STScI Annual Report 2002: A Living Mission

profiles
Melissa McGrath
Melissa McGrath joined the Institute as a
staff scientist in the Science Programs
Division in 1992 and currently heads the
new Community Missions Office.
Melissa was born and raised in Grand Island,
Nebraska, and had only passing interest in astronomy
until taking a winter-term course entitled “Intelligent
Life in the Universe” at her undergraduate alma
mater, Mount Holyoke College. Invited speakers in the
course included Cyril Ponnamperuma and Carl Sagan,
and students in the class were invited to a reception
at the college President's house to meet Dr. Sagan.
The course and speakers provided the inspiration
Melissa needed to change her classes for the upcoming
semester to include introductory physics and
astronomy courses. She has never looked back nor
regretted her choice to switch from being a French
major to studying astronomy.
After graduating from Mount Holyoke, Melissa went
on to graduate school at the University of Virginia,
where she pursued research on starburst galaxies for
her master’s thesis and in planetary science for her
Ph.D. She then moved to a postdoctoral fellowship at
Johns Hopkins University, where she continued work
in planetary science and became a space observer,
eventually leading JHU’s extensive and long-running
research programs using the International Ultraviolet
Explorer satellite to study outer planet atmospheres
and satellites.
At the Institute Melissa has served in a wide variety
of positions over the last ten years, encompassing
most aspects of the Hubble front- and back-end
ground systems. She was initially a planning scientist
in the Science Program Division, where she moved
quickly to branch manager, and then happily out of
a management position to better pursue research
and tenure. She was a member of the initial
Continuous Process Improvement team (HURT—
Hubble Undergoing Radical Transformation) led by
Mark Johnston, which led to the formation of PRESTO—
6 new manager profile
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