Name: Rita M. Sambruna
Title: Deputy Director for the Astrophysics Division, Science Exploration Directorate
Formal Job Classification: Supervisory astrophysicist
Organization: Code 660, Astrophysics Science Division, Science Exploration Directorate
What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission?
I am the deputy director of the Astrophysics Division. As a manager, I am responsible for running the division together with the division director. I am there to make things easier for our people. I want to enable them to do their jobs, by removing barriers and resolving issues for them, so they can focus on their work.
What is your educational background?
I was born in northern Italy, near Como, where I lived for my first 29 years. I went to school there, from primary to graduate. The Italian educational system is different than in the U.S. After Liceo Classico (a kind of high school in Italy), I went to the University of Milan for a Laurea degree in physics, which is the equivalent of a master’s. My graduate work in astrophysics was done at the International School of Advanced Studies (ISAS) in Trieste, Italy, where I got my Ph.D. I spent my last year of graduate school at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, where I worked on my Ph.D. thesis with professor Meg Urry.
How did you come to Goddard?
Goddard and I have been familiar to each other for a long time.
After I got my Ph.D. in 1994, I came to Goddard as post-doctoral fellow in the Astrophysics Division for two years, supported by a National Research Council Fellowship (now NASA Postdoctoral Program), working independently on high-energy observations of active galactic nuclei and relativistic jets. My second appointment was as an associate researcher at Pennsylvania State University for three years, working on the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
My first permanent position was as a tenured professor of astrophysics at George Mason University, where I remained for five years, teaching, mentoring, and conducting independently funded research. Meanwhile, I kept my professional ties with Goddard very strong, and in 2005 I was recruited by Neil Gehrels to come as a civil servant working on multiwavelength observations of jets, using the Fermi Gamma-ray Observatory and other NASA capabilities.
In 2010, and in need of a change in my career, I went to NASA Headquarters in Washington to be a program scientist for astrophysics and acquire science management and leadership skills. I was at HQ for 10 years, loving every moment of it. In 2020, I applied and was selected for the position of deputy director of the Astrophysics Science Division at Goddard, where I currently am.
You have held many different positions in different places. What advantage does that give you?
Because of my broad experience in academia and the government, I have a different perspective on science at Goddard than most people. I am aware of the different ways research is done in academia and in government labs, and I use it to make decisions and plan strategies for a future that ties Goddard with the rest of the community. Being an immigrant from Italy, and having traveled over the world, I bring sensitivity to the way multiple cultures need to be engaged. My experience as a non-native speaker enables me to empathize with people from various walks of life and understand their needs.
As the deputy director of Goddard’s Astrophysics Science Division, what are your goals?
I see my job as an enabler of excellent science in my division, and I aim to to strengthen its breadth and depth by promoting innovation and creativity, remove barriers and obstacles along the way, and building a diverse, multicultural workforce. As deputy director, I work side by side with the director to make great science happen.
In the fall, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine will issue the Astrophysics Decadal Survey report. Issued every 10 years, this report provides the roadmap for an ambitious program of science priorities and activities for the next decade. For the past year, I worked with a center team to position Goddard to lead the decadal top priority missions. I also led a team in my division to set into place a vision for a Multi Messenger Astrophysics Science Support Center at Goddard, to lead the astrophysics community in reaping the most from NASA and ground-based observations of celestial sources. The new center builds on the decadal recommendations for multi messenger astrophysics, a new frontier of modern research.
A goal I feel very strongly about is to support the people in my division finding and exploiting opportunities to grow professionally. To this end I created a career oriented workshop for postdocs, held in June 2021, focusing on skills for applying successfully to jobs in government, industry, and academia. I led a Team of University scientists to design a multi-messenger astrophysics mission concept, exposing them to the various phases of mission development, and set in place a shadowing program for Admin supporting people to expand their skills.
Every day, I wonder at how I got here and at how lucky I am to be doing what I love to do – enabling great science and uplifting people.
What does being an Italian-American mean to you?
My upbringing in Italy gave me a unique foundation as a person and as a professional. Before university, I was studying classic Greek and Latin authors, and learning their language. Despite not being focused on science per se, these studies gave me a mindset for logic and rationality, which then I used for my physics studies at university. I believe this background gave a unique, more holistic approach to think about and resolve problems.
While I am very proud of my Italian roots, I have been a U.S. citizen since 1999, and my present and future are in the U.S. I love this country, and I work every day to contribute to my community for its betterment and prosperity.
Being Italian-American means for me to love life and appreciate beauty. I see beauty everywhere – in nature, animals, people, art, and science. And of course, it means to love good food! Food is very important to us Italians; it is a way to communicate with other people and savor life.
Why did you become an astrophysicist?
I was always interested in science. I wanted to make discoveries, peek into unknown things. Someone pointed out to me when I was young that the universe is an infinite laboratory with new discoveries waiting to be found. You can always discover something new and unexplained in the universe. So I became an astrophysicist.
The topic of my Ph.D. thesis and much of the ensuing research are relativistic jets in galaxies. Jets are narrow beams of particles, traveling near the speed of light, radiation, and magnetic fields. They form near supermassive black holes in galaxies and can extend, in the radio wavelengths, out to very large distances into the intergalactic medium. My team discovered that relativistic jets emit higher-energy radiation on all scales — from near the blackhole to beyond the boundaries of the host galaxy. I was able to secure Hubble and Chandra observing time to study this large-scale emission, whose origin is still a matter of debate now.
What are some of the most interesting strategic directions for astrophysics?
Astrophysics is a wide field with an incredible richness of phenomena. The study of Astrophysics is truly the study of how humans came to be, and what will happen next. From exoplanets to star formation to galaxies to compact objects, there is no shortness of fascinating areas of discovery. But because funding is limited, decisions have to be made and priorities need to be set.
Luckily for us, the Astrophysics Decadal Survey helps set priorities for the field. This is a NASEM-managed, community-led survey of the field occurring every 10 years, looking at the most promising developments in our knowledge of the universe and of existing crucial gaps. The decadal report sets the strategic directions for astrophysics, both in space and on the ground, and helps gives us at NASA our marching orders.
As a mentor, what do you tell your people?
One of the joys of my job is to mentor, especially early-career scientists. I always make time to talk to them, advise them in career choices, or simply rehearse their interview talks. I am very concerned that, due to this lockdown, we will see the job rate for postdocs and other early career scientists decline significantly in the next few years; my top priority is to find support to help them transition to another position, and provide concrete career skills. One activity I provided in June was a career workshop focusing on how to write a resume, how to conduct a job interview, and how to network.
My advice to my mentees is to persevere in what they want to do, continue to work hard and be focused. But also allow themselves to be flexible, and look around for unforeseen opportunities to do new things. With the technological world changing so rapidly, the ability to un-learn and re-learn is key to the future of the workforce.
How do you oversee diversity, equity, inclusion, and unity?
A large part of my job is to oversee diversity, equity, and inclusion in the division. For me, diversity means seeking and accepting people from different walks of life, and with different cultural experiences. Equity means making sure that everyone can succeed with their goals and needs, removing barriers along their way. Inclusion is about making everyone feel that they belong, and unity is moving forward together.
One of my first activities in this area was drafting a roadmap for the division to reach and help it become a welcoming place of work for all. I included all the employees in listening and brainstorming sessions to flesh out the division goals and vision, and then started acting on those. A big part of leading these activities is being kept accountable for progress. To this end, I instituted an independent advisory board, with the primary aim to monitor progress in the division and keep the leadership accountable for it.
These top-down activities are met by bottom-up ones, with ad hoc grass-root working groups spontaneously surging in the division on particular topics of importance for the employees. Common to all is the desire to promote unity and inclusion, and make our division a compassionate, uplifting, and supporting one.
Who inspired you?
My high school science teacher, Ms. Marina Lessanutti, inspired me very early on to pursue science. She was very passionate about teaching it and very adamant we should drop some of those Greek and Latin hours in our Liceo to take up more math and physics. She used to say, “There is always the same amount of classics, but science progress goes on all the time!”. I was a straight-A student, and the only “F” I ever got was from Ms. Lessanutti on a math test. By failing me, she pushed me to work harder and tested my resilience, and I will always be grateful to her for that.
Who inspires you?
My outmost respect and admiration goes to people who live up to their core values with integrity and compassion; people who do the right thing even if it is unpopular and requires sacrifices. I was raised to believe in honesty, loyalty, and hard work, and these are the qualities that I hold high.
Who is your favorite author?
I read everything – novels, essays, philosophy, and all the books I can put my hands on. My current favorite author is Ta-Nehisi Coates. His writings about social justice and the case for reparation are very inspiring to me. I devoured his most recent book, “The Water Dancer,” reading it cover to cover in a few days.
Is there something surprising about your hobbies outside of work that people do not generally know?
People do not generally know that I am a certified yoga teacher in the alignment style. I also have a certification in Yoga for Cancer, which I teach to cancer patients and survivors. Seeing my yoga students become strong and confident as they practice is one of the biggest rewards of my life.
I also love non-human animals, and currently live with five parrots, all rehomed and the love of my life.
What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words.
“Don’t be scared of failing big.” Pick yourself up and try again.
Conversations With Goddard is a collection of question and answer profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month since May 2011 and are archived on the NASA Goddard homepage under the People tab.
By Elizabeth M. Jarrell
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center