ExoExplorers – Organizers
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Steering Committee (SC) Members
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Tiffany Kataria (chair; JPL)
Tiffany is a research scientist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She studies the atmospheres of exoplanets through three-dimensional modeling and comparisons to data observed with HST and Spitzer.
Contact: exoexplorers_sc@jpl.nasa.gov
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Jessie Christiansen (IPAC)
Jessie is a research scientist at the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. She collects exoplanets for the NASA Exoplanet Archive, and investigates planet demographics using Kepler, K2, and TESS.
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Knicole Colón (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center)
Knicole Colón is a research astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. She is the James Webb Space Telescope Deputy Project Scientist for Exoplanet Science, the Pandora SmallSat Project Scientist, and the Director of the TESS Science Support Center. Knicole has previously worked on the Hubble Space Telescope project, the Kepler and K2 missions, and the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) transit survey.
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Malena Rice (Yale University)
Malena is an Assistant Professor in the Yale Department of Astronomy. Her research focuses on the dynamical characterization of exoplanet systems, with the goal of delineating the key pathways along which exoplanets evolve.
Organizing Committee (OC) Members
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Jennifer Burt (chair; JPL)
Jennifer is a research scientist and exoplanet astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she focuses on measuring the masses of small exoplanets using precision radial velocity spectrographs on a variety of ground based telescopes.
Contact: exoexplorers_oc@jpl.nasa.gov
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Vanessa Bailey (JPL)
Vanessa is a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She enjoys working at the interface between engineering and science as Instrument Technologist for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Instrument (Roman Coronagraph).
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Raissa Estrela (JPL)
Raissa Estrela is an exoplanet astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her research focuses on the detection and characterization of exoplanets atmospheres and on the analysis of factors that play a key role in the evolution of the atmospheres of small exoplanets.
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Marie Ygouf (JPL)
Marie is a Technologist for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Instrument at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her research focuses on improving the performance of instruments for direct imaging of circumstellar environments, taking profit of data analysis and of the detailed characterization of the instrumental limitations and calibration capabilities.
Former Members
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Joshua Pepper (2021, SC member; Lehigh University)
Joshua is a professor in the physics department at Lehigh University (on academic leave at NASA HQ as of Spring 2022). His research involves the detection of transiting exoplanets with small ground-based telescopes (KELT) and small space-based telescopes (TESS).
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Natasha Batalha (2021-Fall 2023, SC member; NASA Ames)
Natasha is a research scientist at NASA Ames. Her research focuses on modeling the climate and chemistry of planetary atmospheres, with the goal of determining atmospheric properties from remote spectroscopic observations.
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Rob Zellem (2021 - Spring 2024, OC Member; Goddard)
Rob is an exoplanet astronomer at NASA Goddard working on ground- and space-based observations of exoplanet atmospheres. He is the Deputy Project Scientist for Communications for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Project Scientist and Lead for the Exoplanet Watch citizen science program whereby amateur astronomers monitor transiting exoplanets.
