Hayley Williamson

Hi everyone! I'm Hayley, and this will be my second year participating in LPSA.

I am finishing up my junior year at Randolph-Macon College, a small liberal arts school near Richmond, Virginia. I'm a physics and math major, and I absolutely loved participating in LPSA last year-- can't wait to come back! I've done a lot of research on ionospheric phenomena on Venus, and hope to be able to connect that research to Mars this summer. Fun stuff.


In my spare time, I like riding horses (as seen above), video games, debating, and being outside. I'm also a big animal lover-- cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, you name it. I'm really excited to meet everyone! Can't wait for the summer to begin.

April Frake

Hello everyone!

I’m April Frake and I’m terrible at introductions. 

I’m originally from Miami, but moved to North Carolina when I was in high school and have been here ever since. I just finished undergrad at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Geography and will be returning as a graduate student / TA in the Fall pursuing an MA in Applied Geography. While technically I concentrated in Earth and Environmental Science, my real passion is applying GIScience to other planetary bodies. I love remote sensing, GIS programming and all things database.

I’ve been married for the past three years to my best friend Adam (who will be joining us in Arizona) and together we have three kitty babies: Bubba, Pork, and Roscoe. I love to hike, explore new places, meet new people, and can usually be found with my nose stuck in a book.

Missy Gaddy

Hi guys!  I'm Missy Gaddy, and I am a student at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  I am a Math and Computer Science double major, and I love working with databases.  Last summer, I got to work with a start-up company doing software testing, database reporting, and technical writing.  I am really looking forward to working with Apollo lunar data this summer.

Like many of us at LPSA, I am a musician as well; I play the cello.  I am a huge classical music geek, but I really like contemporary classical music.  I like eating chocolate, and I always have a bag of chocolate chips around (and yes, it will come with me to Maryland).  I can't wait to meet all of you.  I am so excited about this summer.

Sebastian Fischer

Hey guys,

I'm Sebastian Fischer, I am originally from Berkeley California and I am a majoring in Aerospace engineering at MIT. I worked at multiple labs at UC Berkeley, Goddard, and MIT where I did research ranging from detecting Martian aurora and lightning to measuring the magnetic properties of meteorites from the dwarf planet Vesta.

Outside of academics, I spend my time playing football. I also enjoy going on long car trips and spontaneous adventures. The Eurocup for soccer is this summer!! Hope people are pumped for that!

Matthew Wyatt

Hello all,

I am Matthew Wyatt, and I’m an Electrical Engineering major and a Mathematics minor at Arkansas Tech University. I have worked on various projects here at Arkansas Tech, but I have focused a lot on PCB design for electronic devices. However, I am far from an expert in any field, but I am always willing to learn, and I am looking forward to working on my project this summer at LPSA.

On a more personal side, I enjoy anything outdoors, gaming (mostly COD), watching almost any movie and a host of other interests. I have noticed that many of you are musicians, but I, on the other hand, have not been blessed with such talent. Although, I do sing on the occasion, and I enjoy listen to many types of music. One of my greatest passions is learning, and I am greatly looking forward to learning from every one of you this summer!

Amber Keske

Hello everybody,

I’m Amber Keske, a junior at the University of Arizona majoring in Geophysics and minoring in Planetary Science, Math, and Spanish. My attention is split between the Geosciences and Lunar and Planetary Science departments here, as I’ve worked and done research in both. My primary interest is in the geochemistry of planetary interiors and surface volcanic features, though I have a secondary interest in active volcanism here on Earth. Basically, I’m interested in becoming a planetary geologist who is always in the field doing analog work!

Like many of you, I am a musician: my main instrument is the piano, but I love playing the guitar as well. Many moons ago, I was heavily into song-writing, but lately I’ve been too busy for it. I like playing video games and being outdoors (not at the same time, of course)--traveling, camping, hiking, etc. I’ve lived in multiple places on the west coast—Washington State, Hawaii, California, and of course Arizona, but I’ve never spent more than a couple of weeks on the east coast, so this is a totally new experience for me!

I can’t wait to hang out with you guys, this should be a (nerd) blast! =)

Allison Duh

Hello!

I'm Allison Duh and I'm currently a sophomore studying Electrical Engineering at Columbia University. I've enjoyed a lot of my coursework like programming, circuit design and signal analysis, and in the past, I've done some work with data analysis and solar cell fabrication. But, I'm still trying to figure out where I want my studies and my work to go, so I'm very excited to work with Dr. MacDowall and Mr. Minetto this summer and explore a new direction.

In my free time, I enjoy working with Engineers Without Borders, rock climbing, playing violin (especially in musical theater pit orchestras), music-hunting, doodling, soccer and eating, although sometimes I enjoy this last one too much. I'm looking forward to meeting and hanging out with everyone -- it's going to be much fun :)

Allison

Rachel Kronyak

Hey everyone! My name is Rachel Kronyak; I’m a sophomore at Penn State University majoring in Geobiology, with minors in Astrobiology and Marine Science.  For the past 2 years I’ve been working in a research lab here at PSU on a bunch of different cool experiments.  My favorite two have been with extremophiles and using reactors that recycle astronaut waste. Things related to planetary science and the search for life in the universe excite me the most. I’m also a pretty big fan of the ocean and scuba diving- I’ll actually be diving in the Bahamas right before the summer doing some research on coral reefs.

 

Outside of school, I enjoy doing a whole bunch of things. I love sports (but soccer in particular), exercising, and pretty much anything outdoors.  I have a pretty sweet rock collection from the past two years with all of the geology field trips I’ve been on. Arizona is sure to contribute to said collection. Other than that, I’m beyond excited for this summer- can’t wait to meet all of your wonderful selves!

Chet Gnegy

Hey, team. My name is Chet Gnegy and I'm an EE major at the University of Pittsburgh. I am a musician at heart and I love adventure and the outdoors. I'm interested in robotics, circuit design, signals processing and a whole slew of other related technical fields. I play the guitar and to a lesser extent the keyboard. I enjoy all kinds of music-- jazz, classical, rock, techno, you name it. Not pop or dubstep or any of that business. I'm hoping that everyone else gets a kick out of ultimate frisbee, I plan on bringing my official college throwing disc. I enjoy bike riding and I'm looking forward to the warm weather...or blistering hot weather as it may be in Arizona. [edit: I stand corrected, the weather may be beautiful. I guess I will tolerate that.]

My last two summers I did some Android development for an indoor path planner with CMU's robotics institute and simulations programming for the ChemE department at Pitt. I enjoy programming, but I am looking forward to doing something more hardware oriented.

I spent a bit of time debating whether you use a picture of me where I'm smiling and acting normal or one that is a bit more honest. I chose the latter, I believe it speaks to the fact that I like to have fun and entertain others even at the cost of my peers thinking I'm a little off. I really enjoy Where's Waldo books and playing with ants. The child in me is still very much alive.

I'm looking forward to meeting all of you. Summer is going to be good news.

Aaron Silver - Staff Assistant

Hi Everyone!~~

My name is Aaron Silver, and I will be one of your LPSA staff assistants for Summer 2012.  I hope you all are pumped for a most excellent summer, I know I am for sure!

So a little educational background on me: I am currently a 4th year (yikes!) graduate student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  My primary research focus area is robotics and control systems, as well as machine learning/artificial intelligence.  I will be completely done with my graduate studies come this August, so that has me excited to no end!   I completed my B.S. in Engineering at a small but great little place called Hope College in Holland, MI.

Believe it or not, but this will be my 4th summer returning to Goddard!  In my first 2 summers (in 2006 and 2007), I worked on a fantastic robotics project that NASA had developed to create wheel-less rovers out of expanding/contracting tetrahedral cells.  My 3rd summer was so far the best, as I was an intern when the LPSA was brand new in 2009!  There, i worked on a team to develop free space laser ranging and communication technology.  The project was extremely interesting, and the entire LPSA experience was still one of the greatest summers I've ever had!  I got to know all of my fellow LPSA'ers extremely well, and still regularly keep in touch with quite a few of them, even though it's 3 years later! I know that this summer can be even better, so I hope you are looking forward to something really special!

I'm originally from Grandville, Michigan (a suburb of Grand Rapids, Michigan).  Outside of NASA and school, some of my other interests include traveling and camping, as I have done a ton of camping in 40-some states and most of the provinces in Canada. I’m also into sports, a fan of all the Michigan teams (Pistons, Tigers, Lions, Red Wings), and above all else, a huge New York Yankees fan (I get this from my Dad's side of the family, who all are from the NYC area). Lastly, music is a passion of mine. I have played various brass instruments in orchestras, wind symphonies, jazz ensembles, brass quintets, etc. I have been playing piano since I was about 4 years old, and have never stopped.

Nicole Thom - Staff Assistant

Hello everyone!! I'm Nicole, one of your LPSA staff assistants for this year.  I'm really looking forward to having a great time this summer!

A little bit about me. I am I did my undergraduate work in astronomy at Yale, and will be graduating with a Masters in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota this May.

I was an LPSA intern last summer, and I absolutely loved the experience (as I'm sure you will too!!).  I worked with Brian Jackson on a project titled "Atmospheric Mass Loss and Tidal Evolution of Exoplanets." I had no idea what any of that meant until I got there for the summer, but I really loved the project.  In fact, I continued my research from LPSA at UND for my thesis this year. 

This is on the LPSA field trip to the Channeled Scablands in Washington last year.

On the personal side, I was born and raised in Edgeley, North Dakota (population 650).  I grew up on a family farm, where we grow wheat and soy beans and raise beef cattle.  My biggest love is definitely the bagpipes (and Scotland in general).  I'm sure you'll all learn to love them by the end of the summer too :)