GeoCarb science operations are managed by The University of Oklahoma through the Office of the Vice President of Research and Partnerships under the leadership of Dr. Berrien Moore III as the Principal Investigator.
Project management is provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and Earth System Science Pathfinder Program (ESSP).
The GeoCarb instrument is being developed by the Advanced Technology Center of the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company.
Dr. Berrien Moore III is an internationally recognized Earth scientist who has been honored by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics in 1963 from the University of North Carolina and his PhD in Mathematics in 1969 from the University of Virginia. In addition to being GeoCarb's Principal Investigator, Dr. Moore is the Dean of the University of Oklahoma College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences, and the Director of the National Weather Center.
Dr. Sean Crowell is the Deputy Principal Investigator and Project Scientist for GeoCarb. He finished his PhD in Mathematics at OU in 2011 with a focus on tornado dynamics, and transitioned into atmospheric science and carbon cycle processes. Dr. Crowell manages the development of the science algorithms and validation strategy for GeoCarb, as well as the overall research priorities to maximize the scientific return of the mission. He also manages the interface between the science team in the instrument team at Lockheed Martin in order to assure that the GeoCarb instrument meets the requirements necessary for mission success.
Dr. Timothy Miller is the Deputy Instrument Scientist for GeoCarb. He finished his PhD in Physics at OU in 2017, focusing on spectroscopy in astrophysics and had a three year post-doc at Virginia Tech. Dr. Miller assists the Instrument Scientist at Lockheed Martin in the development of calibration and characterization testing plans as well as implementing algorithms in software. He will be leading the day to day instrument operations monitoring during GeoCarb operations and investigating any anomalies.
Executive Director, Office of Research Services
Assistant Vice President, Research Financial Services
GeoCarb Project Manager - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Dr. Todd King is GeoCarb's Project Manager, housed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) where King has over 20 years of NASA experience. Dr. King’s extensive project management experience stems from his role as Instrument Project Manager leading mass spectrometer development programs on three spaceflight missions, delivering the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS), the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS), and the ExoMars Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer Mass Spectrometer (MOMA-MS) instruments on time for observatory integration, with strong budget performance. Dr. King has also served as the Project Manager for the Laser-Enhanced Mission Communications Navigation and Operational Services (LEMNOS) project with the goal of promoting space-based laser comm for NASA missions starting with dual opportunities on a) the ISS with the Integrated LCRD LEO-User Modem and Amplifier optical communications Terminal Project (ILLUMA-T) and b) the Orion-series spacecraft with the Orion EM-2 Optical Communications Project (O2O). His primary responsibilities were leading geographically-distributed teams through design, fabrication, integration and testing of both spaceflight instrument systems (including the optical terminals, electronics and support engineering) by directing the team’s day to day activities, coordinating subsystem activities, and managing the project schedule and budget. Dr. King’s body of work, including his broad instrument and project management experience, positioned him to take on the project manager role for the GeoCarb project.
GeoCarb Deputy Project Manager - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Dr. Obadiah Kegege is the GeoCarb Deputy Project Manager (DPM). Dr. Kegege previously served in the technical management for a number of projects including PM for Ka-band Arraying Development; DPM for GOES Remote Ground Station development in Australia (collaboration with NOAA and USAF); DPM for Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), part of the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission; and Network Operations for the Near Space Network (NSN). Dr. Kegege has more than 10 years of flight and ground systems development.
David Lyons
GeoCarb Lead Safety and Mission Assurance Officer - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
David Lyons is the Lead Safety and Mission Assurance Officer for the GeoCarb Project. David has over 30 years of experience in the Safety and Mission Assurance arena, with over 20 years working with Space Flight products including the very successful DAWN and ICON projects. David’s background includes various forms of manufacturing, leadership roles, and Military Service. Newly acclimated to the Goddard Space Flight Center, he brings a unique array of knowledge related to satellite manufacturing including NASA and Commercial practices.
Jason Houston
GeoCarb Senior Mission Planner - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Jason Houston is the Senior Mission Planner for GeoCarb. Jason has over 10 years of experience managing complex space flight Integrated Master Schedules and provides trusted mission planning and scheduling support for the GeoCarb mission through coordination of key mission activities between internal and external partners Jason is a graduate of Drexel University with a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems and Technology and a certified Project Management Professional.
Rebecca Quigley
GeoCarb EVM Lead - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Ed Weidner
GeoCarb Mission Systems Engineer- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Aaron McCleskey
GeoCarb Deputy Project Manager for Resources - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Michelle Crawford
GeoCarb Contracting Officer - NASA's Langley Research Center
Berrien Moore III
Principal Investigator
Dr. Berrien Moore III is an internationally recognized Earth scientist who has been honored by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics in 1963 from the University of North Carolina and his PhD in Mathematics in 1969 from the University of Virginia. In addition to being GeoCarb's Principal Investigator, Dr. Moore is the Dean of the University of Oklahoma College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences, and the Director of the National Weather Center.
Sean Crowell
Deputy Principal Investigator and Project Scientist
Dr. Sean Crowell is the Deputy Principal Investigator and Project Scientist for GeoCarb. He finished his PhD in Mathematics at OU in 2011 with a focus on tornado dynamics, and transitioned into atmospheric science and carbon cycle processes. Dr. Crowell manages the development of the science algorithms and validation strategy for GeoCarb, as well as the overall research priorities to maximize the scientific return of the mission. He also manages the interface between the science team in the instrument team at Lockheed Martin in order to assure that the GeoCarb instrument meets the requirements necessary for mission success.
Peter Somkuti
Deputy Project Scientist
Dr. Peter Somkuti is a post-doctoral fellow at Colorado State University (CSU). After studying physics at the Vienna University of Technology (Austria), he pursued a PhD with the Earth Observation Science group at the University of Leicester (United Kingdom), under the supervision of Prof. Hartmut Bösch. In 2018, he submitted his thesis for which he was awarded an invitation to the prestigious Doctoral Inaugural Lecture series of the Doctoral College. Since then, Dr. Somkuti joined the Carbon Group at CSU and works on various remote sensing retrieval algorithms for GeoCarb and other missions.
Grégoire Broquet
Laboratorie Des Sciences Du Climat et de L'environment Insituit Pierre Simon Laplace, France
Dr. Grégoire Broquet has a 17-year expertise in data assimilation for ocean modeling and for the atmospheric inverse modeling of greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes. He joined LSCE (Gif-sur-Yvette, France) in 2009. Since then, he has lead a wide range of activities for the monitoring of natural and anthropogenic GHG fluxes from the continental to the city / industrial site scales, based on the assimilation of in situ and satellite data. He coordinates studies in France on the potential of the GeoCarb mission for the monitoring of CO2 and CH4 natural fluxes in Amazonia and for that of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions from large cities and plants.
Eric Burgh
Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center
Dr. Eric Burgh is the Lockheed Martin Instrument Scientist for GeoCarb. He obtained a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Johns Hopkins University in 2001, using rocket- and satellite-borne spectrographs to study dust and molecules in the diffuse interstellar medium at far-ultraviolet wavelengths. He has almost 25 years of experience in the design, development, and operation of ground- and space-based spectroscopic instrumentation. Dr. Burgh is responsible for the calibration and characterization of GeoCarb as well as overseeing the development of the data reduction pipeline.
Robert Chatfield
NASA's AMES Research Center
Dr. Robert Chatfield is the Data Analysis Lead for Methane (CH4) and Carbon Monoxide (CO). He facilitated testing the design of the GeoCarb precursor, a CO+CH4 grating mapping spectrometer, with Lockheed Martin, starting in 2005. In his work for a PhD in 1982 at Colorado State University, he published with Paul Crutzen on large photochemical sources of CO from plant organic emissions like isoprene (e. g., the first reaction mechanism); on cloud-lofted dimethyl sulfide as an SO2 source of tropospheric background aerosol; also, on how cloud-lofted peroxides raise tropospheric OH oxidative capacity. His subsequent biogeochemical studies have continued to focus on core mechanisms required to simulate correctly tropospheric photochemistry and transport; continuing work quantifies sources of CH4 (tricky!) and associated gases and aerosols from forest and agricultural burning. Dr. Chatfield’s current science work for GeoCarb identifies the most informative pointing strategies for sampling column XCH4 and XCO2 in cloudy regions.
Philippe Ciais
Laboratorie Des Sciences Du Climat et de L'environment Insituit Pierre Simon Laplace, France
Philippe Ciais is a researcher at LSCE in France. He works on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sinks using bottom up and atmopsheric approaches. He is working with colleagues in his lab on the analysis of GeoCarb data to constrain Amazon fluxes, in particular the seasonal cycle and annual anomalies.
Cyril Crevoisier
Laboratorie de Meteorologie Dynamique Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, France
Cyril Crevoisier is a CNRS Research Scientist, and his activities deal with the analysis of measurements of atmospheric radiation made from space by various instruments, especially in the thermal and shortwave infrared, in order to derive information on the evolution and variability of climate variables. A particular focus of his studies concerns the study of anthropogenic greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O), and related variables, such as fire emissions, in order to improve our understanding of carbon sources and sinks at the surface.
David Crisp
Jet Propulsion Lab, California Institute of Technology
Dr. David Crisp is an atmospheric physicist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology. He was the Principal Investigator of the NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) and is currently serving as the Science Team Leader for NASA’s OCO-2 and OCO-3 missions. As a member of the GeoCarb Science Team, he is working closely with Lockheed Martin to incorporate the lessons learned from the Orbiting Carbon Observatories into the design, implementation, and pre-launch and on orbit calibration of the GeoCarb spectrograph.
Annmarie Eldering
Jet Propulsion Lab, Califiornia Institute of Technology
Dr. Annmarie Eldering received her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering Science from Caltech in 1994 with a focus on air pollution and its impacts on visibility in Los Angeles. She has been at JPL since 1999, adapting her knowledge of radiative transfer and light scattering to algorithm development for the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) as well as validation of AIRS data. She joined the OCO–2 project in 2010 in the role of Deputy Project Scientist, guiding the technical teams that produce remote sensing estimates of carbon dioxide. She is now also is the Project Scientist for OCO-3, a follow-on payload that was installed on the International Space Station in early 2019. She focuses on sharing insights from the OCO-2/3 missions with GeoCarb as they prepare for launch and science data analysis.
Dylan Jones
University of Toronto, Canada
Susan Kulawik
NASA's AMES Research Center
Dr. Susan Kulawik is the L2 Validation Lead for GeoCarb. She has a PhD in Physics from the University of Michigan. She has worked on algorithm development and validation for the Aura-TES project for trace gases such as CH4, HDO, O3, CO, PAN, and CO2, new product development for the CrIS and AIRS instruments, validation of OCO-2 XCO2 products, and development of lower tropospheric partial columns for ACOS-GOSAT and OCO-2. Here interests include using satellite data to understand the carbon cycle, optimal estimation approaches in atmospheric remote sensing to develop and characterize tropospheric products, lower tropospheric satellite estimates of carbon dioxide and methane, and multiple observation retrievals from near infrared observations.
Greg McGarragh
Colorado State University
Dr. Gregory McGarragh works on Level-2 algorithm development for GeoCarb at Colorado State University (CSU). Greg received his PhD in Atmospheric Science from CSU in 2013 where he worked on radiative transfer modeling and remote sensing of aerosols and clouds using a synergistic combination of observations from the multispectral imager MODIS and the hyperspectral sensor GOSAT. Before this, Greg worked for several years on atmospheric/land remote sensing using various instrument types, including multispectral imagers, microwave radiometers, and synthetic aperture radar. Subsequent to receiving his PhD, he worked in a post-doctoral position in the Physics department at Oxford University developing cloud and aerosol remote sensing algorithms. Greg joined the GeoCarb Level-2 algorithm team at CSU in 2018.
Ray Nassar
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Dr. Ray Nassar is a GeoCarb science team member with 20 years of experience with satellite measurements of atmospheric composition. He completed his Ph.D. in physical chemistry at the University of Waterloo in 2006, using satellite observations for studies of stratospheric ozone depletion. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard University and the University of Toronto using satellite data for studies of tropospheric chemistry and greenhouse gases (GHGs). He has been a research scientist at Environment and Climate Change Canada since 2010, where his research focus is the use of space-based GHG observations to quantify both natural and anthropogenic emissions, and how to improve such capabilities in future missions.
Chris O'Dell
Colorado State University
Dr. Chris O’Dell is the Level-2 Algorithm Lead for GeoCarb. He received his PhD in physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002, studying the polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation, a radiation signal left over from the Big Bang. Chris manages the development of the algorithms that infer CO2, CO, CH4, and solar-induced fluorescence amounts from the GeoCarb measurements of reflected sunlight off the earth’s surface. His work on the GeoCarb builds upon his experience learning to retrieve carbon dioxide concentrations from the pioneering Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2 and OCO-3) satellites.
Lesley Ott
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Dr. Ott received her Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2006. She joined the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at Goddard Space Flight Center in 2006, as a NASA post-doctoral fellow, and in 2011, as a civil servant. Her research focuses on understanding how small scale atmospheric processes affect atmospheric composition and our understanding of the carbon cycle.
Paul Palmer
University of Edinburgh, UK
Paul Palmer is a Professor at the University of Edinburgh and a science team member of GeoCarb. He is interpreting OCO-2/3, GOSAT, and TROPOMI data using the GEOS-Chem model and inverse methods to understand how to best use GeoCarb data when it becomes available.
Brad Weir
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Dr. Brad Weir is the lead developer of NASA's Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) Constituent Data Assimilation System (CoDAS) — a state-of-the-art statistical method for estimating atmospheric trace gas abundances based on satellite observations. He has over 10 years of experience developing and applying mathematical and statistical methods to address questions about the physics, chemistry, and biology of the Earth's atmosphere, ocean, and land surface. His work has appeared in Science, the websites of National Geographic and the BBC, the NASA COVID-19 Dashboard, and the NASA/ESA/JAXA trilateral Earth Observing Dashboard.
Paul Wennberg
California Institute of Technology
Xiangming Xiao
Russell Katz
Instrument Manager
Russell Katz is GeoCarb's Instrument Manager. Katz has over 23 years of experience in aerospace/defense, 25 years in design, 9 years in integration and test, and 10 years in program management. Recently, he served as the Missile Electronics Senior Manager in the Electronics Directorate. In this capacity, he was responsible for multiple strategic, hypersonic and intercept missile programs as well as IRAD efforts, developing a refreshed Missile Electronics development roadmap and personnel development plans. Prior to this recent work in Engineering and Technology, Russell spent 3 years as Senior Manager of the High Speed Electronics department overlapping with 2 years leading the RF Digital Channelizer Beamformer (DCB) team through final development and delivery of the DCB for JCSAT-17 as well as 6 years on the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) program, helping lead that team to successful delivery of both the FM1 and FM2 instruments. Russell also had technical experience as a design, integration and test engineer and CPE supporting the Gravity Probe-B, DMSP and TIROS programs. Russell graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University, and a Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a Smart Products focus from Stanford University.
Eric Burgh
Instrument Scientist
Dr. Eric Burgh is the Lockheed Martin Instrument Scientist for GeoCarb. He obtained a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Johns Hopkins University in 2001, using rocket- and satellite-borne spectrographs to study dust and molecules in the diffuse interstellar medium at far-ultraviolet wavelengths. He has almost 25 years of experience in the design, development, and operation of ground- and space-based spectroscopic instrumentation. Dr. Burgh is responsible for the calibration and characterization of GeoCarb as well as overseeing the development of the data reduction pipeline.
Máté Ádámkovics
Senior Earth & Planetary Scientist
Dr. Máté Ádámkovics is an atmospheric scientist at Lockheed Martin. He has a PhD in Chemistry from UC Berkeley and has over 20 years of experience in spectroscopy, radiative transfer, and the remote diagnostics of planetary atmospheres. As a member of the GeoCarb Science Team, he is contributing to the development of algorithms for the data reduction pipeline.
Brett Allard
Instrument SE
Brett Allard is a System Engineer at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company Advanced Technology Center (ATC). ATC’s mission is to develop and transition technology discriminators for Space Systems Company lines of business in civil and military space, strategic missile defense systems, and space commercial ventures, as well as fundamental space science research.
Mr. Allard is currently focusing on payload and mission architecture development for the GeoCarb mission and serves as the Instrument System Engineer and Architect.
Mr. Allard served at a system engineer and instrument operator on the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) program during instrument integration and test. Later he assumed the role of technical lead on HMI during observatory integration and test and lead mission operator during launch and early orbit and the first six months of nominal science operations. Shortly thereafter he assumed the role of spacecraft system engineer on the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) program, later becoming the functional test lead during observatory level testing and the payload system engineer during launch day operations. As of 2020 HMI has successfully completed both the 5 years prime mission (and 5 year extended) and IRIS is on year 7 of a 2 year mission. Both have been approved for continued extended science operations.
Mr. Allard received his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Masters in Space Operations from University of Colorado in Colorado Springs and Engineers Degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Leland Stanford Jr. University.
Claude Kam
Instrument Integration and Test Lead
Claude Kam is the GeoCarb instrument integration and test lead as well as the control account manager at Lockheed Martin. He has a BS in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University and a MS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan. He has spent his entire post-graduate career with over 25 years of experience in the aerospace industry at Lockheed Martin. He started out as a summer intern on Gravity Probe-B as a mechanical designer before returning after completion of his degree to work on the Iridium Satellite Constellation as a structural dynamicist. He then spent about a year performing simulation and supporting flight testing for the DARPA DarkStar UAV being built at the famed Skunk Works organization. After the project ended, he transitioned back to Space and joined the Advance Technology Center (ATC) Solar and Astrophysics Lab in Palo Alto. He worked as an integration and test engineer on various solar missions including GOES N-P Solar X-Ray Imager (SXI), STEREO SECCHI, HMI and AIA instruments on the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO), and returned to GOES-R as the I&T lead for the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) delivering four flight instruments to the spacecrafts.
Noelle Nguyen-Phuc
SW Lead
Noelle Nguyen-Phuc is the Software Lead for the GeoCarb Instrument with many years of experience working on flight software, simulation software, test software and ground software for various major classified, commercial and NASA programs. Noelle is an experience system integrator and has developed, tested and integrated many communication satellites, many large ground systems and performed many on-site space to ground in orbit tests. Noelle specializes in instrument software and is responsible for the design and development of the GeoCarb flight software and ground software.
Louis Pare
Mechanical Lead Engineer
Research Scientist
Research Scientist
Dr. Russell Doughty is a Research Scientist whose research focuses on solar induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) and global modeling of photosynthesis. He finished his PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at OU in 2019 in the lab of Dr. Xiangming Xiao. Dr. Doughty previously held a post-doctoral position in the lab of Dr. Christian Frankenberg at Caltech, and is currently a science team member of NASA’s OCO-2/3 mission and NASA’s MEaSUREs SIF Project. Dr. Doughty has a passion for terrestrial ecosystems and seeks to better understand their roles in the global carbon cycle. He has authored or coauthored more than 65 publications.
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