Astrophysics Staff Bios
Dr. Mark Clampin
Dr. Mark Clampin is the Astrophysics Division Director in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The goals of the Astrophysics Division are to understand how the universe works, understand how we got here and to address the question, are we alone?
Mrs. Sandra Cauffman
Mrs. Sandra Cauffman was selected as the Deputy Director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate in October of 2021. She previously served as the Deputy Division Director of the SMD Earth Science Division.
Dr. Eric Smith
Dr. Eric Smith is the Associate Director for Research in the Science Mission Directorate's Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. He is also the Program Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope.
Dr. Dominic Benford
Dr. Dominic Benford is the Program Scientist for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the mission to answer fundamental questions of the nature of dark energy, the distribution of dark matter, the occurrence of planets around other stars, and even to enable the direct imaging of planetary systems. He is also the Deputy Chief Technologist for Astrophysics, where he is responsible for the Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT), the Roman Technology Fellowship (RTF), and the Internal Scientist Funding Model (ISFM) programs.
Mr. Joe Smith
Joe Smith is the Associate Director for Flight at NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate, Astrophysics Division, responsible for overseeing the project management and systems engineering of the many Astrophysics missions in development and operations, as well as technology projects.
Dr. Valerie Connaughton
Dr. Valerie Connaughton is the Program Scientist for the US contribution to JAXA’s X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), Israel Space Agency’s Ultravioletet Satellite (ULTRASAT), ESA’s X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM), leads the High-Energy portfolio of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters, is a Discipline Scientist for the Particle Astrophysics portfolio, and is the Program Scientist for the Physics of the Cosmos Program.
Dr. Antonino Cucchiara
Dr. Antonino (Nino) Cucchiara is the Lead Program Scientist for the Future Investigator in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) student research grants program, the NASA Hubble Fellowship Program, and the Fermi mission which focuses on the detection of some of the most energetic and catastrophic events in the Universe.
Dr. Michael Garcia
Dr. Michael Garcia is the Lead for the Astrophysics Pioneers, SmallSats and CubeSats.
Dr. Shahid Habib
Dr. Habib is Program Executive for the Physics of the Cosmos (PCOS) and Cosmic Origin (COS) programs and several international flight missions under development.
Dr. Hashima Hasan
Hashima Hasan is the NASA Program Scientist for the Nuclear Spectroscopic Array (NuSTAR), Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), and the Keck Observatory. She serves as the Education and Communication Lead, and the Citizen Science Lead for Astrophysics.
Dr. Stefan Immler
Dr. Stefan Immler is a Program Scientist and Program Officer in the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters, the Lead for the Astrophysics Research and Analysis Program, and the Program Scientist for the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.
Dr. Lucas Paganini
Dr. Lucas Paganini is Deputy Program Executive for the Roman Space Telescope, Program Executive for the Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP), and Program Officer for the Technology Development for Exoplanet Missions (TDEM) portfolio under the Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) Program.
Dr. Joshua Pepper
Dr. Joshua Pepper is the Deputy Program Scientist for the Habitable Worlds Observatory and the Program Scientist for the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission. He is also the Program Officer for the Astrophysics Data Analysis Program.
Dr. Mario R. Perez
Dr. Perez is the Astrophysics Chief Technologist within the Astrophysics Division. He is also the lead for the Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) Program, the Roman Technology Fellowship (RTF), the Internal Scientist Funding Model (ISFM), the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) division lead, and the Swift Program Scientist.
Dr. Linda Sparke
Linda Sparke is a Program Scientist working on the Astrophysics Explorers Program, and Program Executive for the Astrophysics Data Archives.
Dr. John Wisniewski
Dr. John Wisniewski serves as the Program Scientist for the SPHEREx mission, the Program Officer for the Exoplanet Research Program, and the Deputy Program Scientist for ExEP.
Ms. Julie Crooke
Julie Crooke is the NASA Headquarters Program Executive for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), the Astro2020 Decadal priority flagship mission to programmatically follow the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. HWO, will be the first mission designed to directly image and characterize Earth-sized planets around sun-like stars in our solar neighborhood, search for biosignatures, and characterize all sizes of planets, helping to place our own Solar System in context. Equally, HWO is being designed to address transformational astrophysics questions, helping to tell the story of life in the universe.
Megan Ansdell
Megan Ansdell is the Program Scientist for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, a future NASA astrophysics flagship mission and the first telescope designed specifically to search for signs of life on planets orbiting other stars.
Dr. Patricia Knezek
Dr. Patricia Knezek is the lead Explorers Program Scientist, the Program Scientist for the Cosmic Origins Program, the Deputy Program Scientist for the NASA Hubble Fellowship Program, and a Discipline Scientist for the Ultraviolet, Optical, and Infrared portfolio. She also serves as the NASA co-chair of the National Science and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Open Science.
Dr. Pablo Saz Parkinson
Dr. Pablo Saz Parkinson is the Program Deputy for Astrophysics Data Analysis Program (ADAP), Time Domain and Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (TDAMM), ESA’s X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM), and Pioneers. He joined the Astrophysics Department at NASA HQ as an IPA in autumn 2024. He received his PhD in Physics from Stanford University then became a Researcher at the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics (SCIPP). His work has primarily focused on the search and characterization of high and very-high-energy gamma-ray emission from Gamma-ray Bursts and gamma-ray pulsars.
