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Space Radiation Hazards and the Vision for Space Exploration: Report of a Workshop (2006)

Chapter: D Biographies of Committee Members and Staff

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Suggested Citation:"D Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2006. Space Radiation Hazards and the Vision for Space Exploration: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11760.
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D
Biographies of Committee Members and Staff

DANIEL N. BAKER, Chair, is a professor at the University of Colorado and the director for the university’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. Dr. Baker’s primary research interests are in plasma physical and energetic particle phenomena in the planetary magnetospheres and in Earth’s magnetosphere. He also conducts space instrument design, space physics data analysis, and magnetospheric modeling. He has participated in many space science missions, including Pioneer 10 and 11, SAMPEX, POLAR, CLUSTER, and IMEX. He is also active in the teaching of space physics and public policy, as well as outreach to the space technology community and the general public. Prior to his appointment at the University of Colorado in 1993, Dr. Baker was director of NASA’s Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Earlier, he was leader of the Space Plasma Physics Group at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He has been the U.S. representative to the International Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics Research and was a member of the NASA Space Science and Applications Advisory Committee. Dr. Baker was a member of the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Solar and Space Physics Survey Committee (2001-2003) and the Panel on Atmospheric-Ionospheric-Magnetospheric Interactions (2001-2003). Currently the chair of the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics, he has served on the Space Studies Board (1996-1999) and the Steering Committee for the Workshop on Reducing Space Science Research Mission Costs (1996-1997; 2004-2007) and the Committee on the Scientific Context for Space Exploration (2004-2005). He is also a past member of the Panel on Long-Term Observations (1985-1988) and the Committee on Solar and Space Physics (1984-1986).


LESLIE A. BRABY is research professor of nuclear engineering at Texas A&M University’s Department of Nuclear Engineering. His research focuses on radiation dosimetry, microdosimetry, biological effects of radiation, and food irradiation. Dr. Braby serves on the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement. He previously served as a staff scientist and acting manager in the Biology and Chemistry Department of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Suggested Citation:"D Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2006. Space Radiation Hazards and the Vision for Space Exploration: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11760.
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STANLEY CURTIS, recently retired from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, is an affiliate professor in the Department of Health and Occupational Safety at the University of Washington. Dr. Curtis received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Washington in experimental cosmic ray physics. He has devoted his career to studying the effects of radiation on living cells, first from the viewpoint of killing cancer cells and more recently from the viewpoint of radiation-induced malignant transformation. He has long been interested in mathematically modeling radiation-induced effects in humans and in improving risk estimates at low doses and dose rates from both high and low linear energy transfer radiation. Dr. Curtis has served on national and international committees involved in determining radiation risk in space. He served on an NRC panel in the early 1970s, the Radiobiological Advisory Panel to the Committee on Space Biology and Medicine, Space Science Board, (1971-1973). He has also served on the Committee on High Energy and Space Radiation (1974-1978) and was a member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) from 1987 to 1993, as well as three NCRP committees studying radiation risk in space. He was also the chair of the Committee on Space Research of the International Council for Science Subcommittee on Radiation Environment, Biology and Health (1996-2000). He is the author of more than one hundred papers on the subject of radiation effects on cells and radiation risk estimation.


JACK R. JOKIPII is Regents’ Professor within the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona. Dr. Jokipii’s research in the areas of theoretical astrophysics and space physics is primarily related to the transport and acceleration of cosmic rays and energetic particles in the solar wind and in the Galaxy with major current thrusts centering on work on the Voyager, Ulysses, and the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) space missions. Dr. Jokipii and his research group have been guest investigators on these missions and specialize in theoretical interpretation and modeling of the observations. Specifically, Dr. Jokipii’s group is currently in the midst of an extensive program of theoretical research to determine the transport coefficients of energetic particles in irregular (turbulent) plasmas and magnetic fields, avoiding the approximations used previously. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His NRC service includes his membership from 2001 to 2003 on the Solar and Space Physics Survey’s Panel on Theory, Computation, and Data Exploration. He serves on the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics, and was a member of the Panel on Space Sciences and is current chair of the Panel on Physical Sciences of the NRC Policy and Global Affairs Division’s Associateship Program.


WILLIAM S. LEWIS is principal scientist with the Space Research and Engineering Division of the Southwest Research Institute. His primary research interest is in the area of auroral physics. He has co-authored papers on Jupiter’s x-ray and far-ultraviolet aurora, Earth’s proton aurora, Europa’s sputter-produced atmosphere, and the Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer investigation. He is currently involved in studies using data obtained with the far-ultraviolet imaging system on the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) spacecraft, with particular emphasis on the proton aurora. He served as a consultant to the science and technology definition teams for NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale, Geospace Electro-dynamic Connections, and Living With a Star/Geospace missions and is at present a consultant to the recently formed Solar Probe definition team. Dr. Lewis has been involved in the preparation of several NRC documents. As consultant to the Solar and Space Physics Survey Committee, he worked with the committee and NRC staff on the preparation of the first decadal survey in solar and space physics, The Sun to the Earth—and Beyond. He has also worked closely with the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics on Plasma Physics of the Local Cosmos and a popular booklet based on the decadal survey report. Dr. Lewis is a member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and chaired the Web site committee of the AGU Space Physics and Aeronomy section (July 1998-July 2000). He serves on the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics.

Suggested Citation:"D Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2006. Space Radiation Hazards and the Vision for Space Exploration: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11760.
×

JACK MILLER is currently principal investigator and leader of a group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory conducting and analyzing the results of accelerator experiments with high-energy heavy ions, with an emphasis on the study of heavy-ion fragmentation and transport in matter. These studies are directed primarily toward the assessment and mitigation of risks to humans in space outside the geomagnetosphere. The experiments focus on characterizing the radiation field produced by interactions of the high-energy heavy-ion component of galactic cosmic radiation with spacecraft and planetary habitat shielding materials and biological organisms, including humans. Dr. Miller’s professional interests and experience include nuclear physics with heavy ions; sources and effects of space radiation, in particular the heavy ions in the galactic cosmic radiation; simulation of the space radiation environment at particle accelerators; and theoretical modeling of space radiation effects. He received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California in 1987, an M.S. in physics from San Francisco State University, and a B.S. in physics at the University of Michigan.


WALTER SCHIMMERLING is the former program scientist for NASA’s Space Radiation Health Program, Bioastronautics Research Division. Dr. Schimmerling served as a research biophysicist and senior research scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 1972 to 1989. He also served as a NASA visiting senior scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, manager of the Radiation Health Program at NASA Headquarters, and program director of the joint NASA-National Cancer Institute research project on genomic instability. He is the author of numerous publications on mitigating the health effects of radiation during spaceflight. He was also the chief scientist of the Space Life Sciences Division of the Universities Space Research Association.


HOWARD J. SINGER is chief of the Science and Technology Infusion Branch at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Space Environment Center (SEC). In addition, he is the project scientist for the current and future NOAA Space Environment Monitor instruments on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) spacecraft and the responsible scientist for the GOES spacecraft magnetometers. Prior to joining SEC, Dr. Singer was with the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, where he was the principal experimenter for the fluxgate magnetometer on the joint Air Force-NASA Combined Release and Radiation Effects satellite. Dr. Singer’s research is in the area of solar-terrestrial interactions, ultra-low-frequency waves, geomagnetic disturbances, storms, and substorms. He has served on various NASA, National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Geological Survey, and NRC committees, including recent service on the NASA Living With a Star Geospace Mission Definition Team. From 2001 to 2003 he served on the NRC Solar and Space Physics Survey Panel on Atmosphere-Ionosphere-Magnetosphere Interactions. Dr. Singer is currently on the NSF Geospace Environment Modeling Steering Committee and the Editorial Advisory Board of Space Weather: The International Journal of Research and Applications. Dr. Singer was co-editor of the 2001 AGU Geophysical Monograph, Space Weather. He has received awards from the Air Force, NASA, and NOAA, including the prestigious Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Leadership. He serves on the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics.


LEONARD STRACHAN is an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, where he has been working since 1991. He received his Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University. Dr. Strachan is a member of the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) team on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) mission. His research focuses on developing remote sensing techniques and instrumentation for studying the solar corona and solar wind using extreme ultraviolet radiation spectroscopy. Specifically, he is interested in determining the plasma properties and large-scale characteristics of the solar wind acceleration region of the solar corona. Such measurements are important for understanding

Suggested Citation:"D Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2006. Space Radiation Hazards and the Vision for Space Exploration: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11760.
×

the processes that drive both steady and dynamic solar wind. His previous experience includes participating in the instrument development and flight operations of the Spartan 201 space shuttle experiment. Dr. Strachan was a member of the NASA Solar and Heliospheric Management and Operations Working Group (2001-2004) and the NASA Sun-Solar System Connection Roadmap Foundation Committee (2004-2005). He serves on the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics.


LAWRENCE W. TOWNSEND is a professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee. Between 1970 and 1977 he served in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear submarine engineering officer. From 1981 until 1995 he held positions as research scientist and senior research scientist at NASA Langley Research Center. While at NASA, Dr. Townsend received numerous scientific awards, including NASA’s highest research honor—a NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for outstanding contributions to the understanding of nuclear interactions of cosmic radiation with matter and its implications for space radiation exposure and shielding. He is a council member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. His research interests include space radiation transport code development, space radiation shielding, theoretical modeling of secondary neutron production cross sections and spectra from energetic proton and heavy-ion interactions with thin and thick targets, modeling production of radioactive and stable heavy nuclides from nuclear spallation, and design of neutron sources, including cold sources, for use in radiography, radiotherapy, neutron activation analysis, and materials studies. He is the principal investigator and leader of the multi-institutional, NASA-funded, Space Radiation Transport Code Development Consortium. Dr. Townsend received a Ph.D. in theoretical nuclear physics from the University of Idaho in 1980, an M.S. in physics from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1970, and a B.S. in physics from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1969.


RONALD E. TURNER is a principal scientist at ANSER Corporation. Dr. Turner has more than 20 years of experience in space systems analysis, space physics, orbital mechanics, remote sensing, and nuclear and particle physics. He also has extensive experience in radiation effects on humans in space. His recent research as participating scientist on the Mars Odyssey mission has included risk management strategies for solar particle events during human missions to the Moon or Mars. He has been an invited participant at NASA workshops looking at space radiation/biology missions, life science mission requirements for several Mars initiatives, and the impact of solar particle events on the design of human missions. Dr. Turner served on the NRC Safe on Mars study in 2002. He is the senior science adviser to the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, an independent institute charged with creating a vision of future space opportunities to lead NASA into the 21st century. Dr. Turner received a Ph.D. in physics from Ohio State University in 1984, an M.S. in physics from the University of Florida in 1978, and a B.S. in physics from the University of Florida in 1977. He was chair of the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board’s Human Health and Support Systems Panel reviewing the NASA capabilities roadmap, and he has been nominated to serve on the NRC Committee on Space and Solar Physics.


THOMAS H. ZURBUCHEN is an associate professor of space science and engineering in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences at the University of Michigan, where he led the design, manufacturing, and testing of a low-weight time-of-flight mass spectrometer, the Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer, part of the spacecraft MESSENGER payload flying to Mercury. Dr. Zurbuchen’s research interests include instruments to measure the composition of plasmas in the heliosphere, new particle detectors technologies suitable for future space missions, theoretical models for all major phenomena in the solar atmosphere and its expansion into the heliosphere as the solar wind, theoretical concepts and models for interstellar heliospheric neutral gas and dust behavior and subsequent ionization to form

Suggested Citation:"D Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2006. Space Radiation Hazards and the Vision for Space Exploration: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11760.
×

so-called pickup ion population, and theoretical concepts and experimental exploration methods of interaction between the heliosphere and local interstellar medium. From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Zurbuchen served on the NRC Solar and Space Physics Survey Panel on the Sun and Heliospheric Physics. He is a recipient of a Presidential Early Career for Scientists and Engineers Award. He serves on the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics.

Staff

DWAYNE A. DAY, Study Director, received his Ph.D. in political science from the George Washington University and has previously worked for the Columbia Accident Investigation Board and the Congressional Budget Office. He has previously been both a Verville Fellow and a Guggenheim Fellow at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. He edited Eye in the Sky, a history of the early American satellite reconnaissance program, and wrote Lightning Rod, a history of the Air Force chief scientist’s office. He is associate editor of the German spaceflight magazine Raumfahrt Concret, and has served as a guest editor of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society.


ARTHUR CHARO, Senior Program Officer, 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. Dr. Charo then pursued his interests in national security and arms control at Harvard University’s Center for Science and International Affairs, where he was a fellow from 1985 to 1988. From 1988 to 1995, he worked in the International Security and Space Program in the U.S. Congress’s Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). Dr. Charo has been a senior program officer at the Space Studies Board (SSB) of the NRC since OTA’s closure in 1995. His principal responsibilities at the SSB are to direct the activities of the NRC Committee on Earth Studies and the NRC Committee on Solar and Space Physics. Dr. Charo is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in International Security (1985-1987) and was the American Institute of Physics’s 1988-1989 American Association for the Advancement of Science Congressional Science Fellow. In addition to directing studies that have resulted in some 28 reports from the NRC, he is the author of research papers in the field of molecular spectroscopy; reports to Congress on arms control and space policy; and the monograph Continental Air Defense: A Neglected Dimension of Strategic Defense (University Press of America, 1990).


CATHERINE A. GRUBER, Assistant Editor, joined the SSB as a senior program assistant in 1995. Ms. Gruber 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 2 years. She has a B.A. in natural science from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.


CELESTE NAYLOR, Senior Program Assistant, joined the NRC and the SSB in June 2002. She has worked with the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics, the Committee on Assessment of Options to Extend the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope, and also with 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 and has more than 7 years of experience in event management.

Suggested Citation:"D Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2006. Space Radiation Hazards and the Vision for Space Exploration: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11760.
×
Page 84
Suggested Citation:"D Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2006. Space Radiation Hazards and the Vision for Space Exploration: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11760.
×
Page 85
Suggested Citation:"D Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2006. Space Radiation Hazards and the Vision for Space Exploration: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11760.
×
Page 86
Suggested Citation:"D Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2006. Space Radiation Hazards and the Vision for Space Exploration: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11760.
×
Page 87
Suggested Citation:"D Biographies of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2006. Space Radiation Hazards and the Vision for Space Exploration: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11760.
×
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Fulfilling the President’s Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) will require overcoming many challenges. Among these are the hazards of space radiation to crews traveling to the Moon and Mars. To explore these challenges in some depth and to examine ways to marshal research efforts to address them, NASA, NSF, and the NRC sponsored a workshop bringing together members of the space and planetary science, radiation physics, operations, and exploration engineering communities. The goals of the workshop were to increase understanding of the solar and space physics in the environment of Earth, the Moon, and Mars; to identify compelling relevant research goals; and discuss directions this research should take over the coming decade. This workshop report presents a discussion of radiation risks for the VSE, an assessment of specifying and predicting the space radiation environment, an analysis of operational strategies for space weather support, and a summary and conclusions of the workshop.

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