NASA Astrobiology Program: NASA JPL’s Senior Research Scientist Council (SRSC) Career Panel for Postdocs

Dr. Cathleen Jones obtained a Ph.D. in Physics from Caltech in 1991. She spent two decades working as an experimental nuclear physicist at Argonne National Laboratory and Caltech before joining the Radar Science and Engineering Section at JPL in 2004. Dr. Jones has been an Adjunct Professor in the Dept. of Physics and Technology at The Arctic University of Norway in Tromso since 2016. She has been the NASA NISAR Science Team Applications lead since 2016 and is the Applications lead for the study team formed by NASA to evaluate science and technology needs to advance the 2017 Decadal Survey’s Surface Topography and Vegetation Targeted Observable (2020-).

Dr. Max Coleman obtained a Ph.D. in Isotope Geochemistry from the University of Leeds in 1970. After ten years at the British Geological Survey, where he ran a national stable isotope facility, he joined BP to start a new geochemical research group. He then moved to the University of Reading in 1995 as a Professor of Sedimentology. Dr. Coleman was enticed to join JPL in 2003, to be Director of the Center for Life Detection and Leader of the Astrobiology Research Group.

Dr. Shouleh Nikzad obtained a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Caltech in 1990. Before completing her Ph.D., Dr. Nikzad held engineering positions in industry and was a Lab Grad Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory. Upon completing her Ph.D., she moved on as a Caltech Postdoctoral Fellow, later joining JPL as a Member of Technical Staff in 1992. She was elected to the rank of Fellow in the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) in 2017 and became a JPL Research Fellow and IEEE Fellow in 2020.

Born and raised in southern India, Dr. Murthy Gudipati went to several schools in rural villages and urban colleges before receiving M.Sc. at the University of Hyderabad in 1981, India, and a Ph.D. at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India in 1987. After a three-year postdoctoral collaboration with Prof. Josef Michl (Austin, Texas), he joined the University of Cologne in 1990, where he was awarded Habilitation in Physical Chemistry (tenure) in 1998. Dr. Gudipati joined JPL in 2007, where he studies the evolution of ices in the universe.

Rowena Dineros is the Education Project Manager of the Postdoc Administration Office. She began her JPL career as a business administrator and later worked in finance and entertainment industries as a human resources professional. She returned to JPL in 2007 to manage the postdoctoral programs.

Dr. Imran Mehdi is the outgoing Senior Research Scientist Council (SRSC) Chair. He obtained his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1990. Dr. Mehdi joined JPL in 1991 as a Member of Technical Staff after being a National Research Council (NRC) Research Associate. He is currently Group Supervisor of the Submillimeter Wave Technology (386H).