been with USATODAY.com since July, 1999. Before that, Kelly was an editorial assistant at USA WEEKEND magazine.
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Jack Williams is the weather editor for USATODAY.com and the USA TODAY newspaper weather page. He's reported on weather and weather science from
inside hurricanes, and from Antarctica and Greenland. Williams is the author of three books, The USA TODAY Weather Book, the USA TODAY Weather Almanac, and - with co-author Dr. Bob Sheets - Hurricane Watch: Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth.
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Sharon Laubach, Ph.D., is a robotics and systems engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She works with Mars Rovers: Sharon was one of the lucky few to drive the Sojourner Rover on Mars in July 1997. She has also designed a computer program for Rovers which allows them to navigate by themselves on the surface of Mars. Currently, she is working on the Mars Exploration Rover project, which is sending twin Rovers--"remote geologists"--to Mars in 2003.
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Sam joined USA TODAY in 1982 and covered the Justice Department and the CIA. Sam has won a number of national awards for his investigative reports, including long-term computer-assisted projects.
In 1996, convinced that the Internet is the biggest thing to hit journalism since Gutenberg's printing press, he jumped at the chance to become our Technology Editor. In addition to overseeing production of USATODAY.com's popular Tech section, he scours the Web for new and notable sites to share with readers. Those sites appear in a column that he writes for USA TODAY and for syndication by Gannett News Service. Today Sam is Deputy Managing Editor.
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Keith Henderson works in the Advanced Life Support Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. He grew up on a farm in Colorado. After graduation from High School, Keith spent several years in college and finished with a PhD in Crop Physiology from the University of Arizona. He began work at the Johnson Space Center in 1976 and has worked in positions that include remote sensing, medial science, and research on life support systems. Keith currently does research on future technologies on how to grow plants in space, including on the surface of nearby planets, which could then provide food for astronauts.
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Frank C. Sietzen, Jr. is an award-winning journalist that has covered the space programs of the world since 1981. He is the Editor-In-Chief of Ad Astra magazine, published bi-monthly by the National Space Society in Washington, DC; Contributing Writer for the magazine Aerospace America; correspondent for UPI Science News wire service; and writes an Internet column called 'Spacelift Washington' that appears regularly on the nasawatch.com web site.
Frank has written three trade books on space, and is the author of 'Apollo 11: America on the Moon', written for young Americans during the 25th anniversary of the first lunar mission. His previous work has included editor of the newsletter Military Space, space technology editor of Space Business News, Washington Bureau Chief for space.com, and is today working on a history of the International Space Station. He lives in Arlington, Virginia and is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana.
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