Biography:Amy Simon

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Short description: American planetary scientist
Amy A. Simon
Amy Headshot2023.jpg
Amy Simon in 2023
BornOctober 1971
Union, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma materFlorida Institute of Technology
New Mexico State University
Children1 son
Scientific career
FieldsPlanetary atmospheres
Robotic exploration
InstitutionsCornell University
Goddard Space Flight Center

Amy Simon is an American planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, involved in several missions of the Solar System Exploration Program.[1]

Education

Simon is from Union Township, Union County, New Jersey,[2] where she attended Union High School.[3] She earned a bachelor's degree in Space Sciences from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1993 [4] and was inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma. She completed her doctoral studies in astronomy at the New Mexico State University in 1998.[5] Upon graduation, she became a postdoctoral research scientist at Cornell University.

Career

Simon is a Senior Scientist in the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, having joined NASA as a civil servant in 2001. She served as the Chief of the Planetary Systems Laboratory from 2008 to 2010 and the Associate Division Director from 2010 to 2013.[4]

Her scientific research involves the study of the composition, dynamics, and cloud structure in jovian planet atmospheres, primarily from spacecraft observations, and as of 2023, she has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed publications.[6]

Works

Her contributions include the first detailed study of the changing shape of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, as well as the discoveries of several types of waves in the atmosphere of Jupiter.[7][8][9] Her analysis of Voyager 2, Cassini-Huygens, Hubble Space Telescope and New Horizons images led to the discovery of several new classes of Jupiter atmospheric waves.[10][11][12]

Beyond Jupiter, she has studied atmospheric chemistry and dynamics on Saturn, including the north-polar hexagon.[13] She was also part of a team that observed Neptune using the Kepler space telescope, detecting solar oscillations in light reflected off a planet for the first time.[14][15]

Simon is involved in multiple robotic NASA planetary missions. She was a co-investigator on the Cassini-Huygens Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) and is the deputy instrument scientist for the OSIRIS-REx Visible and IR Spectrometer (OVIRS), as well as for the Landsat 9 Thermal Infrared Sensor-2 [16] instrument and the deputy principal investigator for the Lucy spacecraft L'Ralph instrument.[17]

Since 2014, she has been the principal investigator of the Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program.[18] Her team discovered a new Great Dark Spot on Neptune with Hubble[19] and has published more than 12 manuscripts from OPAL data.[18] Her work with OSIRIS-REX led to the discovery of hydrated minerals on the surface of Bennu and earned a NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal.[20]

Explorations

Simon also plans future planetary exploration missions. She served on the National Academy of Sciences' Space Studies Board 2013 Planetary Science Decadal Survey.[21] She has co-led several mission studies for NASA including Flagship class missions to Enceladus and to the Ice Giants, Uranus, and Neptune.[22][23] She was the principal investigator for the proposed New Frontiers class Saturn probe mission, SPRITE.

Simon is a member of the American Geophysical Union, the American Astronomical Society, and the Division for Planetary Sciences.

Honors and awards

  • American Astronomical Society, Division for Planetary Sciences Claudia J. Alexander Prize - 2023 [24]
  • Meritorious Senior Professional Presidential Rank Awards - 2022 [25]
  • NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal – 2020 [26]
  • John C. Lindsay Memorial Award for Space Science - 2020 [27]
  • NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal – 2019 [28]
  • NASA Silver Achievement Medal (OVIRS Team) – 2017
  • NASA Group Achievement Award (OSIRIS-REx Team) – 2017
  • Robert H. Goddard Science Achievement Award (Hubble OPAL Team) – 2016
  • Robert H. Goddard Engineering Achievement Award (OVIRS Team)
  • NASA Exceptional Service Medal – 2016 [29]
  • Robert H. Goddard Exceptional Engineering (OVIRS Team) – 2014
  • NASA Exceptional Service Medal – 2014 [30]
  • Asteroid 84994 Amysimon, discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey in 2003, was named in her honor.[1] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 14 May 2014 (M.P.C. 88406).[31]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "(84994) Amysimon". Minor Planet Center. https://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=84994. 
  2. ↑ Amy Simon: Planetary Scientist, NASA. Accessed September 13, 2018. "[Q] Where are you from? [A] I am originally from Union, N. J."
  3. ↑ Parkinson, Claire L.; Millar, Pamela S.; and Thaller, Michelle (editors) Women of Goddard: Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics NASA Goddard Space Flight Center July 2011, p. 111 Accessed September 13, 2018 "Amy Simon-Miller Union High School, Union, New Jersey"
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Bio - Amy A. Simon". NASA. https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sed/bio/amy.simon.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. ↑ "NMSU Astronomy Alumni". October 2015. http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/directory/alumni/. 
  6. ↑ "Google scholar profile: Amy A. Simon". Google Scholar. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ijrpmTgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao. 
  7. ↑ Simon-Miller, A. A; Gierasch, P. J.; Beebe, R. F.; Conrath, B.; Flasar, F. M.; Achterberg, R. K. (2002). "New Observational Results Concerning Jupiter's Great Red Spot". Icarus 158 (1): 249–266. doi:10.1006/icar.2002.6867. Bibcode: 2002Icar..158..249S. 
  8. ↑ Simon, Amy A.; Tabataba-Vakili, F.; Cosentino, R.; Beebe, R. F.; Wong, M. H.; Orton, G. S. (2018). "Historical and Contemporary Trends in the Size, Drift, and Color of Jupiter's Great Red Spot". Astronomical Journal 155 (4): 151. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aaae01. Bibcode: 2018AJ....155..151S. 
  9. ↑ "Jupiter's Great Red Spot Getting Taller as it Shrinks, NASA Team Finds". NASA. 12 March 2018. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/jupiters-great-red-spot-getting-taller-as-it-shrinks.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  10. ↑ Simon, Amy A.Expression error: Unrecognized word "et". (2018). "A New, Long-Lived, Jupiter Mesoscale Wave Observed at visible Wavelengths". Astronomical Journal 156 (2): 79. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aacaf5. PMID 30510304. Bibcode: 2018AJ....156...79S. 
  11. ↑ Simon, Amy A.; Li, L.; Reuter, D. C. (2015). "Small-scale waves on Jupiter: A reanalysis of New Horizons, Voyager, and Galileo data". Geophysical Research Letters 42 (8): 2612–2618. doi:10.1002/2015GL063433. Bibcode: 2015GeoRL..42.2612S. 
  12. ↑ Simon-Miller, A. A; Rogers, J. H; Gierasch, P. J; Choi, D. C; Allison, M. D; Adamoli, G.; Mettig, H. J (2012). "Longitudinal Variation and Waves in Jupiter's South Equatorial Wind Jet". Icarus 218 (2): 817–830. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2012.01.022. Bibcode: 2012Icar..218..817S. 
  13. ↑ Morales-Juberias, R.; Sayanagi, K. M.; Simon, Amy A.; Fletcher, L. N.; Cosentino, R. G. (2015). "Meandering Shallow Atmospheric Jet as a Model of Saturn's North-Polar Hexagon". Astrophysical Journal Letters 806 (1): L18. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/806/1/L18. Bibcode: 2015ApJ...806L..18M. https://zenodo.org/record/895420. 
  14. ↑ Simon, Amy A.Expression error: Unrecognized word "et". (2016). "Neptune's Dynamic Atmosphere for Kepler K2 Observations: implications for Brown Dwarf Light Curve Analysis". Astrophysical Journal 817 (2): 162. doi:10.3847/0004-637X/817/2/162. PMID 28127087. Bibcode: 2016ApJ...817..162S. 
  15. ↑ Gaulme, P.Expression error: Unrecognized word "et". (2016). "A Distant Mirror: Solar Oscillations Observed on Neptune by the Kepler K2 Mission". Astrophysical Journal Letters 833 (1): L13. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/833/1/L13. Bibcode: 2016ApJ...833L..13G. 
  16. ↑ "Landsat 9 Science Instrument Details". NASA. https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/landsat-9/instruments/landsat-9-science-instrument-details/.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  17. ↑ "The Lucy Spacecraft and Payload". https://lucy.swri.edu/mission/Spacecraft.html. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy Program". https://archive.stsci.edu/prepds/opal/. 
  19. ↑ Wong, M. H.Expression error: Unrecognized word "et". (2018). "A New Dark Vortex on Neptune". Astronomical Journal 155 (3): 117. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aaa6d6. Bibcode: 2018AJ....155..117W. 
  20. ↑ Hamilton, V. E.Expression error: Unrecognized word "et". (2019). "Evidence for widespread hydrated minerals on asteroid (101955) Bennu". Nature Astronomy 3 (4): 332–340. doi:10.1038/s41550-019-0722-2. PMID 31360777. PMC 6662227. Bibcode: 2019NatAs...3..332H. http://oro.open.ac.uk/60674/1/Hamilton_et_al_2019.pdf. 
  21. ↑ "Planetary Science Decadal Survey". National Academies. http://sites.nationalacademies.org/SSB/CompletedProjects/SSB_065878. 
  22. ↑ "Enceladus: Saturn's Active Ice Moon". https://www.lpi.usra.edu/opag/Enceladus_Public_Report.pdf. 
  23. ↑ "Ice Giants Mission Planning". https://www.lpi.usra.edu/icegiants/mission_study/. 
  24. ↑ "2023 Prize Winners". DPS. https://dps.aas.org/news/aas-division-planetary-sciences-announces-2023-prize-winners.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  25. ↑ "2022 Presidential Rank Award Winners". NASA. https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/presidential-rank-awards/2022/presidential-rank-awards-2022.pdf.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  26. ↑ "Solar System Exploration Division (690) Awards Won". NASA. https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/solarsystem/awardswon.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  27. ↑ "Lindsay Awards and Lectures". NASA. https://scicolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov/Lindsay_Awards.html.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  28. ↑ "NASA Bio, Dr. Amy Simon". NASA. https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sed/bio/amy.a.simon.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  29. ↑ "Sciences and Exploration Directorate (600) Awards Won". NASA. https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sci/awardswon.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  30. ↑ "NASA Agency Honor Awards 2014". NASA. https://searchpub.nssc.nasa.gov/servlet/sm.web.Fetch/2014-AHA-Brochure-NASA-People.pdf?rhid=1000&did=1902638&type=released.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  31. ↑ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCArchive_TBL.html. 



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