Meet the Team
People of Roman
Many skilled people contribute to the Roman Space Telescope, from its creating initial design to building the spacecraft and working towards launch and future science operations. Meet a few of the individuals who are part of the Roman Team.
Management
Meet the people who are leading Roman’s development.
Jackie Townsend
“I really like talking to kids who are not straight A students because my path was not typical. But it shows that when you find something you love and apply yourself, you can do anything.”
Science
Meet some of the scientists who are venturing into new territories of science with the Roman Space Telescope.
Joshua Schlieder: Feet on the Ground, Head in the Stars
"I study red dwarf stars and the exoplanets that orbit them. I hope someday that the astrophysics community will detect enough planets around red dwarf stars to truly understand the population and disentangle how such small stars can form so many planets."
Engineering
Meet some of the engineers who are building the Roman Space Telescope.
Joshua Abel: Delivering Roman’s Optical Telescope Assembly On Time, On Target
"My goal is to deliver the assembly to the Roman observatory on time, within budget, and meeting all the technical requirements. I lead a small team of subject matter experts to review the vendor’s plans and help resolve any technical issues."
Glenn Bazemore: Professional Problem-Solver
"On Roman, I helped with a subsystem inside its Wide Field Instrument (WFI) called the simplified Relative Calibration System (sRCS). This sub-system will be used to help scientists accurately measure light output from cosmic entities like galaxies and stars."
Sanetra Bailey – The Brains Behind the Brains of the Roman Mission
"I am currently working on part of the telescope’s avionics subsystem as a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) Developer for the Multi-Channel Analog Card. This subsystem is like the brains of the spacecraft, driven by software to provide commands and controls."
Melissa Harris: Propelling Space Telescopes Toward Success
"I look forward to what I do every day, and I know it is going to have an impact way beyond my comprehension. The part I have in the Roman mission is going to get that telescope to where it needs to be and discover some amazing things."
Gregory Mosby, Jr. connects us to faraway galaxies
"It’s exciting to work on developing new ways to solve problems whether it includes borrowing techniques from statistics, physics, or applied math."
Melissa Vess: Triathlete and Roman Spacecraft Systems Engineer
"I look at the big picture of a mission on the engineering side. I am responsible for overseeing all the different subsystems that make up the spacecraft, making sure that all the puzzle pieces fit together."
Communications and Outreach
Meet the team who helps bring Roman's news and progress to the public.
Social Media Lead Courtney Lee
“I wanted to create a game because right now, a lot of what we [at NASA] make is geared toward people who already know science…But there are huge audiences out there who, like me, didn't realize that they could love or be intrigued with NASA because it was never where they were."
Technical Photographer Jolearra Tshiteya
"I believe you always end up where you need to be and that everybody can make things happen for themselves. They just have to be creative in how they think and how they approach situations. You belong wherever you think you belong."
Public Affairs Officer Claire Saravia Andreoli
"I work with scientists and help them craft the stories they want to share. Science, and astrophysics in particular, is fascinating but can deal with concepts that are difficult to grasp, let alone explain."