Our Team

Learn more about our team

At NASA's Western Water Applications Office (WWAO), our team has a mix of backgrounds including science, engineering and partnership building. While WWAO is physically headquartered at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, our team comes from across NASA, and works with the water community in the Western U.S. and beyond. We have experience in scientific R&D, launching missions and building projects at NASA and beyond, infusing and developing technology, and communicating and commercializing ideas.

Feedback, ideas and suggestions for collaboration opportunities are always welcome. Get in touch with us at water.applications@jpl.nasa.gov.

Core Staff | Science Team | Support Staff

Core Staff

Stephanie Granger

Program Manager

Stephanie manages WWAO’s operations and oversees its strategic direction. She has many years of experience at NASA JPL in Earth science and remote sensing, ranging from large satellite missions to airborne experiments. Stephanie develops programs and projects to support water sustainability and agriculture in the U.S. and the developing world. She is particularly interested in connecting science and decision making to improve water management (for example in agriculture) and to improve how we handle drought. Stephanie enjoys cycling with her husband, spending time with her three grown-up children, and is especially fond of silly little dogs.

Dr. Alphan Altinok

Program Coordinator

Alphan is a senior researcher specializing in the design, implementation and optimization of machine learning and computer vision algorithms for a diverse range of uses. With extensive experience in handling various data types including images, time series and hyperspectral remote-sensing data, he has made significant contributions to missions like NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, Earth Observing-1 satellite and Intelligent Payload Experiment. Alphan’s interests and research are focused on using artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve pressing environmental and societal issues. He has worked with California’s Department of Water Resources to use machine learning to refine sub-seasonal to seasonal precipitation forecasting for improved water management. Alphan has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Sharon Vasquez-Ray

Stakeholder Engagement Lead

Prior to joining WWAO, Sharon was the Applications Lead and Visualization Lead for the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Project (AIRS on NASA’s Aqua satellite), and the Project System Engineer on the Multi-mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform (MAAP), a cloud-based science and data system jointly developed by NASA and the European Space Agency to study Earth’s biomass as its first use case. During her career at JPL she has held positions in the lab’s engineering, science, and communications divisions, taking on a diverse set of lead roles associated with Earth remote sensing in the areas of applications, system engineering, data visualization, user services, software development, communications and more. She has also worked on the planetary side for the Galileo mission to Jupiter, serving as the Flight and Ground Software Lead for spacecraft’s Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem. Sharon’s area of interest now focuses on leveraging NASA’s science and data to support the decision-making associated with today’s key environmental challenges. Sharon holds a degree in computer science and mathematics from University of Illinois.

Dr. Amber Jenkins

Information Architecture and Strategic Communications Lead

Amber leads various initiatives for WWAO covering information architecture and strategic communications. She is passionate about the power of science and technology to change the world. Her interests include creating impactful science programs, harnessing the power of storytelling, and translating science into action for the benefit of society. Prior to joining WWAO, Amber managed JPL’s Climate Science Center, developed Earth communications campaigns for NASA and hosted JPL’s first 3D movie. She launched NASA’s Climate Change website, which garners over 40 million views a year, is featured in op-eds, major media outlets and on TV, and has won multiple Webby Awards including for Best Science Site. Before joining NASA, Amber was an editor for international science magazine Nature and founded Nature Photonics, one of the highest-impact physics publications. She has a Ph.D. in Particle Physics and Diploma from Imperial College London, where her research focused on searching for the Higgs boson at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago. Amber holds First-Class M.Sci. and M.A. degrees in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University.

Dr. Amber Jean McCullum

Impact and Transition Lead

Amber works to identify and communicate project impacts and ensure the successful transition of WWAO project outcomes to the water-management community. She is a researcher and capacity-building specialist in the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center. Her work in the applied sciences focuses on project management, creating a more equitable and inclusive space for the use of Earth Observations across NASA and Indigenous communities, and delivering training for how to use remote-sensing data for land and water uses. Amber also serves as team lead for NASA's Indigenous Peoples Initiative and lead trainer in land management for NASA's Applied Remote Sensing and Training (ARSET) Program. She has led multiple projects focused on the co-development of remote-sensing tools for the Navajo Nation, including the Drought Severity Evaluation Tool. Amber received a B.S. in Geology and Environmental Geosciences from the College of Charleston, M.S. in Geology from San Francisco State University, and Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz.

Mark Davidson

Water Alliance Lead

As WWAO's Water Alliance Lead, Mark helps build strategic partnerships with non-profit and for-profit partners in the water sphere. He is also the NASA JPL Center Technology Transfer Lead for NASA's Small Business Innovation Research unit, where he performs strategic market analysis and translates ideas into promising business plans. Before joining NASA, Mark was Corporate Director of Business Strategy at Northrop Grumman Corporation where he was responsible for evolving the company's portfolio strategy associated with all defense electronics including space, air, ground and maritime domains and naval systems. He also worked as a Corporate Treasurer and Head of Investor Relations at a major aerospace parts distribution company. Mark has an MBA in International Finance from the University of Southern California, a Diploma from the U.S. Naval War College and a B.A. in Physical Geography from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Colleen Schroder

Strategic Communications Support

Colleen supports WWAO's Strategic Communications activities. She is experienced in creating, developing and sharing online content across various platforms, building science user services and disseminating scientific data. Colleen is passionate about science communication, enhancing user experience and promoting scientific knowledge and collaboration within the Earth data community. She received a B.A. in Radio and Television Broadcasting from California State University, Los Angeles.

Science Team

Dr. Renato Frasson

Science Team

Renato is a scientist in the Water and Ecosystems group at NASA JPL with nearly a decade of experience in using remote-sensing images to track the evolution of rivers and lakes. At JPL, he supports the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission and the Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA) project. Renato’s areas of research include measuring and estimating river properties and hydraulic characteristics where in situ measurements are unavailable, uncertainty analysis and quantification, and harmonizing data collected by different instruments. Within WWAO, Renato strives to connect stakeholders and potential data users with the right data products, and to remove hurdles that impede the use of remote-sensing information to support decision making. He holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of Iowa and spent eight years at Ohio State University.

Dr. Bailing Li

Science Team

Bailing is an assistant research scientist in the Hydrological Sciences Laboratory of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. She is affiliated with the University of Maryland's Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, which has a cooperative agreement between the university and NASA. As a member of WWAO's Science Team, Bailing helps identify capabilities within NASA and other organizations that can support WWAO's mission and projects. Her research focuses on using satellite, modeling and in-situ data to better understand the temporal and spatial variability of terrestrial water-storage components and its impacts on hydrological extremes. Bailing is passionate about making satellite and modeling data useful for hydrological applications through quantitative analyses and rigorous evaluation. She is the lead researcher on assimilating data from NASA's GRACE / GRACE-FO missions into the agency's land surface model that provides global groundwater estimates and drought monitoring. Bailing holds a Ph.D. in hydrology from the University of Arizona.

Dr. A.J. Purdy

Science Team

A.J. is a senior research scientist and adjunct faculty in the Department of Applied Environmental Science at California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and at NASA Ames Research Center. In addition to serving on WWAO’s Science Team, A.J. is a member of the Science Team for OpenET, an online platform that delivers water-use information to farmers and water managers. A.J. has over 10 years of experience developing satellite-driven evapotranspiration models and ground evaluations. He is interested in building tools that support the use of scientific models and datasets. A.J.’s research has used data from multiple NASA satellite missions to study changes in water availability and model water cycling. Prior to joining CSUMB and NASA, A.J. served as an assistant professor in the GeoSpatial Analysis Laboratory and Department of Environmental Science at the University of San Francisco and as a Postdoctoral Fellow at NASA JPL.

Dr. Amita Mehta

Science Team

Amita is an Applied Research Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and a Research Associate Professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. She uses satellite data to better understand weather, climate and hydrologic processes. In addition, Amita develops methodologies and training for using remote-sensing observations for environmental sustainability and management. Amita has worked on a number of satellite missions including NASA’s Atmospheric Infrared Sounder and Global Precipitation Measurement mission, and has used remote sensing to track water quality and map forest cover. Since 2011, Amita has been a lead instructor for NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET) program. She received her M.Sc. in Physics from Gujarat University, India, and her Ph.D. in Meteorology from Florida State University.

Support Staff

Cynthia Johnson

Project Resource Analyst

Cyndi is responsible for WWAO's overall financial operations and based at NASA JPL. She analyzes funding status and budget performance, and ensures that WWAO complies with institutional and programmatic business requirements. Prior to working at NASA, Cyndi was a business and planning financial analyst at Boeing Satellite Systems for over 14 years. She received her MBA in Finance from Argosy University and a Bachelor’s degree in Professional Writing from the University of Houston.

Marjorie Raymond

Program Resource Support and Oversight

Marjorie is the Program/Project Business Manager for the 830 Formulation and 870 Implementation Offices of NASA JPL's Earth Science Directorate, which encompasses WWAO. She began working at JPL in 1992 as the Spacecraft Project Resource Analyst on the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn. Marjorie has held several business manager positions since then, including for the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) moon mission and the Deep Space Network. She has been a member of several successful proposal teams and contributed to JPL institutional initiatives and process improvements. Prior to joining JPL, Marjorie worked in investment management and venture capital. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration from UC Berkeley and an MBA from the University of Southern California.

NASA's Western Water Applications Office is here to connect water managers, decision makers and stakeholders to NASA data, tools, expertise and information. We welcome feedback, ideas and suggestions for collaboration opportunities, and would love to hear from you!

Email: water.applications@jpl.nasa.gov

NASA Western Water Applications Office
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 301-320
Pasadena
California 91109.