Meet the Team - El Niño
Meet the ENSO Student Research Campaign Team for Phase III: Water in Our Environment
Educator Team
Brian Campbell is a Senior NASA Earth Science Education and Communication Specialist at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. In the fifteen years at NASA, Brian has led the education campaigns for several satellite missions and programs including the ICESat satellite mission, the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica, the Coastal Observations program, and the Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes. Currently, Brian is the GLOBE ENSO Student Research Campaign Lead, the GLOBE/SMAP mission collaboration lead, ICESat-2 mission education lead, and the NASA Wallops Flight Facility POC for Earth Science education and communication. Prior to coming to NASA in 2001, Brian was a high school Physical Science, Earth & Space Science, and Environmental Science teacher in Cambridge, Maryland. Email Brian.
Dorian Janney is a NASA Education and Communications Specialist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She has been involved with the GPM mission since 2011, and serves as project manager for several of its outreach initiatives. As a GLOBE Program Master Trainer, she also works closely with this international education program. She taught across all grade levels during her 33-year tenure as a classroom teacher, and holds her NBPTC in Science/Early Adolescence. Dorian is the webinar lead for the GLOBE ENSO Student Research Campaign. Email Dorian.
Peter Falcon is a NASA Earth Science Education and Communication Specialist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Peter has worked for NASA for over 21 years, starting as a summer intern, an Academic Part Time employee, and transitioning to a full time employee. He is the Education and Communications lead for the QuikSCAT mission, RapidScat mission and the JPL lead for the CloudSat mission. He is a GLOBE Partner and trainer working closely with both domestic and international schools; and helps to establish new GLOBE schools by conducting educational workshops. Peter is the Blogs Co-lead for the GLOBE El Nino Student Research Campaign. Email Peter.
Kristen Weaver, Website and Student Research Lead
Kristen Weaver is a Earth Science Education & Communication Specialist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She taught middle school science for eight years in both Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland) and Denver Public Schools (Colorado), with a primary focus in Earth science. In 2012 she became involved as a Master Teacher with the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission, before coming on full time as an Education & Communication Specialist for GPM in September 2013. In addition to her work for GPM, she is also active with GLOBE field campaigns and in the effort to expand GLOBE to non-school based citizen science audiences. Kristen holds an M.A. in Education: Curriculum and Instruction (with a focus on Urban Education) and a B.S. in Computer Science and Psychology, both from the University of Denver. Email Kristen.
Laura Schetter is a passionate environmental educator for Toledo Public Schools in Ohio, USA. She orchestrates programs that integrate action to protect our natural resources. She founded the H2you Project where students share and compare their water stories, inspiring people to take action to care for the earth. It includes participation from all continents. Schetter teaches her students and the community about conservation issues firsthand through her world travel stories, including both Polar Regions. As an instructor for Miami University’s Project Dragonfly, she led teachers on expeditions in other countries. Laura runs marathons for fun in her spare time.
Scientist Team
Claudia Caro is a Biologist with a specialty in Ecology and experience in environmental education and ecosystems management processes, with an emphasis in high Andean ecosystems. She is a faculty member of the National Agrarian University La Molina in Peru as professor of Ecology in the Science Faculty, and a PhD student of Biociences in the University of Coimbra, Portugal. Claudia has been involved in the GLOBE Program since 2004 first as trainer, then master trainer in land cover for Latin American and the Caribbean Region, GLOBE teacher and now as member of the GLOBE Science Working Group. She is also assistant editor of the Applied Ecology Journal from Peru.
Vasco Mantas is a biologist and Earth Observation researcher at the Remote Sensing and GIS Laboratory of the Earth Sciences Department at the University of Coimbra (Portugal). He is also a member of the Centre for Mechanical Engineering of the University of Coimbra (CEMUC). His research focuses on the use of optical remote sensing sensors for environmental monitoring of coastal ecosystems and watersheds. His activities range from product development to data distribution solutions. Several of his projects (some of which focused on Satellite Rainfall Estimates), include educational and outreach components, promoting the integration of remote sensing products as part of hands-on activities in the classroom.
Dr. Erika Podest, SMAP Scientist at JPL
(Presenter for Webinar #I-6)
Dr. Erika Podest is a scientist with the Water and Carbon Cycles Group in JPL's Earth Science Division and Visiting Associate Researcher in the Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering (JIFRESSE) at UCLA. Her research focuses on using Earth observing satellites, particularly microwave sensors, for characterizing and monitoring wetland ecosystems and seasonal freeze/thaw dynamics in the northern high latitudes as related to the global carbon and water cycles and climate change. She is working on the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, a NASA Earth observing satellite that launched on Jan. 31 2015, which will improve our understanding of Earth's water and carbon cycles and our ability to manage water resources.
Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum, GPM Scientist at GSFC
(Presenter for Webinar #I-4)
Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum is a Research Physical Scientist in the Hydrological Sciences Lab at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, and is the Deputy Project Scientist for Applications for the Global Precipitation Measurement mission. She studies natural disasters and conducts research to assist countries in mitigating the negative impact of disasters. One particular area of interest for her is using global precipitation data to help identify regions that are prone to landslides. As GPM Applications Scientist, Dalia provides scientific support for applications research and activities for the Precipitation Measurement Missions.
Dr. Kevin Czajkowski, Educator and GLOBE Master Trainer at University of Toledo
(Presenter for Webinar #I-5)
Kevin Czajkowski is a Professor at the University of Toledo and director of the PhD Program in Spatially Integrated Social Sciences (SISS) with diverse research interests including use of geospatial technologies (GIS and remote sensing) to study environmental problems. He teaches courses in remote sensing and Physical Geography including climate change. He engages K-12 teachers and students through the SATELLITES Program which utilizes surface temperature observations through GLOBE, a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education program.
Olawale Oluwafemi, Scientist and GLOBE Science Working Group Member
Olawale Oluwafemi is a member of the GLOBE Science Working Group and part of the GPM-GLOBE Science Campaign Team. He is also a Research Officer with the Centre for Geodesy and Geodynamics of the Nigerian Space Agency and an environmental education instructor at a Christian-based college in Jos, Nigeria.Trained as GIS analyst, physical geographer and GLOBE teacher, Femi is engaged in research focusing on the use of satellite data in understanding the subsidence rate along the coastal cities of Nigeria, and works closely with K-12 students using the precipitation and surface temperature protocols.
Project Evaluator
Dr. Ann Martin, SSAI,
Dr. Ann Martin received her B.S. in Physics and B.A. in English from the University at Buffalo. She then completed a doctorate in astronomy and space sciences at Cornell University, where she began to move her work toward science communication, education, and public outreach. Ann joined NASA Langley in the summer of 2011 as a postdoc. Currently, she supports the MY NASA DATA, S’COOL, and TEMPO Student Collaboration teams through educational program evaluation.