Dr.Ellen Stofan to step down as NASA Chief Scientist
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On December 21, 2016, NASA's tumblr page announced that Chief Scientist Dr. Ellen Stofan has decided to leave the esteemed space agency. The announcement came as part of a 10 question interview of Stofan, highlighting her achievements during the time she held the post. The reason for her leaving was stated as 'departing for new adventures' but no further clarification was given.
Dr. Ellen Stofan has an impressive bio, according to her NASA bio page. She holds master and doctorate degrees in Geology from Brown University, Providence. Prior to her appointment as chief scientist, Stofan was the vice president of Proxemy Research Ltd. and also an honorary professor of Earth Sciences department at University College, London.
Dr. Ellen Stofan was appointed as NASA's Chief Scientist on August 25th, 2013. Her duties as Chief Scientist were to act as science advisor to NASA administrator Charlie Bolden and to oversee the agency's science portfolio. Speaking on the same in her interview on NASA's tumblr page, she expressed her fascination for life beyond earth. Since her key research areas include extraterrestrial geology, she has also worked with the team focusing on human life on Mars.
During her role as Chief Scientist, Stofan took the initiative to start collecting voluntary demographic data on all grant proposals in order to eliminate bias from them. She also worked as deputy project scientist on the Magellan mission to Venus and as experiment scientist for SIR-C, an imaging instrument.
In her exit interview, she also stated that she would miss the commitment to science that people at NASA have. And though the next Chief Scientist at NASA has some big shoes to fill, there has been no announcement regarding who will hold the position after Dr. Ellen Stofan. It is a sincere hope that the next Chief Scientist is as dedicated as Stofan was to her job.
