Melissa A. Mcgrath

Melissa A. McGrath

Education 1987 PhD University of Virginia (Astronomy) 1984 MA University of Virginia (Astronomy) 1977 BA Mt. Holyoke College (Physics & Astronomy, magna cum laude)

Work Experience Deputy Director, Science & Technology Directorate, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, 2005-present Head, STScI Community Missions Office, 2002-2004 Full Astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute, 2004 Associate Astronomer (with tenure), Space Telescope Science Institute, 1999-2004 Associate Astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute, 1997-1999 Assistant Astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute, 1992-1997 Associate Research Scientist, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins Univ., 1991-1992 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins Univ., 1988-1991

Research and Professional Interests Dr. McGrath is currently the Deputy Director of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s Science & Technology Directorate, where she manages about 400 science and technical staff doing research in a broad array of science disciplines. She previously started, and headed, the Space Telescope Science Institute’s (STScI) Community Missions Office, with oversight of STScI’s new initiatives, and management of all externally funded mission projects (including, e.g., STScI’s part of FUSE, MAST, NVO, Kepler, SNAP) except HST and JWST. She has previously served as the project manager for STScI’s portion of the Kepler Discovery mission, and as an Instrument Scientist for several of the HST spectrographs, including COS, STIS and the GHRS. She has extensive experience in HST mission operations including observation planning and scheduling; ground-system development; in-flight instrument calibration; calibration and data analysis software development and implementation; and data archiving. Research expertise includes space-based astrometric and ground-based imaging studies of extrasolar planets and low-mass companions to nearby stars; imaging and spectroscopic studies of the upper atmospheres and magnetospheres of the outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; outer planet satellite atmospheres of Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto and Titan; and the Io plasma torus. Principal Investigator on numerous space- and ground-based observing programs.

Selected Publications McGrath, M. A., E. Lellouch, D. F. Strobel, R. E. Johnson, and P. D. Feldman, Satellite Atmospheres, in Jupiter: Planet, Satellites,and Magnetosphere, Cambridge University Press, 2004. Feaga, L.M., M. A. McGrath, P.D. Feldman and D. F. Strobel, Atomic Chlorine in the Io Atmosphere, ApJ, 161, 1191, 2004. Feaga, L.M., M. A. McGrath, and P.D. Feldman, The Abundance of Atomic Sulfur in the Atmosphere of Io, ApJ, 570, 439-446, 2002. McGrath, M. A., E. Nelan, D. C. Black, G. Gatewood, K. Noll, A. Schultz, S. Lubow, I. Han, T. Stepinski, and T. Targett, An Upper Limit to the Mass of 1Cnc’s Radial Velocity Companion, ApJ, 564, L27-L30, 2002. Oetiker, B., N. Duric, J.T. McGraw, M.A. McGrath, A Spectrophotometric Technique for Detecting Companions of Low-Mass Stars. PASP, 113, 703, 2001 Eviatar, A., D.F. Strobel, B.C. Wolven, P.D. Feldman, M. A. McGrath, and D.J. Williams, Excitation of the Ganymede Ultraviolet Aurora. ApJ, 555, 1013, 2001 McGrath, M.A., M.J.S. Belton, J. Spencer, and P. Sartoretti, Spatially Resolved Spectroscopy of Io’s

Pele Plume and SO2 Atmosphere, Icarus, 146, 476, 2000 Feldman, P.D., D.F. Strobel, H.W. Moos, K.D. Retherford, B.C. Wolven, M.A. McGrath, F.L. Roesler, R.C. Woodward, R.J. Oliversen, and G.E. Ballester, Lyman-α Imaging of the SO2 Distribution on Io, GRL, 27, 1787, 2000 Feldman, P.D., M.A. McGrath, D.F. Strobel, H.W. Moos, K.D. Retherford, and B.C. Wolven, HST/STIS Imaging of Polar Aurora on Ganymede, Astrophys. J., 535, 1085, 2000 Spencer, J.T., K.L. Jessup, M.A. McGrath, G.E. Ballester, and R.V. Yelle, Discovery of Gaseous S2 in Io’s Pele Plume, Science, 288, 1208, 2000