The Role of the Program Scientist (Barbara Giles)
The SMD program scientist (PS) is the senior NASA scientist responsible for a flight program or project’s science content to carry out an SMD science investigation. The PS is SMD’s interface with the project scientist or the principal investigator (PI) for an Announcement of Opportunity selected mission. The PS monitors science management program execution and ensures the science of the mission remains viable and true to strategic objectives during development of the mission.
Barbara Giles, Director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters, earned her PhD in physics from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1993 and joined Marshall Space Flight Center, where she was part of a team that built suborbital and spaceflight heliophysics instrumentation. In 1998, she transferred to the Goddard Space Flight Center to pursue new flight mission opportunities. She stepped into the role of deputy project scientist, and was promoted later to project scientist, for the Polar and Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) missions.
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