Jessie Dotson
Astrophysicist
Division: Space Science and Astrobiology (ST)
Email: Jessie.Dotson@nasa.gov
Phone: (650)604-2041
Professional Biography
Jessie Dotson is an astrophysicist at NASA’s Ames Research Center with diverse research interests including exoplanets, asteroids, statistical techniques, and open science. She earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of Chicago. Dotson’s original areas of specialization were infrared instrumentation, polarization measurements, and the role of magnetic fields in giant molecular clouds. She has worked on the development of infrared and sub-millimeter polarimeters, spectrometers and cameras for ground-based, airborne and space-based observatories. Dotson has been involved in numerous NASA missions in a variety of roles. She served as the SOFIA Instrument Scientist, established the Kepler Guest Observer Office, served as the Deputy Science Office Director for Kepler, and was the Project Scientist for Kepler/K2. She is currently the Deputy Principal Investigator of Pandora, an astrophysics Pioneers mission which aims to untangle the effect of stellar activity on exoplanet atmosphere observations. In 2014, Dotson helped formulate Ames’ Asteroid Threat Assessment Project (ATAP), which is an effort to apply NASA expertise from a variety of disciplines in order to quantify the risk to Earth of an asteroid impact. She is currently the ATAP Deputy Project lead and leads the ATAP asteroid physical properties team. She was the Branch Chief for Astrophysics at NASA Ames for six years. The Astrophysics branch consisted of approximately 60 researchers working on a variety of topics including asteroids, exoplanets, external galaxies, and astrochemistry. In 2011, Dotson was awarded a NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal for leadership in coordinating the effective distribution of Kepler data to the user community. In 2016, she was awarded a NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for her work as branch chief.
Education
Ph.D. Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Chicago
M.S. Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Chicago
B.S. Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Experience
2023 to present – Asteroid Threat Assessment Project, Deputy Project Lead
2023 to present – Planetary Defense Interagency Modeling Working Group, Chair
2023 to present – NASA Ames Transform to Open Science Center Lead Champion
2021 to present – Deputy Principal Investigator for Pandora Mission
2021 to 2023 – Deputy Division Chief for Space Science and Astrobiology at NASA Ames Research Center
2016 to 2020 – Kepler/K2 Project Scientist
2015 to present – Asteroid Threat Assessment Project, Characterization Lead
2010 to 2016 – Branch Chief for Astrophysics at NASA Ames Research Center
2008 to 2010 – Kepler, Deputy Science Office Director
2008 – Kepler, Guest Observer Office Director
2007 to 2008 – SOFIA, NASA Instrument Scientist
Professional Activities & Positions
2022 to present – Member, Keck Science Steering Committee
2021 to 2022 – Member, NASA IRTF Keck User’s Group
2021 to 2022 – Chair, Apophis Earth Close Approach Science Opportunity Specific Action Team
2019 to 2022 – Planetary Defense Lead, Small Bodies Assessment Group
Research Interests
Exoplanets, Asteroids, Stars, Planetary Defense, Time Series Photometry, Statistical Methods, Open Data, Open Source Software, Polarimetry, Mission Development, Mentoring Young Scientists
Awards / Honors
NASA Honor Award Outstanding Leadership Medal; 2016
NASA Honor Award Exceptional Achievement Medal; 2011
NASA Ames Honor Award in Project Management; 2010
Select Recent Publications
Dotson, J., Wheeler, L., & Mathias, D., Consequences of asteroid characterization on the state of knowledge about inferred physical parameters and impact risk (2024), Acta Astronautica, 222, 550.
Dotson, J., Quintana, E., Colon, K., Barclay, T., & Hedges, C., Enabling development of early career scientists and technologists while implementing a space mission: Pandora’s approach (2024), SPIE 13092, 1309203
Quintana, E., Dotson, J., & 36 colleagues, The Pandora SmallSat: multiwavelength characterization of exoplanets and their host stars (2024), SPIE 13092, 1309214
Hedges, C., Holcomb, R., Hord, B., Barclay, T., Dotson, J., & Quintana, E., Open-source simulation tools for verifying NASA Pandora SmallSat’s scientific performance (2024), SPIE 13101, 131010.
Reddy, V., Kelley, M., Benner, L., Dotson, J., & 67 colleagues, 2023 DZ2 Planetary Defense Campaign (2024), Planetary Science Journal, 5, 141.
Wheeler, L., Dotson, J., Aftosmis, M., Coates, A., Chomette, G., & Mathias, D., Risk Assessment for asteroid impact threat scenarios (2024), Acta Astronautica, 216, 468.
Ozerov, A., Smith, J., Dotson, J., Longenbaugh, R., & Morris, R., GOES GLM, biased bolides, and debiased distributions (2024), Icarus, 408, 115843
Martinez-Palomera, J., Hedges, C., Rodriguez, J. E., Barentsen, G., & Dotson, J., Kepler Bonus: Aperture Photometry Light Curves of EXBA Sources (2022), The Astronomical Journal, 163, 93.
Morris, R., Smith, J. C., Dotson, J., Stern, E., & Longenbaugh, R: Correction and calibration of atmospheric impact observations in GOES GLM data (2022), Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 57, 2229.
Reddy, V., Kelley, M., Dotson, J., et al, Apophis Planetary Defense Campaign (2022), The Planetary Science Journal, 3, 123.
Smith, J. C, Morris, R. L., Rumpf, C., Longenbaugh, R., McCurdy, N., Henze, C., & Dotson, J., An Automated Bolide Detection Pipeline for GOES GLM (2021), Icarus, 368, 114576.
Hedges, C., Luger, R., Martinez-Palomera, J., Dotson, J., & Barentsen, G., Linearized Field Deblending: Point-spread Function Photometry for Impatient Astronomers (2021), The Astronomical Journal, 162, 107.
Hedges, C., Luger, R., Dotson, J., Foreman-Mackey, D., & Barentsen, G., Multiwavelength Photometry Derived from Monochromatic Kepler Data (2021), The Astronomical Journal, 161, 95.
Bryson, S., Kunimoto, M., Kopparapu, R. K., et al., The Occurrence of Rocky Habitable-zone Planets around Solar-like Stars from Kepler Data (2021), The Astronomical Journal, 161, 36.
Dotson, J. L., Colón, K. D., Barentsen, G., Hedges, C., & Barclay, T., K2 Targets Observed in TESS Cycles 1-3 (2020), Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society, 4, 240.
Rumpf, C. M., Mathias, D. L., Wheeler, L. F., Dotson, J. L., Barbee, B., Roa, J., Chodas, P., & Farnocchia, D., Deflection driven evolution of asteroid impact risk under large uncertainties (2020), Acta Astronautica, 176, 276.
Ikwut-Ukwa, M., Rodriguez, J. E., Bieryla, A., et al., The K2 and TESS Synergy. I. Updated Ephemerides and Parameters for K2-114, K2-167, K2-237, and K2-261 (2020), The Astronomical Journal, 160, 209.
Bryson, S., Coughlin, J., Batalha, N. M., Berger, T., Huber, D., Burke, C., Dotson, J., & Mullally, S. E., A Probabilistic Approach to Kepler Completeness and Reliability for Exoplanet Occurrence Rates (2020), The Astronomical Journal, 159, 279.
Reddy, V., Kelley, M. S., Farnocchia, D., et al., Near-Earth asteroid 2012 TC4 observing campaign: Results from a global planetary defense exercise (2019), Icarus, 326, 133.
Hedges, C., Saunders, N., Barentsen, G., Coughlin, J. L., Cardoso, J. V. de M., Kostov, V. B., Dotson, J., & Cody, A. M., Four Small Planets Buried in K2 Systems: What Can We Learn for TESS? (2019), The Astrophysical Journal, 880, L5.
Chuss, D. T., Andersson, B.-G., Bally, J., et al., HAWC+/SOFIA Multiwavelength Polarimetric Observations of OMC-1 (2019), The Astrophysical Journal, 872, 187.
Dotson, J. L., Barentsen, G., Hedges, C., & Coughlin, J. L., Hundreds More Planets Await Discovery in Kepler’s K2 Data Set (2019), Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society, 3, 23.
Dimitriadis, G., Foley, R. J., Rest, A., et al., K2 Observations of SN 2018oh Reveal a Two-component Rising Light Curve for a Type Ia Supernova (2019), The Astrophysical Journal, 870, L1.
Shappee, B. J., Holoien, T. W.-S., Drout, M. R., et al., Seeing Double: ASASSN-18bt Exhibits a Two-component Rise in the Early-time K2 Light Curve (2019), The Astrophysical Journal, 870, 13.
Lightkurve Collaboration, Cardoso, J. V. de M., Hedges, C., Gully-Santiago, et al., Lightkurve: Kepler and TESS time series analysis in Python (2018), Astrophysics Source Code Library, ascl:1812.013.
Barentsen, G., Hedges, C., Saunders, N., Cody, A. M., Gully-Santiago, M., Bryson, S., & Dotson, J. L., Kepler’s Discoveries Will Continue: 21 Important Scientific Opportunities with Kepler & K2 Archive Data (2018), arXiv e-prints, arXiv:1810.12554.
Thompson, S. E., Coughlin, J. L., Hoffman, K., et al., Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler. VIII. A Fully Automated Catalog with Measured Completeness and Reliability Based on Data Release 25 (2018), The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 235, 38.