Erika Podest Cardoze is an earth scientist who works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). A Panamanian, she held an early interest in ecological systems and technological research, going on to earn degrees in engineering and environmental fields. Joining JPL after earning a Ph.D., she has worked on multiple NASA projects, particularly those involving satellite launches and observations of Earth's ecosystems through satellite imagery, including the Soil Moisture Active Passive and NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites. She has also spent significant time giving conferences and science presentations in Panama and elsewhere in order to increase the amount of children who choose to pursue scientific study.
Born in Panama to a native Panamanian mother and an Austrian watchmaker father, Podest spent her childhood developing an interest in nature and technology. [1] Her father took her out to explore nature every weekend, including hiking and swimming and locations such as Gatun Lake and Taboga Island. [2] She attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to earn a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, before going on to earn a Master's degree in applied environmental physics with a thesis on tropical rainforest deforestation and a Ph.D. where she researched the impacts of carbon dioxide on plant growth in high elevation northern latitudes. [1] During her latter graduate work, she started an eight month internship with JPL in 2002 to study global ecosystems and remained working there after completing her Ph.D. [3] [4]
Once Podest was officially hired by JPL in 2009, she was assigned to the Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Group to use remote sensing with satellite imagery and radar to determine the effects of climate change on different ecosystems. In 2011, she began working on the Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite mission and was involved in its launch in January 2015. [1] [2] For the ongoing mission, she has been monitoring soil moisture with the satellite to, for one reason, see the impact of climate change on moisture levels globally. [5] In addition, she has been using other satellite data to discover how biodiversity is being affected over time. [5] She later was made a member of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission [6] and acts as an instructor for NASA's Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET) program. [7]
To promote children's interest in science, particularly in Latin American countries such as her home, Podest has annually attended the Los Angeles "Adelante Mujer Latina" conference. She also frequently returns to Panama to do tours and presentations there on scientific topics. [8] She presented a conference in 2016 on the subject of climate change to Panamanian government officials, local environmentalists, and a large number of students from across the country. [9] The Panamanian government sponsored a 15 minute video production in 2020 titled "Mentes Curiosas" (Curious Minds) to air on national television and which prominently featured Podest alongside other NASA scientists. [10] In 2023, she collaborated with the United States Embassy in Panama and the Panama American Center to promote the "NASA in Panama" initiative that involved Podest traveling to schools across Panama to promote science and space research to children. [11]
For her work, Podest was named one of the most "outstanding Panamanians in science" by the government of Panama. [12]
Jason-1 was a satellite altimeter oceanography mission. It sought to monitor global ocean circulation, study the ties between the ocean and the atmosphere, improve global climate forecasts and predictions, and monitor events such as El Niño and ocean eddies. Jason-1 was launched in 2001 and it was followed by OSTM/Jason-2 in 2008, and Jason-3 in 2016 – the Jason satellite series. Jason-1 was launched alongside the TIMED spacecraft.
TOPEX/Poseidon was a joint satellite altimeter mission between NASA, the U.S. space agency; and CNES, the French space agency, to map ocean surface topography. Launched on August 10, 1992, it was the first major oceanographic research satellite. TOPEX/Poseidon helped revolutionize oceanography by providing data previously impossible to obtain. Oceanographer Walter Munk described TOPEX/Poseidon as "the most successful ocean experiment of all time." A malfunction ended normal satellite operations in January 2006.
Aquarius was a NASA instrument aboard the Argentine SAC-D spacecraft. Its mission was to measure global sea surface salinity to better predict future climate conditions.
Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) is a NASA environmental monitoring satellite that measures soil moisture across the planet. It is designed to collect a global 'snapshot' of soil moisture every 2 to 3 days. With this frequency, changes from specific storms can be measured while also assessing impacts across seasons of the year. SMAP was launched on 31 January 2015. It was one of the first Earth observation satellites developed by NASA in response to the National Research Council's Decadal Survey.
SAC-D, also known as Aquarius after its primary instrument, is an Argentine Earth science satellite built by INVAP and operated by CONAE. SAC-D was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 10 June 2011, with a planned mission life of five years. Due to a power system failure, the mission was ended on 8 June 2015.
The Spaceborne Imaging Radar (SIR) – full name 'Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR)', is a synthetic aperture radar which flew on two separate shuttle missions. Once from the Space Shuttle Endeavour in April 1994 on (STS-59) and again in October 1994 on (STS-68). The radar was run by NASA's Space Radar Laboratory. SIR utilizes 3 radar frequencies: L band, C band (6 cm) and X band (3 cm), allowing for study of geology, hydrology, ecology and oceanography. Comparing radar images to data collected by teams of people on the ground as well as aircraft and ships using simultaneous measurements of vegetation, soil moisture, sea state, snow and weather conditions during each flight. The imaging radar was able to take images anytime regardless of clouds cover. The Radar-C system was built and operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The mission was a joint work of NASA with the German and Italian space agencies. Each of the week long mission scanned about 50 million square kilometers of the Earth's surface,.
W. Timothy Liu is an American meteorologists and atmospheric scientist. He became a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society in the year 2000, a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2007, and most recently an American Geophysical Union Fellow (2011). By the end of 2008 he had published 145 refereed journal articles or reviewed book chapters, and has authored over 260 publications in total.
Adriana C. Ocampo Uria is a Colombian planetary geologist and a Science Program Manager at NASA Headquarters. In 1970, Ocampo emigrated to California and completed her Master in Sciences at California State University, Northridge and finished her PhD at the Vrije Universiteit in the Netherlands. During high school and graduate studies she worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she serves as the science coordinator for many planetary missions.
The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission is a joint project between NASA and ISRO to co-develop and launch a dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar on an Earth observation satellite. The satellite will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequencies. It will be used for remote sensing, to observe and understand natural processes on Earth. For example, its left-facing instruments will study the Antarctic cryosphere. With a total cost estimated at US$1.5 billion, NISAR is likely to be the world's most expensive Earth-imaging satellite.
VERITAS is an upcoming mission from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to map the surface of the planet Venus in high resolution. The combination of topography, near-infrared spectroscopy, and radar image data will provide knowledge of Venus's tectonic and impact history, gravity, geochemistry, the timing and mechanisms of volcanic resurfacing, and the mantle processes responsible for them.
Aida Fernández Ríos was a climate scientist, marine biologist, and a professor at the Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas (IIM) in Spain, specializing in the study of the Atlantic Ocean. She was the director of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), and also a member of the Royal Galician Academy of Sciences (RAGC).
Andrea Gamarnik is an Argentinian molecular virologist noted for her work on Dengue fever. She received a 2016 L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science fellowship for work on mosquito-borne viruses include Dengue fever. She also was granted the Konex Award Merit Diploma in 2013 and the Platinum Konex Award in 2023 for her work in those last decades. She studied at the University of Buenos Aires and the University of California, San Francisco. She has done work for the Leloir Institute. She is the first female Argentinian to become a member of the American Academy of Microbiology.
María Begoña Vila Costas is a Spanish astrophysicist specializing in the study of spiral galaxies. She currently resides in Washington, D.C. and works as a systems engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She is the lead engineer for the Fine Guidance Sensor and Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (FGS-NIRISS) on the James Webb Space Telescope – the Hubble's successor – in addition to being in charge of the final cold test of the group of instruments before their integration with the telescope.
Diane L. Evans is a geologist and the former Director of Earth Science and Technology Directorate at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her research areas have included sea-level rise, climate change, and tectonics. In 2019, she was recognized by Congressman Adam Schiff for her contributions in his district.
Eni G. Njoku is a Nigerian-American scientist specializing in microwave remote sensing. He worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, where he was responsible for developing techniques for sea surface temperature and soil moisture remote sensing using microwave radiometers. He produced the first microwave-derived sea surface temperature maps from space, and developed the first application of deployable mesh antennas for satellite Earth observation. From 2008-2013, he served as project scientist of NASA's first soil moisture mission, the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, launched in 2015.
Alicia R. Pérez-Porro is a Spanish marine biologist specialized in the study of marine sponges, an environmental activist and a feminist. Since 2018, she has presided over the Association of Spanish Scientists in the United States (ECUSA), from where she fights to break the glass ceiling in the scientific field and for women to occupy leadership positions.
Kristine Jiménez is a Panamanian judoka who competes in the women's 52 kg category. She competed at the 2017 Judo Grand Prix Cancún and the 2021 World Judo Championships.
Markelda Montenegro de Herrera is a Panamanian social scientist working on human rights and gender inequality, and has served as Minister for Women.
Valeska Zambra is a Chilean physicist specialised in the area of state of matter and strange matter.
Irma Aracely Quispe Neira is a Peruvian-American senior astronautical engineer, NASA scientist, academic and researcher. She is known as the first Latin-American woman to lead three successful NASA missions in the United States: Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), and James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Quispe has been a senior flight operations and systems engineer of the successful James Webb Space Telescope launching. She is an official speaker at the NASA and the United States Department of State, professor at Capitol Technology University, and STEM educator.