Webinar 1: Overview of the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM)
February 8, 2024, 8 p.m. ET
Overview
In the first webinar of our series we will introduce you to the GPM mission and some of the key GPM team members who have been critical to its success. Our current Project Scientist George Huffman will provide an overview of the missions’ science objectives and discuss a few of GPM’s achievements over the past 10 years. Candace Carlisle, who served as GPM’s Deputy Project Manager through launch and check-out, will talk about the engineering behind the GPM mission and share a few of her experiences. Former GPM Project Scientist Scott Braun will explore GPM’s predecessor the Tropical Rainfall Measurement mission (TRMM), then provide a glimpse of the upcoming Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) mission that will carry GPM's legacy forward.
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About the Speakers
George Huffman
Dr. George J. Huffman is a Research Physical Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD. He specializes in creating combinations of satellite and surface gauge data to estimate global precipitation. The resulting data sets include the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) monthly and daily products and the Global Precipitation Measurement mission’s Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG). GPM is a joint project with NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Dr. Huffman’s work includes estimating errors and evaluating extreme precipitation events, and has resulted in 156 publications (17 as first author) and numerous presentations. Dr. Huffman currently serves as Project Scientist for GPM, lead for the GPM Multi-satellite Algorithm Team, and Chief of the Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Lab at GSFC.
After completing a B.S. in Physics at The Ohio State University (1976) and a Ph.D. in Meteorology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1982), Dr. Huffman was an Assistant Professor at University of Maryland, College Park, then moved to GSFC in 1988 where he consulted until entering government service in 2012. Recent awards include the NASA GSFC Special Act Team Award, Earth Sciences Division Lab Management, 2021; the NASA GSFC Robert H. Goddard Group Award for Science, IMERG Development Team, 2019; Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, 2019; and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, 2018.
Scott Braun
Dr. Scott A. Braun, a research meteorologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., specializes in the area hurricanes. Braun is an expert at using satellite and aircraft data, along with computer modeling, to investigate how hurricanes form and intensify, including their interaction with the Saharan Air Layer. Scott currently serves as Project Scientist for the Earth System Observatory-Atmosphere Observing System (ESO-AOS, https://aos.gsfc.nasa.gov ), which is being developed in response to the 2017 NASA Decadal Survey Designated Observables for Aerosols and Clouds, Convection, and Precipitation. He is also project scientist for the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS, https://tropics.ll.mit.edu) mission.
Braun was the Principal Investigator for NASA's Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) mission, a five-year (2010-2015) mission specifically targeted to investigate hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean basin. In his role, Braun led a diverse team of hurricane and instrument scientists to design and conduct experiments using unmanned aircraft to understand better the meteorological conditions that favor storm formation and often lead to the development of major hurricanes. To learn more about HS3, visit: espo.nasa.gov/hs3
He was also the Project Scientist for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM, 2008-2017), the GOES-R Project (2018), and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM, 2018-2022) mission.
Braun has a doctorate in atmospheric sciences from the University of Washington, Seattle, and a bachelor's degree in science, with a concentration in meteorology from San Francisco State University. He was a research assistant at the University of Washington in Seattle, Wash.; a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo.; and has worked at Goddard since 1997.
Braun has received numerous awards including Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, the Goddard Earth Science Achievement Award, the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, and group achievement awards for participating in NASA’s CAMEX-4, TCSP, GRIP, and HS3 missions.
Candace Carlisle
Candace Carlisle is currently the GeoXO Program Flight Project Manager. In this role, she manages the spacecraft and instruments through formulation, development, launch, and on-orbit check-out.
Carlisle began her NASA career in 1983. Prior to taking the GeoXO Flight Project Manager role, she was the GOES-R Program Flight Project Manager, culminating in the successful launch and orbit-raising of GOES-T. Carlisle was also the project manager for the Total and Spectral solar Irradiance Sensor-1, which is currently operational on the International Space Station. She was the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Deputy Project Manager beginning in the formulation phase and continuing through its successful handover to mission operations in May 2014. Prior to GPM, Carlisle spent five years on the Space Technology 5 project, first as mission systems engineer, then as deputy project manager. Her previous experience also includes six years on the Earth Science Data and Information System project in various systems engineering roles, finishing up as system manager. Earlier in her career, she was a system engineer for the Network Control Center as part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.
Carlisle holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and physics from the College of William and Mary and Master of Science degrees in technical management and computer science from Johns Hopkins University.
Dorian Janney
Dorian Janney has a passion for sharing the wonders of NASA's science and exploration with others across all age levels! For over three decades she taught public school in both special and general education settings across all grade levels. She was an Einstein Fellow Finalist, achieved National Board Certification in Science Education, served on numerous education working groups, and has written science curriculum for the country. She now serves as the GPM Education and Outreach Coordinator, developing resources to help share the science, technology, and real-world applications of GPM with others. She is a Mentor GLOBE trainer, a member of the GLOBE Education Working Group, and supports the GLOBE field campaigns. Her most recent project is leading an effort to engage Lifelong Learners with The GLOBE Campaign’s Citizen Science efforts.