Melaka Space Fair 2012 :: Get to Know The NASA Folks

Get to know the NASA folks in person here at MPASC during the Melaka Space Fair 2012!!

Jaya Bajpayee 
Team Lead, Melaka Space Fair 2012

Jaya Bajpayee is the Lead Program Executive of Physics of the Cosmos (PCOS) Program and Astrophysics Operating Missions. PCOS studies the mechanics - how things work - of the Universe. As the Lead Executive, she established the PCOS Program to enable competitive PCOS missions in this Decade. Concurrently, she also serves as the Program Executive of Astrophysics Operating Missions. In this capacity, she has managed a portfolio of 9-14 missions over her 4 year tenure. She oversees all of the Astrophysics satellites that currently observe the Universe and provide data to the scientists. 

Prior to that, she served as the Glory Deputy Project Manager, GOES-R Observatory Manager, and SXI Instrument Manager. Jaya started her career as a Range Safety Officer at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, taking responsibility for ground and flight safety during NASA’s rocket launches. 

She is passionate about Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and inspiring young people to pursue STEM disciplines. She is commitment to outreach activities world-wide. Jaya’s hobbies include photography, graphics design, travel, and playing with her nieces and nephews.

Paulo Younse

Paulo is a robotics engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He designs new types of robots for future NASA missions that will explore the solar system. Recent projects include working on the latest Mars Rover “Curiosity”, as well as developing techniques to collect Martian rock samples to bring back to Earth for future Mars Sample Return missions! He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Florida. He enjoys teaching and has taught about space exploration in Swahili at an orphanage in Tanzania, lectured on astronomy to children in Costa Rica and Honduras, and organized robotics activities for a planetarium in Malaysia. On his free time he enjoys excavating dinosaur fossils for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, running marathons, salsa dancing, and underwater archaeology.

Deborah Scherrer

Deborah Scherrer founded and has been director of the Stanford Solar Center, the education and public outreach arm of Stanford University’s Solar Observatories Group, since 1994. She is Education and Public Outreach (EPO) Lead for NASA’s IRIS mission as well as the HMI instrument on NASA’s SDO mission, and MDI instrument on NASA’s SOHO mission. She also develops and manages EPO programs for NSF’s Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling. Scherrer has 15+ years experience working with astronomy education in elementary through high schools. Scherrer served as Chair of the USA Advisory Committee for the International Heliophysics Year Education Program. She has been Chair of the American Geophysical Union’s Space Physics and Aeronomy Education and Public Outreach Committee and has participated in teacher workshops in developing nations for the AGU, the United Nations, and NASA. Scherrer was part of the NASA team that hosted the original Science Festival at the Melaka Planetarium in Malaysia in 2010. She is also involved in the United Nation’s International Space Weather Initiative, to place scientific instruments in Developing Nations around the world. Scherrer did her undergraduate & graduate work at UC Berkeley. 

Randii R. Wessen

Dr. Wessen has been an employee of the California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for twenty-eight years. He is currently a Senior Technical Staff Member to JPL’s Innovation Foundry. Prior to this Dr. Wessen was the Navigator Program System Engineer. This program’s goal is the detection of Earth-like planets around other stars, if they exist. He also was the Telecommunications & Mission Systems Manager for the Mars Program, the Supervisor for the Science System Engineering Group, Manager of the Cassini Science Planning & Operations Element, the Galileo Deputy Sequence Team Chief, and the Voyager Science Sequence Coordinator for the Uranus & Neptune encounters. 

Dr. Wessen received his Bachelors of Science in both Physics & Astronomy from Stony Brook University, a Masters of Science in Astronautics from the University of Southern California, and a Doctorate in Operations Research from the University of Glamorgan, Wales, United Kingdom. He co-authored the books “Neptune: the Planet, Rings and Satellites” & “Planetary Ring Systems.” He was the recipient of NASA's Exceptional Service Medal for his contributions to the Voyager 2 Neptune Encounter and has ten NASA Group Achievement Awards. Dr. Wessen is also a fellow of both the Royal Astronomical Society and the British Interplanetary Society and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics. Asteroid 31664 (Randiiwessen) is named in his honor.

Margaret Srinivasan

Margaret Srinivasan came to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2000. She is a member of the Ocean Circulation Group where she works as the lead for data applications and societal benefits for NASA’s ocean altimetry missions and gravity missions. In this role she manages efforts to highlight the science data from NASA ocean surface topography missions Jason-1, OSTM/Jason-2 and the GRACE gravity mission. Her objectives are to promote science data applications to current and potential operational users, and promote the science results of these important Earth science missions to the public. She supports other NASA Earth Science missions in development; Surface Water & Ocean Topography (SWOT), Jason-3, and the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) Follow On mission; and is the Outreach Lead at JPL for the GRACE mission. 

Before coming to JPL, Margaret worked as a Senior Exploration Geophysicist in the International Division of a major U.S. oil company, Unocal Corporation, doing seismic data processing and interpretation for oil exploration in Asia and Europe. After more than 10 years, she moved to the Environmental Division doing environmental project management. She then moved to an independent petroleum engineering firm as the Manager of Environmental Projects. 

Amanda Scherrer

Amanda (“Rin”) Scherrer lives in Seattle, WA, USA and was a graduate student at the University of Washington until 2010. A database designer by trade and archaeologist by training, her exposure to a variety of sciences has given her an appreciation for the complexities and interconnectedness of all fields. In her graduate work, the most rewarding experiences were in teaching, including the development of archaeological hands-on children's activities through the Burke Museum. In 2009 she joined Grove of Hope for Morocco's Science Week, where she assisted in exposing thousands of students to astronomy through multiple activities including solar telescopes, UV-reactive beads, and planetarium shows. Since then she has enjoyed participating in science workshop caravans in Morocco and Hawai'i.

Rin's love of children isn't restricted to her professional career – she also is a long-time pony handler with Seattle-based Buckaroo Bob's Pony Rides for young children. In the future, Rin intends to continue working on developing interdisciplinary and interactive education programs in public and underprivileged school systems.

Jaya Bajpayee's, Peter Falcon's, and Philip Scherrer's biography will be updated soon..