Dr. Amanda Whitehurst
Biosphere Program Manager - Terrestrial Ecology Research
Dr. Amanda Whitehurst currently serves as the Program Manager for Biosphere in NASA Earth Science Research and Analysis Element. Amanda is also a Program Scientist for GEDI, LVIS, STV, and NISAR. In 2020, she joined Earth Science Division Flight Element as a Program Executive, working with missions including Libera, PREFIRE, Mass Change (now GRACE-C), Athena EPIC, and the Sentinel 6B November 2025 launch. From 2017 to 2020, she was a Senior Support Scientist contracted to the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters, where she supported the Earth Science Data Systems Program.
Before coming to NASA, Amanda was the US Forest Service Philippine Climate Fellow from 2014 to 2016, where she served as a technical advisor on remote sensing and forest monitoring applications. As part of the program, she moved to Manila, Philippines and worked with the National Mapping Resource Information Authority and the Forest Management Bureau of the Philippine Government.
Amanda received her PhD in Geographical Sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park, studying forest ecosystem dynamics using lidar remote sensing. Prior to attending UMD, Amanda received her Master of Environmental Management from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment with a focus in Conservation Science and Policy. She received a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in Creative Writing from the College of Charleston in South Carolina.