So I'm Owen Kelley, and I work at NASA Goddard, and I'm going to tell you about
Joanne Simpson. So when I was new at NASA,
she was the chief scientist for the TRMM satellite,
that's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission. It was the first satellite ever
that could map the global three-dimensional structure of
storms in the tropics. And for her, it was a
culmination of her career, she had studied this stuff and made theories about it for
decades and finally NASA was going to launch a satellite that could
show up or down whether these theories were working.
So I walked into her office and I said, "Hey, I've done some hurricane research, I've looked at
hot towers." And I didn't
expect her to, but she critiqued it, she
said, "Show me some more, keep working on this."
That led to my PhD research. And
I learned after the fact that Joanne has done this
for generations of young scientists. And
not everyone who's made it and can talk to the VIPs
will take the time to help new people get started.
But I think she actually enjoyed that, and
that's a wonderful way to be, and have that be part of your personality.