Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 3:30pm

NASA Goddard Visitor Center

(refreshments available at 3:00pm)

Featuring:

Chief Scientist

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Goddard is leveraging Northop Grumman's radar technology - including space-qualified electronically scanned arrays, wideband electronics, and lightweight mesh antenna technology - and combining it with its own remote sensing expertise, testing facilities, and insight into applications that would help scientists answer key space and Earth science questions.

Dr. Garvin will provided a quick introduction about the importance of the Northop Grumman/Goddard partnership and discuss the possibilities of innovative radars for Planetary and Earth exploration.

Dr. James Garvin, is the NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Sciences and Exploration Directorate Chief Scientist. He provides strategic advice on the scientific priorities and directions to the Center's senior management. As a veteran Earth and planetary scientist within NASA in a career that has spanned more than 20 years, Dr. Garvin brings his experience with interdisciplinary science and instrumentation in helping to direct the scientific trajectory of the Center.

Dr. Garvin's scientific expertise spans several elements of Earth and Planetary sciences. He served as one of the founding fathers of the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) experiment and led the scientific investigation of impact cratering processes for Mars using MOLA topographic data. Garvin also served as the chief scientist on the two flights of the Shuttle Laser Altimeter (SLA) experiment on STS-72 and STS-85, from which the first measurements of tree heights from space were achieved.

Dr. Garvin earned his Ph.D in the Geological Sciences from Brown University in 1984. He also received an MS from Stanford University in Computer Sciences and a second MS from Brown in Geology.