Summer Series Colloquia
2011 Summer Seminar Series
Natalie Batalha: Honing in on eta-Earth: Kepler’s Hunt for Habitable Planets
Leslie Bebout: Microbial Systems: Nexus roles for Astrobiology, Energy and Space
Katherine Hoag (EPA): Using Science Research, Tools and Approaches in Air Quality Management Decision-making
Mary Kaiser: Smoothing the Bumps: Human-Systems Integration Research at NASA
Jack Lissauer: Kepler’s Multi-Planet Systems
Sandra Lozito: Air-Ground Communications in the Future Air Traffic Management System
Chris McKay: Perchlorate and Organics in Mid-Latitudes on Mars and Implications for the Search for Life
Matt Small (EPA): Overview of Science at the Environmental Protection Agency and a Presentation of Ground Water Cleanup Research
Pete Worden: Protecting the Earth from Asteroids
Kevin Zahnle: Dune: The Other Habitable Planet
Natalie Batalha: Honing in on eta-Earth: Kepler’s Hunt for Habitable Planets
This was an opportunity to get a current update on one of the coolest missions that NASA has ever launched.
Abstract:
Humankind’s speculation about the existence of other worlds like our own turned into a veritable quest with the launch of NASA’s Kepler spacecraft in March 2009. The mission is designed to survey a slice of the Milky Way Galaxy to identify planets orbiting other stars. It looks for the telltale dimming of light that occurs when an orbiting planet passes in front of the star thereby casting a shadow into space. The roster of exoplanets discovered by Kepler has reached 18 in number, including one world that is unquestionably rocky in composition. Moreover, the team has released a catalog of nearly one thousand stars showing the recurring dimmings of light that suggest the presence of a planet. The methods used to identify planets will be described in this talk as well as the discoveries that have been announced to date. Now in its third year of operation, Kepler is honing in on the answer to the question that drives the mission: are potentially habitable worlds abundant in our galaxy.
Biography:
Dr. Natalie Batalha is a professor of physics and astronomy at San Jose State University in the heart of Silicon Valley, California and co-investigator on NASA’s Kepler Mission. She holds a bachelor’s in physics from the University of California (UC), Berkeley, and a doctorate in astrophysics from UC Santa Cruz. Dr. Batalha started her career as a stellar spectroscopist studying young, sun-like stars. After a post-doctoral fellowship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dr. Batalha returned to California. Inspired by the growing number of exoplanet discoveries, she joined the team led by William Borucki at NASA’s Ames Research Center working on transit photometry – an emerging technology for finding exoplanets. Twelve years later, she stands poised with the Kepler team to make discoveries that humans, up to now, have left to the imagination and the realms of science fiction.
Leslie Bebout: Microbial Systems: Nexus roles for Astrobiology, Energy and Space
This was an opportunity to learn about some of the work we do on microbial ecosystems at the Center.
Abstract:
Life on Earth is dominated by microbes, in terms of biomass, overall rates of activity, use of potentially available habitats, and length of time on the planet. Microbial ecosystems are the loci where the myriad processes necessary for regenerative cycling of energy and elements on the Earth occur. Only through their activity can this planet support higher life (including our own). These systems themselves exhibit a dazzling array of diversity in composition and metabolic capability. Increasingly this diversity is being explored and applied to address current day challenges in sustainability of renewable energy sources. These capabilities also make microbial ecosystem management a logical component of future space exploration technologies. Her presentation will take a broad view of microbes’ current and potential roles in Astrobiology, Renewable Energy, and Space Exploration, touching also on some of the specific projects ongoing in our labs at Ames. The overall goal is to introduce and invite the audience on a dialogue wherein we identify the profound connections between the fields of Earth Ecology, Energy and Space Exploration, through the nexus of microbes.
Biography:
Lee received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Rhodes College in 1981, a Master’s degree in geology from UNC Chapel Hill in 1985, and her Ph.D. in microbial ecology from the University of Aarhus, Denmark in 1998. She has conducted research at the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences, the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, and the Horn Point environmental lab, before coming to Ames in 1998. Here she has been instrumental in establishing the Exobiology greenhouse research facilities. Her current research activities include participation in the new Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP) Lake Lander project, research on hydrogen cycling in natural and cultivated artificial microbial ecosystems, and collaborations optimizing engineering design for algal/microbial green energy production for Earth and Space.
Katherine Hoag: Using Science Research, Tools and Approaches in Air Quality Management Decision-making
This was our second speaker from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and an opportunity to learn what the EPA is doing in the Bay Area regarding air quality.
Abstract:
The Clean Air Act (CAA) is powerful tool used by federal, state and local agencies to improve air quality and public health. There are many steps to implementing the CAA including setting health-based ambient air quality standards, monitoring ambient concentrations, designating attainment and nonattainment areas, understanding emissions, designing strategies to reduce emissions, and implementing these strategies via, rules, permits and enforcement. Each of these steps involves weighing the scientific information available and deciding how to proceed. It is the role of scientists at EPA to ensure that there is a sound scientific foundation to enable the Agency to make decisions that improve air quality and protect public health. This talk will cover examples throughout various sectors of clean air act implementation where scientific knowledge plays a key role in the outcome of the decisions affecting the air quality where you live.
Biography:
Kate Hoag currently works as part of a five-member monitoring team in the Air Quality Analysis Office at Region 9, EPA as the lead contact for the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) and Sacramento Valley air basins as well as PM2.5 issues throughout the region. The team’s objective is to provide oversight of state and local monitoring networks, and technical and data analysis support to stakeholders outside of EPA and to air management decision-makers within EPA. Prior to her current position at EPA, Kate worked in the Air Permits Office where she lead a team of reviewers to provide EPA oversight on the initial operating permits for the large refineries in the Los Angeles area. Kate received a M.S. in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University where she studied fog and aerosol chemistry in the SJV, and a Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Science from UC Berkeley where she performed measurements of the stable isotopes of stratospheric CO2 in an effort to provide tools to better understand global gross carbon fluxes. She has also worked as a laboratory scientist at the School of Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill on determining the effectiveness of various biomarkers to quantify personal exposure to benzene and styrene.
Mary Kaiser: Smoothing the Bumps: Human-Systems Integration Research at NASA
This was an opportunity to learn about Ames’ world-class effort in human systems integration.
Abstract:
Dr. Mary Kaiser gave a short introduction to the field of Human Systems Integration and the work in this domain here at NASA Ames. She then described how a team from the Human Systems Integration Division addressed a specific design issue for NASA’s Constellation Program, namely how the vibration resulting from the Ares I thrust oscillation would impact crew performance.
Biography:
Mary K. Kaiser is a research psychologist in the Human Systems Integration Division at NASA Ames Research Center. She received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Virginia, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan in applied experimental psychology before joining Ames in 1985. The author of over sixty articles and chapters on perceptual psychology and human factors and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, Dr. Kaiser also served as an associate editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance for over a decade, and is currently Project Scientist for NASA’s Space Human Factors Engineering Project.
Jack Lissauer: Kepler’s Multi-Planet Systems
This was an opportunity to learn about the exciting Kepler mission, which is looking for Earth-like planets around other stars.
Abstract:
Among the 1000 Kepler targets that have candidate planets, 170 have two or more candidate planets. While most of these objects have not yet been confirmed as true planets, the overall false-positive rate is likely to be low enough that statistical studies can be performed on these candidates. Such studies reveal a great deal about the architecture of planetary systems, including the typical spacing of orbits and flatness of planetary systems. The results of such statistical studies, as well as the characteristics of the three confirmed Kepler multi-planet systems, will be discussed.
Biography:
Jack Lissauer is a space scientist in the Planetary Systems Branch at NASA’s Ames Research Center and a Consulting Professor at Stanford University. His primary research interests are the formation of planetary systems, detection of extrasolar planets, planetary dynamics and chaos, and planetary ring systems. Lissauer is co-discoverer of the first four planets known to orbit about faint M dwarf stars, all 16 Kepler planets found to date, and also co-discovered two faint outer rings and two small inner moons of the planet Uranus. Lissauer is the co-author of the graduate level textbook Planetary Sciences (which received the 2007 Chambliss Writing Prize from the American Astronomical Society) and a Co-Investigator on NASA’s Kepler Mission. He was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation fellowship, the 1992 Harold C. Urey Prize of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, a 2006 SpotBeam Award from the California Space Authority, was named an Ames Associate Fellow by NASA Ames in 2007 and an AGU Fellow by the American Geophysical Union in 2011.
Sandra Lozito: Air-Ground Communications in the Future Air Traffic Management System
This was an opportunity to learn about Ames’ world-class effort in designing the next generation air traffic system.
Abstract:
Parallel runway operations have been found to increase capacity within the National Airspace System (NAS); however, poor visibility conditions at airports reduce this capacity. Much research has been conducted to examine the concepts and procedures related to parallel runways; however, there has been no investigation of the procedures associated with the strategic and tactical pairing of aircraft for these operations. A human-in-the-loop simulation study examined the pilot and controller procedures and information requirements for creating aircraft pairs for parallel runway operations. The goal was to achieve safe and efficient aircraft pairing for parallel runways using new tools and procedures. This presentation will describe the simulation methods and results from that investigation.
Biography:
Sandy Lozito has worked as a researcher at NASA for over 20 year. Ms. Lozito has worked on several projects at NASA, including surface automation, data link communication, and flight deck automation. Her particular areas of interest include issues associated with human computer interaction and the roles and responsibilities of human operators and automation. Sandy has a Master of Art’s degree in Experimental Psychology from San Jose State University.
Chris McKay: Perchlorate and Organics in Mid-Latitudes on Mars and Implications for the Search for Life
Chris is an outstanding speaker and a world class expert on Mars.
Abstract:
The Phoenix discovery that chlorine on Mars is in the form of perchlorate completely changes the interpretation of the Viking Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GCMS) search for organics. Reanalysis of the Viking results suggests the presence of perchlorate and organics at the parts per million (ppm) level at mid-latitudes on Mars. This has important implications for the upcoming Mars Science Lab (MSL).
Biography:
Dr. Christopher P. McKay is a planetary scientist with the Space Science Division of NASA Ames. McKay received his Ph.D. in astrogeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1982, and has been a research scientist with the NASA Ames Research Center since that time. His current research focuses on the evolution of the solar system and the origin of life. He is also actively involved in planning for future Mars missions including human settlements. McKay has been involved with polar research since 1980, traveling to the Antarctic dry valleys and more recently to the Siberian and Canadian Arctic to conduct research in these Mars-like environments. Dr. McKay is a recipient of the Urey Award from the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society for his contributions.
Matt Small: Overview of Science at the Environmental Protection Agency and a Presentation of Ground Water Cleanup Research
This was an opportunity to learn about some of the science that is being done at the EPA, especially as it applies to ground water cleanup, a topic of significant interest here at Ames Research Center.
Abstract:
Dr. Matt Small discussed science at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from two perspectives. First, he presented a “big picture” overview of how science is integrated into the EPA nationwide. This included a discussion of environmental research being conducted at EPA’s 13 Office of Research and Development (ORD) laboratories and how this information is translated into regulatory decisions in EPA’s 10 Regional offices. Second, he presented a more personal view of research at EPA, describing one of his current research collaborations with Dr. Jim Weaver of the EPA laboratory in ADA, OK. Matt discussed a new model for predicting fate and transport of dissolved contaminants in ground water from a source to a pumping well. This unique analytical solution includes source “weathering” as well as longitudinal dispersion, decay, and retardation along streamlines between source and well. The analytical nature of the solution allows for rapid statistical evaluation of multiple input parameter values to create a distribution of possible results with associated statistical confidence. This allows for rapid screening of possible risk-reduction scenarios even in the face of limited or incomplete data. Matt concluded with a vision of how this model and other EPA tools could be integrated with NASA tools to provide real-time evaluation of risk-reduction scenarios using smart phone and smart pad technologies.
Biography:
Matt has over twenty years of experience in both the private and public sectors, degrees in engineering and geology, with minors in public policy and environmental law. He has worked at the regional, national, and international levels to devise solutions for contaminant cleanups, well head protection, landfills, gasoline additives, risk-based cleanup goals, wastewater treatment, and high profile enforcement. Matt led the effort to create national guidance for remediation by natural attenuation and participated in creating guidance for risk-based corrective action (RBCA), resulting in EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) directives and American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) guidance documents. Matt is a Registered Geologist and received his PhD in Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Matt has twice been selected as the Bay Area Federal Employee of the Year in the Scientific Category. He was given an Exceptional Scientific Achievement award in 2008.
Pete Worden: Protecting the Earth from Asteroids
There has been growing interest and attention by the public and the scientific community in identifying potentially hazardous asteroids and considering mitigation strategies. Congress has assigned NASA these tasks. In this presentation, Worden reviewed the current status of these studies and programs, as well as introduce some future possibilities and issues. This was an opportunity to learn about what can be done to protect the planet from asteroid impacts.
Biography:
Dr. Simon P. Worden (Brig. Gen., USAF, ret.) was the director of NASA Ames Research Center. Prior positions for Worden include: research professor of Astronomy, Optical Sciences and Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona; director of Development and Transformation, Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command; Consultant to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on space-related issues; Congressional Fellow with the Office of Senator Sam Brownback as advisor on NASA and space issues; staff officer for the President’s National Space Council. Worden spearheaded efforts to revitalize U.S. civil space exploration and Earthmonitoring systems. He has authored or co-authored more than 150 scientific technical papers in astrophysics, space sciences and strategic studies, served as a scientific co-investigator for two NASA space science missions, and is a recognized expert on space issues – both civil and military. Worden retired in 2004 after 29 years of active service in the United States Air Force.
Kevin Zahnle: Dune: The Other Habitable Planet
Dr. Zahnle is a leading planetary scientist, as evidenced by his recent election as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.
Abstract:
Earth is the only known factual habitable planet; Arrakis (a.k.a. “Dune”) is the most completely imagined fictional habitable planet. Earth is an ocean planet with abundant rain. Dune is an extreme desert planet where liquid water and life are confined to the polar caps. Here we use a spartan general circulation model to show that desert planets can be habitable both nearer and farther from their suns than ocean planets like Earth. When far from its sun, the desert planet better resists freezing over into a global glacial waste. When close to its sun, the desert planet better resists the runaway greenhouse effect where all water evaporates and the surface heats enough to melt rock. On the desert planet, liquid water can be stable near the poles even when equatorial temperatures approach 100 C. Such a desert planet resembles the fictional planet Dune. We explore whether it is possible for a planet like Earth or Venus to evolve from an ocean planet to a desert planet without becoming uninhabitable in the transition.
Biography:
Dr. Kevin Zahnle is a California native, having moved here from Michigan in 1985. He took his undergraduate degree in physics from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec in 1978, and has not yet returned it. He then took a Doctoral degree in Astronomy and Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from the University of Michigan under the supervision of Professors James CG Walker and Robert Kirshner. [There is no evidence that he obtained a masters degree from anyone.] He came to Ames in 1985 as an NRC postdoc for Dr. James B. Pollack and Dr. James F. Kasting, who turned his latent interest in planetary science into a career. He briefly contributed overhead to Stanford University (while developing an enduring collaboration with Prof. Norman H Sleep) before being hired as a civil servant in the Space Sciences Division by Dr. David Morrison in 1989. He is proud to still be here.
