G. Unger Vetlesen Professor of Earth Sciences & Director, Aircraft Center for Earth Studies (ACES)

• Oct 2021 - Present

Photographer

• Jun 2005 - Present

Where Physics meets Photography I leveraged my years of experience as a fashion photographer for WWD, Vogue and other publications to create Vedphoto, which uses cutting-edge photography to channel people’s scientific curiosity, produce award-winning scientifically relevant exhibitions. My hand-made fine-art prints and enable this mission, help me bring science to the public. See www.vedphoto.com for more details. Where Physics meets Photography I leveraged my years of experience as a fashion photographer for WWD, Vogue and other publications to create Vedphoto, which uses cutting-edge photography to channel people’s scientific curiosity, produce award-winning scientifically relevant exhibitions. My hand-made fine-art prints and enable this mission, help me bring science to the public. See www.vedphoto.com for more details.

Director & Inventor, NASA Laboratory for Advanced Sensing

• Nov 2013 - Mar 2022

Currently, my lab is focused on developing and validating FluidCam and MiDAR systems for aquatic remote sensing of coral reefs and mapping of shallow marine systems through airborne and underwater field campaigns. In 2017, NeMO-Net and MiDAR SpaceCubeX projects were selected by NASA ESTO’s Advanced Information Systems Technology Program (AIST). NeMO-Net uses FluidCam to create the world's largest neural network for global coral reef assessment using data fusion of fluid lensing data to augment low-resolution airborne and spaceborne remote sensing instruments via an interactive citizen science app, while MiDAR SpaceCubeX develops a next-generation space-capable MiDAR receiver architecture for future active multispectral sensing in space. I received the NASA Innovation Award in 2016 and 2017 for MiDAR FuSE and MiDAR UV instrument inventions and grants from NSF, USGS, EPA, and US Army for MiDAR and FluidCam collaborative investigations. In addition, I serve a collateral duty for the agency as the Special Emphasis Program Manager for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender issues in NASA’s Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity and the chair emeritus of NASA Ames’ LGBT Advisory Group.More information is available on the NASA Laboratory for Advanced Sensing website, www.nasa.gov/ames/las/membersRelevant Awards:• NASA Invention of the Year, 2019• Outstanding Technology Development Award for MiDAR, Federal Laboratory Consortium, 2019• NASA Early Career Award, 2017• NASA Equal Employment Opportunity Medal Recipient, 2016• Distinguished federal service performance award, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 Show less

Advanced Technical Engineer, Mission Design Division

• Jul 2012 - Nov 2013

Designed and developed HiMARC (High-speed, Multispectral, Adaptive Resolution Stereographic CubeSat Imaging Constellation) which presents a novel, low-cost solution that addresses the fundamental aperture limitation of telescopes and CubeSat-based imagers while providing rapid, multispectral, high-resolution imaging capabilities for celestial and terrestrial targets using an uncoordinated array of sparse-aperture optical telescopes. I developed the HiMARC concept as well as theoretical and experimental demonstrations of Fluid Lensing – one of the three main technological innovations behind the HiMARC telescope. Fluid Lensing is a theoretical model for fluid-optical interactions in turbulent flows as well as two-fluid surface boundaries that, when coupled with lucky-imaging and an unique image-processing pipeline, may be used to significantly enhance the angular resolution of an optical system. Show less

Graduate Research Assistant

• Jun 2010 - Nov 2013

I developed novel plasma-actuated flow control devices and built and integrated them onto a UAV-platform. I was responsible for every step of the research process from design and theoretical simulations to construction, testing and data analysis. Less than a year after beginning this research in June 2010, I demonstrated the first plasma-actuated flight in history. These actuators have the potential to revolutionize modern aviation and spaceflight by allowing for nearly instantaneous flow control and practically no failure mechanism while simultaneously reducing the weight and power requirements for an aircraft control system. By developing a novel (patent pending) high voltage signal generator, I showed that plasma-actuated control surfaces offer a number of efficiency gains in terms of weight, response time and power as compared to traditional mechanically and electrically servo-actuated controls for UAVs and potentially larger aircraft and spacecraft. See www.vedphoto.com/plasma-actuated-uav for more details. Currently, I am adapting quad-rotor UAV platforms for aerial coral reef mapping surveys to create the first 3D maps of these ecosystems for marine biologists. Show less