| 
|
| Dr. Ellen Stofan
| Dr. Andrea Donnellan
|
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Contact: Mary A. Hardin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 17, 1996
TWO JPL SCIENTISTS WIN PRESIDENTIAL AWARDS
Two scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are among
six NASA recipients of a new presidential award that recognizes
outstanding young scientists who are beginning their independent
research careers.
Dr. Andrea Donnellan and Dr. Ellen Stofan received the
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers at a
ceremony yesterday in Washington, D.C. The award is the highest
honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals
whose talents and potential are so great that they are expected
to be leaders in the frontiers of science and engineering in the
21st century.
The recipients received funding to support their research
over the next five years. They will also serve as advisors to
the president on emerging and developing trends and discoveries
in their fields.
Donnellan was recognized for her work using the Global
Positioning System (GPS) satellite technology to study
earthquakes and the corresponding movements of the Earth's crust.
She is currently a team member on the Southern California
Integrated GPS Network (SCIGN), an array of 250 GPS receivers
that will continuously measure the constant, but nearly
physically imperceptible movements of earthquake faults
throughout Southern California. The network will help scientists
forecast future earthquake hazards in the greater Los Angeles
area.
Donnellan is also a visiting associate at the Seismological
Laboratory at Caltech. She has conducted field studies in
California in the region of the Northridge earthquake, the
Ventura basin and on the San Andreas fault. She has also carried
out field work in Antarctica on the West Antarctic Ice Streams,
on the Altiplano of Bolivia and on
Variegated Glacier in Alaska.
A resident of Altadena, Calif., Donnellan was born in 1964
and raised in Arlington Heights, Ill. She received her doctorate
in geophysics in 1991 and her master's degree in 1988 from the
California Institute of Technology. She graduated from Ohio
State University in 1986 with a bachelor of science degree in
geology and mathematics.
Stofan is a planetary geologist who received the award for
her geologic mapping studies of Venus using data from NASA's
Magellan spacecraft. Stofan was the deputy project scientist for
the Magellan mission. She assisted in the interpretation of
Magellan radar data, helped to plan the science analysis and
provided science input to the Magellan mission operations teams.
Stofan has been on sabbatical in London for the past 15
months. She will return to JPL after the first of the year to
continue her work as program scientist of NASA's New Millennium
program, designed to develop and demonstrate revolutionary
technologies needed for low-cost space science missions of the
21st century. Prior to that position, Stofan was the experiment
scientist for the Spaceborne Imaging Radar C/X-band Imaging Radar
(SIR-C/X-SAR) project.
Born Feb. 24, 1961 in Oberlin, Ohio, Stofan received her
master of science and doctorate degrees from Brown University,
Providence, R.I. She graduated from William & Mary College,
Williamsburg, VA in 1983 with a degree in geology and art
history.
Stofan and her husband Tim Dunn, and their children, Ryan,
Emily and Sarah, live in Pasadena, Calif.
In addition to the NASA recipients, other awardees are from
the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health
and Human Services and Veteran Affairs, as well as the
Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science
Foundation.
#####
12/16/96 MAH
#9698
